Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, made the commitment Wednesday evening at the Overture Center. He said the exemptions give technology companies substantial benefits at public expense and called for tougher environmental standards and more say for communities where data centers are proposed.

“These tech companies are getting a billion dollars in tax breaks — it’s being delivered on the backs of hard-working families,” Crowley said. He added that the state should protect land and water and hold data center operators accountable.

A provision in the 2023 state budget, approved by Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature, exempts data center developers from sales and use taxes on property and equipment used to build, renovate or operate facilities. The benefit is estimated to have saved developers $1.5 billion so far.

Republican lawmakers introduced a repeal bill earlier this month, including some who supported the original budget provision. The Legislature is out of session, however, and the measure is not expected to advance before lawmakers reconvene.

Crowley had previously said he did not favor automatically eliminating all data center incentives and wanted a more rigorous review of whether taxpayers were getting adequate value. His change comes less than three weeks before Election Day, amid growing public concern about the facilities. A September Marquette Law School poll found that 74% of Wisconsin residents said data centers’ costs outweigh their benefits.

Crowley also announced an 11-point plan to regulate artificial intelligence and social media companies. It would require default privacy protections and limits on unsolicited messages for children’s and newly created accounts; restrict addictive features, overnight and school-day notifications for minors; and prohibit surveillance advertising.

The proposal would let parents sue platforms over design choices that harm children, restrict chatbot use for children under 13, bar chatbots from posing as doctors or therapists, and require disclosures for chatbots designed to form emotional bonds. It also calls for increased penalties for online predators and sextortion, including when AI-generated sexual images of children are created or shared.

Other measures would require advertiser identity checks, easy-to-use scam reporting and timely responses from platforms, and penalties for companies that knowingly profit from scam advertisements. Crowley’s plan would also fund state agencies’ anti-fraud and antitrust work, as well as county and tribal services supporting older adults and people with disabilities who are targeted by scams.

Crowley said state action is needed because the federal government has not established what he considers adequate protections. He cited concerns about children’s exposure to inappropriate chatbot conversations and the risk of intimate images being circulated online. He said the plan would put responsibility on technology companies rather than on individual users.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany has also voiced support for some technology safeguards, including protections for children and seniors and measures to protect personal information. Tiffany has backed age-verification requirements for app providers and stronger parental controls. He also criticized Crowley’s earlier stance on data center incentives, while previously voting for a congressional proposal that would have barred state and local governments from enforcing rules on AI and related digital infrastructure for 10 years.