A QPQ Tracker study · Louisiana · 2023–2026
Louisiana: who paid for the data centers and what the state decided
The payer of record in Louisiana is Entergy, through its PAC, with Cleco behind it. On August 20, 2025 the Public Service Commission voted 4-1 to approve three gas plants, 2,200 megawatts, for Meta’s Hyperion site. An Entergy vice president wrote the motion the moving commissioner adopted. Each commissioner’s filings list the payer set among their donors.
Entergy says Meta pays. The contract runs 15 years against a plant that lasts about 30. In April 2026 the commission fast-tracked a second Meta certification 4-1 without a judge’s recommendation. In August it vacated the subpoena for Meta’s load data, 3-1.
The Legislature passed HB 827 83-4 and 35-0 in 2024, a 20-year sales and use tax rebate worth about $3.3B to Meta by one estimate. Meta’s first Louisiana gifts came sixteen months later: $24,000 to Gov. Landry in October 2025 and $76,000 to the state Republican Party. The study counts Louisiana’s 2023 to 2026 rows; the older filings stay in the database.
Who paid
Each company's direct giving from its treasury and employee PAC, as filed in Louisiana. Executives' personal cheques, super PAC spending and lobbying are different kinds of money and are not added here.
| Payer | Class | Direct giving in Louisiana | Filings (every state the payer files in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entergy | Utility | $647,473 | |
| Cleco | Utility | $448,670 | 2 filer rows → |
| Meta | Hyperscaler | $120,175 | 2 filer rows → |
| Bernhard Capital Partners | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $17,500 | Filings and recipients → |
| Burns & McDonnell | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $2,500 | Filings and recipients → |
| Kiewit | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $1,000 | Filings and recipients → |
Who took it
The Louisiana officeholders and candidates who received the most from the payer set, and what each did on the state's data center measures: the votes they cast, the bills they authored, the orders they signed. A yea is a vote for the measure as titled.
1 action on a measure
- enabledLouisiana HB 827 / Act 730 of 2024 — data center sales and use tax rebateEnacted
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
1 action on a measure
- advocated forLPSC Docket U-37882 — subpoena for Meta's investment, jobs and load data vacated (Aug 12, 2026)Enacted
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
The 12 largest recipients of any kind, committees included
| # | Recipient | Kind | From the payer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Republican Party of Louisiana (Louisiana) | PAC or committee | $416,000 |
| 2 | Cajun PAC II | PAC or committee | $88,000 |
| 3 | Jeff Landry | person | $58,000 |
| 4 | Republican Legislative Delegation Campaign Committee, Inc. | PAC or committee | $51,520 |
| 5 | CameronPac | PAC or committee | $35,536 |
| 6 | Stephanie Hilferty | person | $32,000 |
| 7 | LA Democrats (formerly Democratic PAC of the Demo. St. Central Comm., DEMOPAC) | PAC or committee | $25,000 |
| 8 | Cleco PAC | PAC or committee | $25,000 |
| 9 | House Democratic Campaign Committee of LA | PAC or committee | $23,000 |
| 10 | Foundation PAC | PAC or committee | $22,500 |
| 11 | John F. Young Jr. | person | $17,000 |
| 12 | Jean-Paul Coussan | person | $15,500 |
What they decided
Every Louisiana bill, regulator's order, executive action and election the study tracks, with its result, its recorded vote and the people and companies on the record for it. Each links to the official document.
Louisiana4 measures
- Regulator's orderEnactedAug 12, 2026Jean-Paul Coussan advocated for; Louisiana Public Service Commission issued
- Regulator's orderPendingApr 15, 2026Foster Campbell advocated for; Louisiana Public Service Commission issued
- Regulator's orderEnactedAug 20, 2025Foster Campbell advocated for; Louisiana Public Service Commission issued
- BillEnactedJun 19, 2024Christopher Turner advocated for; Jeff Landry enabled
How to read this page
The money is corporate-treasury and employee-PAC giving reported in Louisiana’s own filing system, the Ethics Administration e-filings, from January 2023 to the latest filing loaded (657 contributions, January 2023 to September 2026). Transfers between a politician’s own committees, conduit memo lines and gifts from the opposing side are left out. Executives’ personal cheques, super PAC spending, 527 transfers and lobbying are different kinds of money. The report keeps them apart, and the written part of this page names them as such. Nothing on this page adds across kinds.
The votes are the legislature’s own roll calls, loaded for the members the study follows. A yea is a vote for the measure as titled. The measures are the bills, commission orders, executive actions and elections the study identified; each links to its official record.
Every payer total was reconciled against the payer’s own reports where the state publishes them. The checks are in the report’s verification log. Figures on this page were last recomputed on October 31, 2026. Correlation is not proof of causation; the record shows what was paid and what was decided.