Hillsboro's data center moratorium is reshaping policy across Oregon, with Portland's permitting committee voting 4-0 on Wednesday, Sept. 2, to advance a resolution discouraging secret deals with data center developers.

OregonLive reported that Hillsboro was the first city in Oregon to adopt a citywide ban and has one of the state's densest concentrations of data centers. Clackamas and Washington counties are both beginning their own moratorium processes.

Hillsboro's City Council unanimously enacted a 120-day moratorium on new data centers on July 27, calling a special meeting with just one day's notice to prevent developers from rushing in applications ahead of the vote.

"We did not want a bunch of new data center applications to be filed," Council President Rob Harris said at the time. "That was a bit of a conscious decision."

The city has 436 acres of data centers with 50 more under construction, hosting servers for Adobe, LinkedIn, Meta, TikTok and X. Those facilities receive $84 million in local property tax breaks this year.

The moratorium expires Nov. 24. The Hillsboro Planning Commission held a public hearing on a draft code amendment on Aug. 26 and will resume deliberation on Wednesday, Sept. 9, according to the city's data centers page. City Council's first reading of proposed code amendments is scheduled for Sept. 15, with a second reading on Oct. 6.

In Portland, the resolution sponsored by Councilors Tiffany Koyama Lane and Mitch Green would urge the city administrator not to sign nondisclosure agreements with data center companies. It would not legally prohibit NDAs or change Portland's zoning code, KATU reported. Green said councilors could later pursue a formal code change if the resolution proves inadequate. The full council is scheduled to consider the measure the week of Monday, Sept. 7.

Koyama Lane said Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability identified about 10 locations around the city that could accommodate large hyperscale data centers, including sites downtown. Portland currently has only a handful of small data centers serving telecommunications companies.

The backlash extends statewide. In Salem, residents protested a $5 billion data center proposal from California startup Verrus that had been negotiated behind an NDA. The project would employ 73 people on 75 acres of what city officials called Salem's last large parcel of undeveloped industrial land.

Oregon has nearly 3,000 acres of data centers, with more than 9,000 acres of new projects in planning stages, according to OregonLive. Data center operators receive more than $450 million in public incentives annually. A DHM Research poll of 600 registered voters conducted July 23–28 found two-thirds support a pause on new construction, and nearly 75% oppose tax breaks for the facilities, OPB reported. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Gov. Tina Kotek's Data Center Advisory Committee plans to issue a draft report in September, take 30 days of public comment and release a final report by the end of 2026 ahead of the 2027 legislative session.