Yellowstone County commissioners voted this week to once again seek judicial review of a ballot initiative that organizers hope will rein in data center development north of Billings.
The 3-0 vote Tuesday allowed the use of the county’s authority under state law to file a “validity lawsuit” that authorizes local governments to seek court review of a ballot initiative to ensure it is “valid and constitutional.”
The ballot initiative in question is from petitioner Kassi Solberg, of Broadview, who for months has led efforts to stop Quantica Infrastructure in its plans to develop a hyperscale data center outside the small town.
Solberg and the county began the same process this summer to get an initiative on the upcoming November ballot. In that effort, Solberg said she and other volunteers collected 14,980 signatures. But the effort never advanced because the group missed the deadline.
The county then asked for the same judicial review that it is seeking now, but the court didn’t rule because the deadline had passed and the issue was moot.
Now, Solberg is trying to put an initiative before voters in the spring of 2027. The initiative language she and her attorney, Eastern Montana Congressional Candidate Brian Miller, submitted goes further than in their first attempt. Like the first, it requires approval from two-thirds of voters participating in a county election before any data center in the county can start or resume operations.
In addition, the new initiative requires the county to implement interim zoning, a legal measure many have been asking county commissioners to enact that would pause the Broadview area project and study its impacts.
This second initiative also requires the county to “immediately” disclose any communications between county employees and anyone “associated or employed by any person or entity in the data center industry,” and to produce electronic copies of all forms of that communication.
County officials said in the complaint filed in District Court Tuesday that the two-thirds voter-approval provision exceeds the powers granted to counties by the Montana Legislature.
“Nothing in Montana law authorizes a traditional county to condition the exercise of its statutory permitting, licensing, zoning, or land use authority upon approval at a countywide election,” the county wrote.
The county also believes a recent Montana Supreme Court ruling, Treasure County v. Edlund, precludes local governments from enacting zoning regulations through a public vote, as the initiative would do. That case dealt with wind energy facilities.
And lastly, the county argued the communications disclosure requirement disregards the process laid out in the Montana Public Records Act. That law puts the onus for public records on individuals who seek them, and not on the government to produce them, according to the county.
The state law that lays out the process for a so-called “validity lawsuit” also says that if the defendant — in this case, Solberg — prevails, she can be reimbursed for their attorney fees.
Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito told commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting it was his obligation to seek the court’s review before giving the initiative the green light. His office has approved the initiative’s formatting, including that it meets the word count requirement and other specifications. Now it must determine whether the initiative’s intent is legal.
“I don’t want these folks to go out and do the hard work of doing these signature gatherings and pushing this issue forward” if a court will ultimately declare their initiative invalid, Twito said. “That’s the whole purpose of this statute.”
Twito said another possible legal hurdle for the initiative stems from the Right to Compute Act, passed by the Legislature in 2025, which granted robust legal protections for computational resources like data centers. After weeks of public outcry against the commission for taking no action on data centers, the county sent a letter to local lawmakers Sept. 22, asking them to amend the law to clarify that it doesn’t curb counties’ traditional zoning and land-use authority.
The county’s lawsuit is expected to move quickly. State law says a validity lawsuit “takes precedence over other cases and matters in the district court.”
“Let’s get this issue resolved and the next issues up,” Twito told commissioners. “We can talk more about interim zoning, or whatever. But we need to get this issue determined, and we need to do it right — if not just for us, for the rest of the state of Montana. I mean, we’re kind of the ones that are leading the way here.”
Missoula County adopted a temporary moratorium on data centers in July, using interim zoning. In Butte-Silver Bow County, organizers have worked unsuccessfully to place their own two-thirds voter-approval measure on the November ballot.
Public commenters at the meeting Tuesday grew heated as they explained their frustrations.
One speaker was Cari Olson, who has launched a write-in campaign for Senate District 22, currently held by Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings. Zolnikov sponsored the Right to Compute Act.
Olson derisively called the commissioners “kings” and “cowards.” Olson said she and others opposed to the data center have shifted their sights to Quantica, hoping to pressure the company, “because we can’t get you guys to do anything.”
During her public comment, Olson tried to ask Twito, who was seated next to the public comment microphone, a legal question. Chairman Mark Morse told her she needed to address the commission, not the audience.
“Mark, don’t tell me how to do my public comment,” Olson said.
Morse abruptly called a 15-minute recess, and the commissioners left the room.
Solberg later appeared by video and questioned whether Twito had a conflict of interest with the data center lawsuit because of his friendship with Damon Obie, the lawyer for Quantica, the data center developer. Solberg held her phone up to her computer screen, which displayed a picture of Twito at a table with Obie.
“So, can someone please explain why Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito does not recuse himself in any and all issues dealing with Quantica or Big Sky Digital Infrastructure?” Solberg asked.
She noted a problem with the first initiative this summer when the county gave her an incorrect deadline for gathering signatures and later corrected it, bumping it up by one month, based on a change in law. The county was unaware of the change until a Quantica employee notified Twito’s office.
“Guess who he received word from? Damon Obie,” Solberg said.
Solberg said at one point, “You are a poor excuse for leadership. I am tired of it. The initiative is ironclad, and you don’t like it because you have to do your job.”
Several people applauded when she finished speaking.
After the meeting, Twito responded briefly, calling the conflict of interest allegations “a nonissue.”
“I understand my ethical responsibilities, and I take them very seriously,” he said. “My integrity’s intact.”
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