HARRISBURG — A bill meant to help keep existing data center jobs and create new ones on Tuesday passed the state House Finance Committee.

House Bill 1120, sponsored by state Rep. Tedd Nesbit, R-8th of Grove City, would allow data center equipment to be exempt from the state sales and use tax.

“Applying a 6 percent sales tax to equipment purchased at data centers adds thousands to the cost of doing business and hampers our ability to keep and attract good jobs,” Nesbit said.

If passed, this bill would benefit companies in the state that run data centers, including Iron Mountain in Boyers. Data centers store information on computers.

About 2,500 people work at Iron Mountain’s Boyers location, which is in an underground mine on Branchton Road. It is involved in a $200 million project to increase its data center capabilities.

Under the bill, eligible data center owners, operators and tenants must have a combined minimum employee payroll of $1 million within four years of program certification by the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

Within four years, the company must invest a combined capital of at least $50 million in a county with a population greater than 250,000 and $25 million in a county with fewer than 250,000 residents. Without these stipulations, the sales tax exemption would not apply.

Nesbit said that the bill covers not only equipment directly related to data centers, but also to infrastructure related to data centers, such as air conditioning ducts for computer rooms in these centers.

Additionally, Nesbit said that jobs in the data center industry pay more on average than other jobs.

The bill now will move to the House floor for consideration.

Recently, a similar bill sponsored by state Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, passed the Senate Finance Committee.