Washington governor signs data center bill

OLYMPIA – A bill designed to help Central Washington communities such as Wenatchee and Quincy compete for large high-tech data centers was signed into law Thursday.

The law gives anyone who starts constructing such a center between next Thursday and July 1, 2011, an exemption from the sales tax for the equipment and the materials needed to bring power into the building. The center has to be in a rural county, cover at least 20,000 square feet and be completed by mid-2018.

The law is designed to keep planned data centers from being lured to other states, Gov. Chris Gregoire said in signing the bill.