Amazon, Google and Microsoft are not just some of the largest data center companies in Virginia. They are also some of the most widely held stocks among members of the General Assembly, according to disclosure reports posted to the Virginia Public Access Project.
"I wouldn't look at this list and think that legislators are doing something nefarious or underhanded or devious in order to profit from it necessarily. I mean it could be that, but it isn't necessarily that. More likely it's a coincidence," says Jennifer Victor at George Mason University, "but still problematic to be invested in the companies that you're actively regulating."
Members of the General Assembly are paid part-time salaries, and they are expected to have other financial interests outside of politics. But Craig Holman at the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen says this is still a conflict of interest.
"That outside income should not be tied to their official duties. And, in this case of owning stocks, that is directly tied to their official duties. They can actually manipulate the market for their own benefit," according to Holman. "And so this is a shady practice."
This year, members of the General Assembly debated the future of a huge tax break for data centers worth about two billion a year. They ended up keeping the tax credit, although they also created a new consumption tax based on how much power they're consuming.
