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All Access
3 items
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Statewide
A new report says Virginia offers some of the largest tax breaks in the country for data centers but does not publicly disclose which companies receive them or how much the exemptions are worth. The report, titled “Cloudy Data, Costly Deals,” was published by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit group that tracks state and local business incentives. It reviewed how 36 states handle data center tax programs, which support facilities that power cloud computing, online storage and AI systems. Good Jobs First senior analyst Kasia Tarczynska told The Center Square the public has no access to information about which companies receive the tax breaks, how much they get or what they provide in return. The report recommends that states disclose the names of all companies receiving data center tax exemptions, the amounts they receive and whether they meet job or investment goals tied to the incentives. It also calls for greater transparency around company ownership, wages, and any additional subsidies connected to those projects.
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Local
On a 4-3 vote, the Purcellville Town Council tonight appointed Anthony Sabio as the town’s next interim town manager. He will be the 10th town manager to serve in the past nine years. Naming a new town manager was not included on the published agenda for the special council meeting that was called to discuss the status of the police chief recruitment process. The item was added at the beginning of the meeting by Council member Susan Khalil. No information on Sabio has been released by the town, but Mayor Christopher Bertaut, Vice Mayor Ben Nett, Khalil and Council member Carol Luke said they had all met with Sabio and had multiple phone conversations with him. Nett said Fabio had been recommended to him by “federal agents.” Council members Erin Rayner, Caleb Stought and Kevin Wright said they had not known about Sabio nor had the opportunity to interview him. That motion was one of several added to the agenda Wednesday night, including a motion to direct the interim town manager to reinstate Nett, who was fired from the Police Department earlier this year, to his position.
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A Washington state trial court has shot down local municipalities’ effort to keep automated license plate reader (ALPR) data secret. The Skagit County Superior Court in Washington rejected the attempt to block the public’s right to access data gathered by Flock Safety cameras, protecting access to information under the Washington Public Records Act (PRA). Importantly, the ruling from the court makes it clear that this access is protected even when a Washington city uses Flock Safety, a third-party vendor, to conduct surveillance and store personal data on behalf of a government agency. “The Flock images generated by the Flock cameras…are public records,” the court wrote in its ruling. “Flock camera images are created and used to further a governmental purpose. The Flock images created by the cameras located in Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley were paid for by Stanwood and Sedro Wooley [sic] and were generated for the benefit of Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation
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“Democracies die behind closed doors.” ~ U.S. District Judge Damon Keith, 2002
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