Findings
Provisions worth knowing, quoted from the agreements they appear in.
Each entry is a provision from an executed agreement, copied word for word, with the section it sits in and a link to the document. Nothing is characterised and nothing is inferred. Where a figure is reported elsewhere, the figure in the contract is the one recorded.
Finding 01 · 2026-10-25
Grimes County's revenue from Terafab is capped at $20 million a year until 2061
Grimes County approved three instruments for the SpaceX and Tesla "Terafab" project on 4 June 2026: a reinvestment zone order, a Chapter 312 tax abatement agreement and a Chapter 381 economic development agreement. The first ten years run under the abatement, with the Owner paying the County $20,000,000 a year in place of taxes. The twenty-five years after that run under the grant agreement.
beginning with calendar year 2037 and ending with calendar year 2061, the County shall annually pay to Owner a Grant in an amount, not less than zero, equal to the total County ad valorem taxes assessed against Improvements and Tangible Personal Property and paid to the County with respect to such calendar year, minus $20,000,000.Chapter 381 Economic Development Agreement, Section 3(a)
The same section provides that property which does not qualify for abatement is included in the grant calculation.
if for any reason Improvements or Tangible Personal property do not qualify for abatement under the Tax Abatement Agreement, property taxes paid on such Improvements or Tangible Personal Property shall be included in the grant calculations provided for in this Section.Chapter 381 Economic Development Agreement, Section 3(a)
These are county taxes. Navasota ISD and the other taxing units are governed by separate instruments and are not recorded here.
Chapter 381 agreement, as published by Grimes County
Chapter 312 agreement, as published by Grimes County
Finding 02 · 2026-10-25
The binding investment in the Terafab abatement is $5 billion
Published figures for the project run from $16.8 billion for the initial investment to $119 billion fully built. The executed abatement agreement states one figure as an obligation of the Owner.
Owner agrees, subject to delays resulting from one or more events of Force Majeure and/or the actions or omissions of the County, to invest a minimum of $5,000,000,000 (five billion dollars) in the Facilities and/or Tangible Personal Property by December 31, 2030.Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreement, Section 4.1
Chapter 312 agreement, as published by Grimes County
Finding 03 · 2026-10-25
Terafab's 1,800 jobs may be filled by transferring existing employees
The abatement agreement requires a minimum of 1,800 Full-Time Equivalent Jobs by 31 December 2035, with a report due to the County on or before 31 March 2036. The same section defines how such a job may come into being.
a Full-Time Equivalent Job will be deemed to have been created and filled for purposes of this Agreement by the transfer of an employee from other facilities of Owner or an Owner Affiliate.Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreement, Section 4.2
The definition of "Full-Time Equivalent Job" in Article I likewise states that such jobs shall include "newly created employment positions and jobs held by transferred employees."
Chapter 312 agreement, as published by Grimes County
Finding 04 · 2026-10-25
Neither Terafab commitment becomes a default until it is missed by more than ten per cent
Failure by Owner to comply with the Minimum Capital Investment Requirements or the Minimum Employment Requirements shall not cause Owner to be in default of this Agreement unless the actual amount invested, or the actual number of Full-Time Equivalent Jobs created by Owner, is less than 90% of the required Minimum Capital Investment Requirements or the Minimum Employment Requirements, respectively, as applicable.Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreement, Section 4.3
Where a default does occur and is not cured within the notice and cure periods, the agreement states the remedy.
all taxes with respect to the three (3) tax years directly preceding the date of the notice of default which otherwise would have been paid by the Owner to the County without the benefit of the tax abatement under this Agreement (for the avoidance of doubt, net any Annual PILOTs paid), plus interest at the statutory rate for delinquent taxes as determined by Section 33.01 of the Act, as amended, but without penalties.Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreement, Section 6.1
Section 10.13 permits the Owner to terminate the agreement, and provides that doing so "shall not constitute a default or breach of this Agreement, nor shall it give rise to any claims for damages, penalties, or recapture of property tax abated under this Agreement," with repayment limited to "a period not to exceed three (3) years (net PILOTs)."
Chapter 312 agreement, as published by Grimes County
Finding 05 · 2026-10-25
Twenty-seven of ninety-six Chapter 312 abatement documents carry no signature
The Comptroller maintains a central registry of Chapter 312 tax abatement agreements under Section 312.005 of the Tax Code. Of the 96 documents published there and read in full for this register, 69 carry a signature or an electronic signature stamp and 27 have blank signature blocks.
A blank signature block is not evidence that an agreement was never executed. It is evidence that the copy the state publishes does not show it.
Chapter 312 Abatement Reports, Texas Comptroller
Finding 06 · 2026-10-25
A drainage district granted ten years at one hundred per cent to a blue ammonia plant
Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7 is a special-purpose taxing unit. It executed a Chapter 312 abatement with Cormorant Clean Energy, LLC for a blue ammonia production facility, abating one hundred per cent of value in each of ten consecutive tax years. On termination the district may
recapture and be paid all taxes previously abated by virtue of this AGREEMENT within thirty (30) days of the termination, together with all penalties and interest required by the Texas Property Tax Code.Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreement, Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7
Of the 96 Chapter 312 documents read for this register, this is the only one granted by a district rather than by a county or a city.
Finding 07 · 2026-10-25
Two counties, one statute, opposite bargains
Hill County abates a falling share of value each year. Dickens County abates everything for the whole term. All four agreements below are Chapter 312 instruments with solar and battery storage developers.
Ash Creek Solar, LLC, Hill County: ten years, beginning at 60 per cent and falling five points a year to 15 per cent.
Sun Valley Storage LLC, Hill County: six tax years at 50, 50, 40, 40, 35 and 20 per cent.
BRP Dickens BESS LLC, Dickens County: ten calendar years at 100 per cent.
Galaxy Power LLC, Dickens County: five calendar years at 100 per cent.
Of the 96 Chapter 312 documents read for this register, 18 abate one hundred per cent of value for five years or more.
Finding 08 · 2026-10-25
The $10 billion in the Hutto data centre agreement is a recital
Hutto Data Center Campus LLC holds a tax abatement agreement with the City of Hutto. The figure reported for the project is ten billion dollars. The agreement records it like this:
intends to make a total combined minimum capital investment of at least $10,000,000,000 in the Improvements and Tangible Personal Property on the LandTax Abatement Agreement, p. 1
"Intends" is not an undertaking. The dated obligation in the same agreement is to build, with no amount attached to it:
have achieved Completion of Construction of the first Building within five years after this Agreement is fully executedTax Abatement Agreement, p. 4
Hutto Data Center Campus LLC, field by field
Finding 09 · 2026-10-25
Three data-centre agreements that require no jobs
Texas is arguing about what data centres give back. In these three executed agreements the company undertakes no minimum number of jobs: Hutto Data Center Campus LLC with the City of Hutto, and CoreWeave, Inc. with the City of Plano, twice.
In each, the word "jobs" appears only in the recitals, in the clause on the employment of undocumented workers required by Chapter 2264 of the Government Code, and in quoted anti-discrimination law. The NVIDIA Corporation agreement with the City of Irving mentions employment once, in a recital about the city's employment base.
What the CoreWeave agreements require is value, not employment:
By December 31, 2026, add and maintain a minimum Fair Market Value of the BPP ImprovementsCity of Plano tax rebate agreement 0011756, p. 4
The second CoreWeave agreement runs from a date that has already passed:
Commencement Date shall mean the earlier of the Occupancy of the space on the Real Property or December 31, 2023City of Plano tax rebate agreement 0013174, p. 4
Not every data-centre agreement is drawn this way. The Microsoft Corporation agreement in Medina County commits $400,000,000 and requires annual written certification to the County Auditor of the creation and maintenance of employment, beginning 31 December 2027.
CoreWeave, agreement 0011756
CoreWeave, agreement 0013174
Hutto Data Center Campus LLC
NVIDIA Corporation
Finding 10 · 2026-10-30
Fort Bend County's Tesla package is thirty years, and thirty-five if Tesla hires 12,000
Fort Bend County approved four instruments for Tesla's Project Crystal Sun on 22 October 2026. Coverage of the deal reported the term as ten years, thirty years and thirty-five years, depending on the outlet. The two agreements read here explain all three figures.
The Chapter 312 abatement runs ten years at 100%:
shall continue for a period of 10 tax years commencing with Abatement Year 1Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreement
The Chapter 381 grant agreement then begins where the abatement ends, rebating 90% of eligible county taxes:
"County Rebate Grant Period" means a twenty (20) year period commencing with the first Project Year that is the Tax Year immediately following the end of the Abatement PeriodChapter 381 Incentive Agreement, Article I
Twenty becomes twenty-five on a single condition:
"Special Extension Period Trigger" means Owner's required annual certifications and reasonable supporting documentation provided to the County under the Chapter 312 Abatement Agreement with respect to any two (2) consecutive Project Years during the Abatement Period demonstrates that the average annual Employee headcount for the Project was at least 12,000 during such two (2) consecutive Project Years.Chapter 381 Incentive Agreement, Article I
So the package is ten years of abatement plus twenty years of rebate, and thirty becomes thirty-five if Tesla averages at least 12,000 employees over two consecutive years during the abatement period. It is not thirty or thirty-five. It is thirty that becomes thirty-five on a headcount condition.
Two of the four approved instruments, a Foreign Trade Zone item and a True Up PILOT Agreement, are not read here. The two read are the versions in the agenda packet for the 22 October meeting, as approved; signed copies were not available.
Chapter 312 agreement, as published by Fort Bend County
Chapter 381 agreement, as published by Fort Bend County
Finding 11 · 2026-10-30
Tesla certifies its own headcount, and grants already paid are not recoverable
Compliance under the Fort Bend County grant agreement is by the company's own written statement.
Owner shall attest to the following items with respect to such Project Year in writing to the County, on or before September 1 immediately following such Project Year, using the form attached hereto as Exhibit B (the "Annual Compliance Statement")Chapter 381 Incentive Agreement, Article IV
The headcount test is 90% of a target of 9,712 — that is 8,741 — averaged over four dates a year.
Owner shall attest it has achieved at least 90% of its Employee headcount target of 9,712 calculated based on the average annual Employee headcount measured by the average of the Employee headcounts on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of such Project YearChapter 381 Incentive Agreement, Article IV
Miss it once and that year's grant is forfeit. Miss it twice in a row and the County may declare a Material Default. What the County cannot do is take back what it has already paid.
Termination of this Agreement pursuant to this provision shall not entitle the County to recover any County Rebate Grant or Special Extension Grant paid to Owner with respect to any Project Year prior to the second of such successive Project Years.Chapter 381 Incentive Agreement, Article IV
The Chapter 312 abatement is drawn the other way. There, default reaches backwards:
If this Agreement terminates due to an unremedied or uncured Material Default, all taxes abated under this Agreement shall be recaptured and paid within sixty (60) days of such termination.Chapter 312 Tax Abatement Agreement
Two instruments, approved the same day for the same parties, with opposite remedies.
Chapter 381 agreement, as published by Fort Bend County
Finding 12 · 2026-10-30
The Tesla wage term is an average of $55.00 an hour, not a $100,000 salary
Reporting on the Fort Bend County agreements stated that workers at the Tesla facility must earn a minimum salary of $100,000. The figure does not appear in either the Chapter 312 abatement or the Chapter 381 grant agreement. What the grant agreement requires is this:
Owner shall attest that it has paid a minimum annual average hourly employee compensation of $55.00 per hour based on Eligible Payroll records along with reasonable supporting documentation which may include payroll and benefit reports for such Project Year.Chapter 381 Incentive Agreement, Article IV
Three differences. It is an average across the workforce, not a floor for any individual. It is hourly compensation drawn from payroll and benefit records, not salary. And like the headcount, it is attested by the company rather than verified by the County.
At 2,080 hours a year, $55.00 an hour is $114,400.
Chapter 381 agreement, as published by Fort Bend County