News & Brews June 2, 2026
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On data centers, Shapiro pitches ‘incentives, not regulations’
Spotlight PA reports that as the June 30 traditional state budget deadline approaches, “Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office has released a full, detailed version of its proposed incentives for data center developers.” The story notes he’s hoping to “balance the desire to attract data centers and their economic benefits — particularly construction jobs — with concerns from environmental groups and affected communities about the impact the projects will have on air and water quality, water supply, and energy prices.” Shapiro has had to backtrack from his ‘all in on AI’ position last year as public sentiment has turned against data center development.
Some data centers are exempt from Shapiro’s rules
Meanwhile, PennLive reports that even as Gov. Shapiro has laid out his new data center plan, “some of the biggest projects already proposed” aren’t subject to his new rules. “That’s because the administration is waiving the new rules for projects that were accepted into its Fast Track permitting program…. The grandfather clause for the nine projects already in Shapiro’s Office of Transformation and Opportunity’s Fast Track program gives them an escape hatch from rules, like the clean-energy requirement, that they might otherwise have trouble with.”
Garrity holds listening session on data centers
Meanwhile, still on the topic of data centers (a lot of stories for one day I realize!), CBS21 reports that yesterday, state Treasurer and Republican gubernatorial nominee Stacy Garrity held a “listening session with local leaders, emergency responders and residents in northeastern Pennsylvania, where concerns over proposed projects have become a major political issue.” The event came as Garrity “is calling for a pause on data center development in Pennsylvania, arguing communities need time to update zoning regulations and prepare for the impacts of large-scale projects before additional development moves forward.”
McCormick to host Defense & Innovation Summit
One year after hosting the Energy & Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh that brought together leaders from around the world, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick will host the 2026 Defense & Innovation Summit at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle on July 14-15. “From shipbuilding in Philadelphia to munitions in the Lehigh Valley, robotics and AI in Pittsburgh, and advanced manufacturing across the Commonwealth, no state is more essential to advancing [President Trump’s] Peace through Strength vision than Pennsylvania,” McCormick said. The “summit aims to showcase Pennsylvania’s defense industrial base and to announce partnerships and investments that will drive innovation and create jobs across the state and the country.”
Pa. House passes school cell phone ban
The state House voted 126-75 yesterday in favor of legislation that would “require school districts to prohibit student cell phone use during the school day, with exceptions,” the Center Square reports. The issue split party loyalties, as 20 Democrats and 55 Republicans opposed the bill. The legislation now heads to the Senate, which has already passed a different version of a school cell phone ban..