On the same day the Hillsboro City Council unanimously banned new data centers, a tech-industry-backed nonprofit called Oregon Connects went public with a statewide TV and social media ad campaign defending the facilities that occupy 436 acres of city land and receive $84 million in local property tax breaks this year.

Oregon Connects registered with the Oregon Secretary of State's Office on Wednesday, March 4, as a "social welfare organization that promotes data centers," according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.

That was the same day the Oregon House voted to pause a key data center tax incentive. The group was registered by Josh Levi, president of the Virginia-based Data Center Coalition, whose members include leaders from Microsoft, Google, Meta, QTS, and Equinix.

The 30-second ads close with the tagline: "Oregon's data centers: committed to paying their costs, so Oregon families don't."

Oregon Connects is one of at least seven state-level groups created by the Data Center Coalition running near-identical campaigns in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported Tuesday, July 28. Spokespersons for Oregon Connects declined to answer questions about who funds the ads. Tax-exempt social advocacy organizations are not required to publicly disclose contributors.

The Data Center Coalition reported about $4.6 million in operating revenue in 2024 and spent more than $250,000 on advertising that year, according to its most recent tax filing.

Hillsboro's moratorium

The council's unanimous vote on July 28 came at a special meeting called with less than one day's notice. Mayor Beach Pace said the short notice was deliberate, aimed at preventing a rush of applications from data center operators before the council could act.

The moratorium, Resolution 2932, blocks the city from accepting, processing, or approving new land use applications for data centers or battery energy storage systems until at least Tuesday, November 24. Existing projects with permits already in process are not affected.

Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair pushed through amendments to ensure the moratorium's definition of "data centers" explicitly includes AI computing and AI factories, closing a potential loophole.

In a statement to the Hillsboro Herald after the vote, Sinclair called the moratorium "hard-won" and credited residents who signed a Washington County petition that mobilized more than 5,000 people.

The top 11 tech-company-owned data centers in Hillsboro receive an average of $294,000 in property tax breaks per full-time employee this tax year, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. A lawsuit filed in June by 1000 Friends of Oregon, local leaders, businesses, and farmers challenges the city and Washington County over approvals for tax breaks that in some cases offer 25 years of back-to-back property tax waivers.

Critics call it corporate spin

Dirk Knudsen, editor of the Hillsboro Herald, told the Oregon Capital Chronicle the campaign is not grassroots: "We are not looking at a spontaneous, homegrown community campaign. We are looking at a highly sophisticated, out-of-state public affairs blitz designed to build public consent before Oregonians can fully deliberate the real impacts on our power grid, water resources and tax structure."

Jenni Denekas, spokesperson for 1000 Friends of Oregon, told the Oregon Capital Chronicle that the volume of community concern about higher energy and water bills shows Oregonians are not getting a great deal from data centers.

The Hillsboro Planning Commission is expected to hold a public hearing on proposed development code amendments Wednesday, August 26.

The City Council is slated to hold a first reading Tuesday, September 15, with adoption possible as soon as Tuesday, October 6. Residents can submit comments through the city's planning department.