North Carolina Enacts a Data Center Moratorium?

This market will settle to Yes if the State of North Carolina enacts a law or constitutional provision that establishes a statewide moratorium on new data centers between Contract Issuance and December 31, 2026, 11:59 PM ET. Outcome sourced from the State of North Carolina.

A statewide moratorium on new data centers refers to a binding policy with legal force that generally prohibits or suspends the approval, permitting, construction, grid interconnection, or operation of all new data centers, or a subset of data centers that includes all new data centers with an interconnection capacity above 100 MW per facility (requested or nameplate), throughout the state. Suspensions of tax incentives, exemption certifications, or economic development awards alone will not qualify, nor will a moratorium adopted by a local government or limited to part of the state. Specific exemptions (e.g., for specified applications, executed agreements, or interconnection requests) do not prevent a measure from generally applying to all new data centers, or a qualifying subset of new data centers, provided that data center approval, permitting, construction, grid interconnection, or operation is prohibited by default, rather than permitted subject to conditions or restrictions. Conditions on the resumption or termination of a suspension do not make a measure one that permits subject to conditions; a measure that suspends approvals, permitting, construction, or interconnection until a specified condition is satisfied qualifies.

Enactment occurs when a legislative instrument has been finally approved by all required chambers of the specified states legislature and has been signed into law by the Governor, or has otherwise become law under the applicable constitutional or legislative procedures of the specified state, including by veto override, becoming law without signature, or approval at a statewide referendum election. For an initiated or referred statute or constitutional amendment, or other voter referendum, the relevant law is considered to have been enacted on the election day on which it was approved, as reflected in the certified results, regardless of when the measure is certified or takes effect. A constitutional amendment that voters approve qualifies whether the state legislature referred it to voters or citizens proposed it by initiative petition.

Executive orders, agency orders, and other measures which are not statutory or constitutional do not qualify as enactment regardless of legal force. A provision removed by line-item veto is not enacted unless the veto is overridden as to that item. The operative text of the measure at enactment controls; provisions amended out before enactment do not qualify.

The moratorium provision must be mandatory on its face. A statute that merely authorizes a state agency or the Governor to impose a moratorium at their discretion does not qualify. A statute that directs suspension of approvals or interconnection upon a specified condition qualifies only if the condition is objectively determinable and is not deferred to be determined by the implementing agencys findings, certifications, or completion of its own proceedings.

This market will settle based on the date of enactment, not the effective date. Settlement will not be affected by failure to implement a law, judicial invalidation, repeal, or expiry that follows a relevant enactment, or by an effective date that comes after the date of enactment. Results as of expiration are final; later revisions, corrections, or challenges do not reopen settlement.

For full rules, see: https://polymarketexchange.com/files/product-terms/LAWEC.pdf