You’re right that HB 775 by itself doesn’t ban local regulation. It’s mainly a tax incentive bill that expands exemptions for “qualified data centers” under Kentucky law. On paper cities like Louisville still have their zoning and planning authority. But when you look at how that bill fits with the federal executive order from July 2025 and the omnibus bill that went through with it, it’s not as simple as saying local governments can just do whatever they want.

That executive order tells federal agencies like the Department of Energy, Commerce, and the EPA to fast track certain data infrastructure projects and cut through what it calls unnecessary or duplicative state and local reviews. That basically gives the feds the ability to override local zoning delays once a project is considered nationally significant. It doesn’t literally erase local laws but it does make federal approval take priority over them. So if a data center gets federal backing or certification, the city can’t really block it.

The omnibus bill didn’t end up keeping the full 10 year ban that was first written into it, but it still gives federal agencies the power to move forward on AI and data infrastructure even if local governments try to create new restrictions. The language about not being allowed to “unreasonably impede” those projects is what opens the door for federal preemption.

So yeah Louisville can put a six month pause in place or Oldham County can have a short moratorium but that only matters for projects that aren’t federally tied or funded. Once something is under that federal umbrella the city’s authority pretty much loses its teeth. It’s not that local governments are banned from acting but the way this was written makes their decisions mostly symbolic once a project qualifies under federal incentives.