The governor clears up confusion over a Boulder City project. Then Aaron Ford rolls out a new plan of his own.
Governor Joe Lombardo put pen to paper this week to answer Congresswoman Dina Titus after she asked him to freeze tax breaks tied to a data center project near Boulder City.
His response, sent August 14, cleared up a mix-up that had been swirling around the debate for weeks.
Then, just days later, Attorney General Aaron Ford rolled out a new data center policy of his own, one that sounds a lot like ideas Lombardo's administration has already been building into state law.
Lombardo Corrects The Record
Titus had raised concerns about a tax break called the Renewable Energy Tax Abatement, or RETA, worrying it might get shifted over to help a proposed data center instead of the solar project it was meant for.
Lombardo shut that idea down clearly.
He wrote that since the RETA in question was approved in 2024 by the Governor's Office of Energy for a solar generation and storage project on land leased from Boulder City, it would not be transferable to a data center, regardless of its location.
He also pointed out that state law does not even let a project collect a RETA and a separate data center abatement at the same time.
Lombardo went further, explaining that Nevada's abatement process already comes with real guardrails. Companies have to go through public reporting and public input, and the state can claw back the money if a company does not deliver.
He also noted more than 3,000 construction jobs have come from abated projects under his watch.
“As trusted public officials, we must engage on a meaningful level with all sides of matters, such as this, and ensure that public discourse, no matter how well-intended, does not allow for the proliferation and dissemination of misinformation,” Lombardo wrote.
Ford Announces A New Plan
Just days after Lombardo's letter went public, Ford unveiled his own data center platform, and he did not hold back on Lombardo's name.
In a statement, Ford said:
“When I'm Governor, Joe Lombardo's gravy train for data centers is coming to an end. I'm going to implement some of the strictest rules in America: data centers will need to bring their own water or coolant, pay for their own electricity so ratepayers' bills don't go up, and actually deliver the sustainable high paying jobs and tax revenue they've promised.”
He added:
“Joe Lombardo says he's ‘wholeheartedly in support of data centers.' I, on the other hand, will be a Governor who is wholeheartedly supportive of Nevadans, and that means making data centers pay up.”
It is a sharp change in tone from a candidate who spent most of the summer dodging the question.
Aaron Ford was not just a bystander when Nevada created its data center tax break program. He was one of four state senators who actually sponsored the bill, Senate Bill 170, back in 2015.
For years afterward, silence. Then this spring, as the primary heated up, reporters started asking Ford a simple question. Does he still support the program he built? He would not answer.
He said he would “reserve judgment” until he could study a system he had already voted for a decade earlier.
By late July he inched forward, telling reporters “we certainly need to reevaluate the abatements,” while praising Titus for “calling Lombardo out for kowtowing to these companies.”
Asked point blank if the breaks should stop on federal land, he still dodged.
“I will continue to look at this,” he said.
Notice what changed. Not the facts, and not the law. Just the calendar, with an election closing in.
Welp.@AaronDFordNV calling data center tax breaks @JoeLombardoNV ‘s “gravy train” is rich.
Ford co-sponsored the 2015 bill that created them.
Joe was Clark County Sheriff in 2015; he had nothing to do with it.
Ford wrote the law. Now he wants credit for reading it. https://t.co/SWMrJh1Qq6
— BrutalBrittany💕 (@BrutalBrittany2) August 19, 2026
Why Conservatives Should Pay Attention
For folks who believe in limited government, this fight comes down to accountability.
Nevada has approved roughly $457 million in data center abatements since 2015. In the most recent two years on record, sales and use tax breaks alone added up to $225.6 million.
That kind of money should come with strings attached, and Lombardo's letter shows those strings already exist, tied to job creation, wages, and capital investment, with clawbacks if companies fall short.
Critics on the left argue the whole abatement system is a giveaway that does little to bring companies here that would come anyway. Some conservatives share concerns about picking winners and losers with taxpayer money.
Ford's timing is worth noticing. He stayed quiet on the program for a decade, then dodged the question for most of this campaign.
It was only after Lombardo's letter to Titus made headlines for cutting through the confusion with hard facts that Ford suddenly showed up with a tougher plan of his own.
That looks less like a policy stance and more like a candidate trying to catch up to a popular move after the fact.
What Happens Next
Nevada's next full report on data center abatements is due by November 10, right around the general election. Boulder City voters will also weigh in on a data center ballot question that same month.
Lawmakers will not convene again until the 2027 session, so any changes to the law will wait until then.
Nevadans who care about how their tax dollars get spent should watch the Governor's Office of Economic Development closely in the coming months, and take note of which candidate has been straight with voters all along versus which one waited for a campaign moment to find religion on the issue.
Read Lombardo's full letter: Governor Lombardo Letter to Rep. Titus
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