Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that proponents say will strengthen the state’s power grid, but critics argue will undermine the state and country’s ability to compete on AI.
SB 6 is one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s legislative priorities for the year. The bill would place additional rules on “large load customers,” or facilities that use 75 megawatts of power or more. Republicans who support the bill say it is necessary to reduce strain on the state’s power grid, which, unlike other states, is contained and operates independently of the U.S. national grid.
If the legislation is enacted, the additional rules could undermine the vision laid out by President Donald Trump for American dominance in AI, critics say. The president recently announced the Stargate Project to kickstart the U.S. effort to lead internationally in AI development.
Stargate is a $500 billion joint venture by top AI and tech companies and the Trump administration. Texas is the first state to receive investment from the project with 10 data centers already under construction in the city of Abilene.
The Trump administration is cutting federal red tape to boost economic growth and accelerate the project. On Thursday, the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/03/president-trumps-deregulation-effort-has-already-saved-families-thousands-of-dollars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that the administration has saved Americans $180 billion worth of regulations since Trump took office.
Texas is a hotspot for new investment, especially in tech. But Texas runs the risk of blunting the momentum of the Stargate Project, according to Vance Ginn, president of Ginn Economic Consulting. Added regulation, while it will not likely impact Stargate’s partners — tech giants OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle — could box out competition from smaller firms that want to push AI development further, Ginn said.
“It creates a situation of government barriers that we&#8217;re going to have less competition and, therefore — what I would argue — higher priced AI, higher priced technology, higher priced electricity,” Ginn told The Daily Wire. “All this is going to contribute to not as much abundance and prosperity in the future.”
When asked for comment by The Daily Wire, a Trump administration official said, “Anyone standing in the way of the Golden Age of American Energy will regret it.”
The law would require “large load” facilities to have backup generators to switch on in times of severe strain on the grid. It also puts in place a $100,000 screening fee necessary for state approval.
Each facility would have to install a “kill switch” that state regulators could activate remotely to cut power to the site.
“That&#8217;s very command-and-control sort of system that they’re trying to put in place,” Ginn said. “In their mind, this is probably providing safety when, in fact, it&#8217;s reducing private property rights and potentially — well, it will not only potentially — it will influence those businesses directly who may need electricity for their own family and for their own employees.”
Republican lawmakers pushing SB 6 argue that the reforms are needed to keep Texas’ power grid safe and avoid a repeat of Winter Storm Uri, which knocked out power for days and killed hundreds of people across the state in 2021. Since the disaster, lawmakers have been concerned about the reliability of Texas’ energy grid in times of high usage.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is pushing SB 6 and has <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/texas/2025/01/29/512312/patrick-unveils-top-25-legislative-priorities-for-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed</a> it as one of his top legislative priorities for 2025. Despite past reservations he has voiced on the strain that data centers could place on Texas’ energy grid, the lieutenant governor in January <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-texas-gop-official-rallies-around-trumps-ai-crypto-plans-amid-states-crucial-investments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asserted</a> that “there’s no daylight between President Trump and I on this issue.”
In a comment to The Daily Wire, Patrick dismissed Ginn&#8217;s concerns.
&#8220;As we go through the process of passing this bill, we are working with industry and stakeholders,&#8221; Patrick said in a statement. &#8220;Everybody knows Texas leads the nation in many fields, including emerging technologies. This will be no different, and Texas will be #1 for AI, data centers, and cryptocurrency. There is no other state that can even come close to us, and that is our goal.&#8221;
Ginn says that while SB 6 will not disrupt Stargate, it would blunt the White House’s push to make the United States AI dominant in the competition against China.
“I don&#8217;t think that it would make Stargate less effective. I do think it will make the potential for what Stargate could get started, of having more and more businesses come here, I think you could stop that,” Ginn said. “Stargate in general is this big idea that we&#8217;re gonna have a lot more AI and we can bring about more energy and then there&#8217;s these small modular reactors that a lot of these firms can use. But if there&#8217;s gonna be all this regulation and high cost, that could stifle a lot of that innovation and employment and economic activity in the future.”

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How A Texas Bill Could Stifle Trump’s Push For American AI Dominance

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How A Texas Bill Could Stifle Trump’s Push For American AI Dominance