Data-center law in Utah

Utah Code 10-9a-503

Applies to both

Under the Municipal Land Use, Development, and Management Act, only a municipality's legislative body may amend the number, shape, boundaries, area, or general uses of a zoning district, or any other provision of a land use regulation, and only after first submitting the amendment to the planning commission for its recommendation. A data-center project's rezoning or zoning map amendment proceeds under this section.

The Utah Legislature's own code site serves only a JavaScript shell for this chapter's pages, so this citation rests on the FindLaw mirror, labeled current as of January 1, 2025.

Source: Full text of law

Utah Code 17-27a-503

Applies to both

The County Land Use, Development, and Management Act carries the same amendment procedure as its municipal counterpart: only a county's legislative body may amend a zoning district's number, shape, boundaries, area, or general uses, or any other provision of a land use regulation, and only after submitting the amendment to the planning commission for its recommendation. An unincorporated-county data-center rezoning proceeds under this section.

As with the municipal citation above, the Utah Legislature's own code site serves only a JavaScript shell for this chapter's pages, so this citation rests on the FindLaw mirror, labeled current as of January 1, 2025.

Source: Full text of law

Utah Code 54-4-25

Applies to private

An electric corporation, gas corporation, telephone corporation, or similar public utility may not begin construction or operation of a line, plant, or system, or an extension of one, without first obtaining a certificate from the Public Service Commission that present or future public convenience and necessity requires it. The certificate requirement does not affect a municipality's existing rights, so it binds privately organized utility corporations rather than a government-owned utility.

A data-center operator's own generation or transmission line proceeds under this certificate process where it is not otherwise exempted. The Utah Code page shows the section last amended by Chapter 11 of the 2005 General Session, which is a housekeeping amendment; the certificate requirement itself dates to Utah's original Public Utilities Act, and no located source states a day-precise commencement date for the requirement as such.

Source: Full text of law

Utah Code 54-26-101 et seq.

Effective 2025-05-07 · Applies to private

S.B. 132 (2025 General Session), Electric Utility Amendments, chaptered as Chapter 318, enacted Utah Code Title 54, Chapter 26, defining a large load customer as one whose service request or private generation contract is expected to reach a cumulative electrical demand of 100 megawatts or more within five years.

A large load customer may take service from a large-scale generation provider through a closed private generation system, which is exempt from commission oversight or regulation as a public utility, or through a connected generation system routed through a qualified electric utility, and the chapter directs that large load incremental costs and revenues be excluded from rate determinations affecting other customers.

A data center meeting the 100-megawatt threshold is the profile this chapter was written for. The chapter applies only to large load service or private generation contracts entered by December 31, 2034.

Source: Full text of law

Utah Code 73-3-1

Applies to both

A person may acquire a right to use Utah's unappropriated public waters only by complying with the appropriation procedure of Title 73, and between competing appropriators the one first in time has the first right. A data center's water supply, whether self-supplied or purchased from a water utility, ultimately traces to an appropriation made or acquired under this chapter.

The Utah Code page shows this section last amended by Chapter 296 of the 2026 General Session; prior appropriation has governed Utah water rights since the territorial water code, and no located source states a day-precise commencement date for the doctrine stated in this section as opposed to its most recent wording change.

Source: Full text of law

Utah Code 15A-1-204

Applies to both

The State Construction Code is the set of construction codes the state and each of its political subdivisions must follow, and a person must comply with it; a political subdivision may not adopt or enforce a rule more restrictive than the State Construction Code on a subject the code specifically addresses, subject to listed exceptions. A data center's building permit issues under the local building official's enforcement of this code.

The Utah Code page shows this section last amended by Chapter 16 of the 2025 Special Session 1; the State Construction Code Administration Act that this part belongs to states its own title was enacted by Chapter 14 of the 2011 General Session, but no located source pins a single commencement date for section 204 itself distinct from that latest amendment.

Source: Full text of law

Utah Code 19-2-108

Applies to both

A person may not install equipment expected to be a source of air pollution, or operate a source of air pollution required to have a permit by rule, without a permit from the Division of Air Quality director. A data center's backup or standby generator fleet permits under this section of the Air Conservation Act.

The Utah Code page shows this section last amended by Chapter 256 of the 2020 General Session; the notice-of-construction requirement predates that amendment, and no located source states an earlier day-precise commencement date for the requirement itself.

Source: Full text of law

Utah Code 59-12-104(84); 59-12-102(111)

Applies to private

Amounts paid or charged for a purchase or lease made by a qualifying data center, or an occupant of one, of machinery, equipment, or normal operating repair or replacement parts used in the data center's or the occupant's operations are exempt from Utah sales and use tax if the property has an economic life of one or more years.

A qualifying data center is a facility housing networked server computers in one physical location, located in the state, on land and buildings owned or leased by the operator or a commonly owned person. It must be newly constructed on or after July 1, 2016. It must also consist of one or more buildings totaling 150,000 square feet or more.

The current codification is effective July 1, 2026 under Chapter 433 of the 2026 General Session, but that is the exemption's most recent housekeeping amendment rather than its original enactment; the July 1, 2016 construction-date threshold marks eligibility for the exemption, not when the exemption itself first took effect, and no located source states that earlier commencement date.

Source: Full text of law