Data Center Bill Fails to Be Heard in the Senate
Published: Friday, February 13, 2026
Indiana House Bill 1333, Land Use and Development, failed to pass in the Senate following its advancement last Thursday.
Penned by Rep. Kendell Culp (R-District 16), the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Utilities following the first reading in the Senate after it passed through the House with a 56 to 43 majority vote. The bill allows the construction of data centers on agriculturally zoned land in certain circumstances.
"I've made the decision not to hear the bill," said. Sen. Eric Koch (R-District 44), chair of the Senate Committee on Utilities. "There's language in the bill concerning what is permitted caused concern in the agricultural community, and I've made the decision not to advance the bill."
According to HB1333, "a project or development is a permitted use if the project or development is sited on land zoned for agricultural use and comprised of soil in capability classes 4,5,6,7 or 8 as identified in the land capability classification system of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service."
The NRCS soil classification system filters soil into one of eight categories. HB1333 would have allowed electric generation or storage facilities, including data centers, to be constructed on soils that have limitations or restrictions to the choice of plants cultivated on a plot of land, or on soils that limit or restrict land use to pasture, range, grazing, forestland or wildlife food and cover, recreation, water supply or esthetic purposes.
The NRCS classes incorporated into the bill to allow data center development include: Class 4, soils with severe limitations that restrict the choice of plants, require very careful management or both; Class 5, soils with limitations that are impractical to remove and limit use to pasture, range, forestland or wildlife food and cover; Class 6, soils with severe limitations that make them generally unsuited to cultivation and limit use to those described in Class 5; Class 7, soils with very severe limitations that restrict use to grazing, forestland or wildlife; and Class 8, soils and areas with limitations that preclude their use for commercial plant production, limiting use to recreation, wildlife, or water supply or esthetic purposes.
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