Graded Light and tightening. 16 laws, orders, rulings and local actions, each with its source, reviewed 23 October 2026.
Ameren's tariff (24 Nov 2025) takes collateral equal to two years of minimum bills with 12-year terms and 24-month exit notice; no own-power mandate.
SB 4 (Apr 2025) requires tariffs that keep other classes from bearing large-load costs; Ameren and Evergy (Nov 2025) set 80% floors, collateral and exit fees.
St. Charles city banned data centers (19 May 2026), St. Charles and Jackson counties and Springfield paused, and St. Louis city set strict zoning 17 Sep 2026.
The 2015 sales and use tax exemption is unchanged at $25 million and 10 jobs, and the 4 Aug 2026 Amendment 5 vote did not touch it.
No state water, air or disclosure rule is in force; HB 3362 died in May 2026 and only St. Louis city bans evaporative cooling.
Scored on rules in force, 1 to 5. 5 is the most regulated. Pending rules set the arrow.
Missouri's state incentives remain in place: the 2015 sales and use tax exemption is unchanged and Governor Mike Kehoe promotes data center investment. The 2025 utility law SB 4 required large-load tariffs, and the Public Service Commission approved them for Evergy and Ameren in November 2025 for customers of 75 MW or more. The 2026 legislature passed nothing on data centers. The pushback is local: the City of St. Charles banned data centers outright in May 2026, St. Charles County adopted a six-month moratorium in July, Jackson, Benton, Cedar and Nodaway counties and the City of Springfield have adopted pauses of their own, St. Louis city enacted strict data center zoning on 17 September 2026, and opposition has become an issue in Republican primaries.
Sponsors say HB 3362 (cost, water permit and disclosure rules) will be refiled for the 2027 session, alongside proposals to define hyperscale centers and bar nondisclosure agreements, though the House interim hearing set for 16 September 2026 was canceled and not rescheduled and no 2027 bill has been filed. Liberty's large-load tariff (case ET-2026-0184, filed 11 September 2026) is now a contested docket with Google among the intervenors; a procedural conference was held on 16 October 2026 and no order has issued. Springfield's 120-day pause runs out around the end of October 2026 unless extended and is under suit by developer NSI6, and a judge is weighing a preliminary injunction against Benton County's moratorium after extending a restraining order on 21 September. St. Charles County's moratorium runs to about January 2027 and council members have said they may adopt another when it expires. St. Louis County's four-tier zoning draft went to its Planning Commission in October 2026 and no vote has been reported.
No statewide moratorium, but 6 local pauses are in force as of 23 October 2026, in Cedar County, City of St. Charles, Jackson County, Nodaway County, Springfield, St. Charles County. Proposals and expired pauses are not counted.
Tightening. Missouri is graded Light, which means incentives in place and few new obligations. State recruits data centers while counties and St. Louis clamp down. The outlook above says what is pending.
Missouri sits in MISO and SPP. The grid operator decides how a new large load is studied, what it must bring or pay, and whether it can be curtailed first; the state decides siting, permits, tariffs and incentives.
No. Missouri's data center incentives were not pulled back in 2025 or 2026 as of 23 October 2026.
On Genloop's five-line rubric (1 least regulated, 5 most) Missouri scores grid connection 3, power rates 4, siting and land use 3, tax treatment 1, permits and water 1, a mean of 2.4. The most regulated line is power rates: SB 4 (Apr 2025) requires tariffs that keep other classes from bearing large-load costs; Ameren and Evergy (Nov 2025) set 80% floors, collateral and exit fees.
16 items: each is a law, order, tariff, ruling, utility action or local decision that changes what a data center must do, pay or disclose, or where it may be built. Failed and pending measures are marked. Each links to its source.
After two extensions, Liberty (Empire District Electric) filed its application, direct testimony and a Transmission Service Large Load (TS-LL) tariff revision in case ET-2026-0184 on 11 September 2026. The Commission suspended the tariff and set an intervention deadline on 14 September; Google, Renew Missouri and the Midwest Energy Consumers Group applied to intervene in October, and a procedural conference was held on 16 October 2026. No order on the tariff yet.
Source: efis.psc.mo.govMayor Cara Spencer signed Board Bill 49 on 17 September 2026 after a unanimous Board of Aldermen vote on 11 September. It bans data centers in residential and neighborhood commercial districts, sets three tiers (micro under 10,000 sq ft and 5 MW; standard to 250,000 sq ft and 30 MW; major above that) with 150 to 600 foot setbacks, caps noise at 5 dBA above baseline, requires standard and major facilities to reach 25% renewable at start, 50% by year 5 and 100% by year 10, bans evaporative cooling, and requires written grid capacity verification before operation. St. Louis County released a four-tier draft on 25 August 2026 that would confine the largest sites to industrial zones with County Council approval; its Planning Commission was to take up comments in October and no vote has been reported.
Source: stlouis-mo.govCommissioners imposed a 12-month moratorium on 8 September 2026 on new large solar, wind, battery storage and data center developments outside city limits, extendable once by up to six months. Small on-site systems and existing projects are exempt.
Source: ky3.comBenton County commissioners signed a six-month countywide data center moratorium on 10 August 2026. Developer Trent Overhue and NSI6 LLC, who bought a 12-acre site on 9 September for two 20,000 sq ft buildings, sued; a judge granted a temporary restraining order on 8 September and extended it on 21 September 2026 while weighing a preliminary injunction against enforcement. The county argues NSI6 did not legally exist until 13 August. No final ruling yet.
Source: ky3.comAbout 200 people filled the Capitol rotunda on 16 September 2026, the veto session day, to demand a statewide pause on hyperscale data centers, an end to tax incentives and transparency rules, then marched petitions to the Governor's Mansion. Governor Kehoe continues to promote data centers and no 2027 bill has been filed; the House hearing set for the same day had been canceled.
Source: kcur.orgState and local sales and use tax exemptions cover equipment, construction materials and utilities for new facilities investing at least $25 million and creating 10 jobs at 150% of the county average wage. Voters rejected Amendment 5, the measure to phase out the state income tax, on 4 August 2026; it would not itself have repealed the exemption.
Source: stlpr.orgIn June 2026 the House Speaker approved a 16 September hearing of the Special Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, where chair Tricia Byrnes planned to propose defining hyperscale centers, banning nondisclosure agreements with officials, and adding disclosure, noise and water permit rules; requests for a special session were turned down. Byrnes canceled the hearing in August so it would not compete with a 16 September Capitol rally for a statewide moratorium, and no new date has been set.
Source: fultonsun.comThe County Council voted unanimously on 13 July 2026 to bar approval of new or expanded data centers over 100,000 square feet or 5 MW for six months while it studies impacts. A bid to extend it to 12 months failed.
Source: stlpr.orgCommissioners voted unanimously on 21 July 2026 for a six-month moratorium, extendable by up to six months, on construction or expansion of data centers (2,500 sq ft or 250 kW of IT capacity and up) and supporting substations, generators, batteries and water facilities in unincorporated areas, while the county studies energy, water, noise, stormwater and Chapter 100 incentives.
Source: kxcv.orgThe County Legislature voted 8 to 0 (one excused) on 22 June 2026 to stop processing data center and battery energy storage land use applications for 180 days while it writes county code provisions; sponsor Sean Smith had first proposed a four-month pause in April. The county executive, who said he has always supported a moratorium, had 10 days to sign.
Source: kctv5.comCity Council passed a 120-day administrative delay on data center development in late June 2026 while staff review land use, electric, water, wastewater, noise and air impacts and hold public open houses. Developer NSI6 LLC has sued the city, arguing its South National Avenue site was zoned to allow data processing and approved before the pause took effect. On the 120-day term the pause runs out around the end of October 2026 unless extended.
Source: ky3.comThe City Council voted 7 to 1 on 19 May 2026 to prohibit facilities whose primary use is data processing or storage, including AI training, cloud computing and bitcoin mining. It followed a one-year moratorium adopted in 2025 after a proposed campus was withdrawn.
Source: spectrumlocalnews.comThe AI Infrastructure Grid Integrity and Water Resources Protection Act would have made large loads pay grid costs, required a state water permit with public reporting, and cut data centers first in grid or drought emergencies. It had one hearing in March 2026 and no vote. Bills for a St. Louis construction pause and environmental reporting also died.
Source: kcur.orgApproved 24 November 2025 for customers of 75 MW or more: a minimum 12-year term plus an optional five-year ramp, collateral equal to two years of minimum bills, a demand charge floor of 80%, and exit and early termination fees with 24 months' notice.
Source: psc.mo.govApproved 13 November 2025 for loads of 75 MW or more, matching the Kansas plan; large customers pay the transmission and generation costs of serving them. Commission staff and the Office of Public Counsel opposed the order and had offered a stricter alternative.
Source: missouriindependent.comSigned by Governor Kehoe in April 2025. It requires utilities to file large-load tariffs that keep other customer classes from bearing the cost of serving those loads, and lets utilities charge customers for power plants under construction with commission approval.
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