LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A Lubbock advocacy group submitted a petition Monday requesting an 18-month moratorium on large artificial intelligence data centers within city limits.
The group, “Citizens of Lubbock Against Data Centers,” operating under the name “Save Lubbock,” delivered the petition to the city secretary’s office. Organizer Stephen Sanders said the group surpassed the required 2,410 signatures, collecting more than 3,000.
Sanders said the effort goes beyond protecting city resources — it is about transparency in local government. He says the city’s prior efforts to get public feedback on data centers weren’t in good faith.
“I think that was just a show to make sure they could say that we had a meeting, but that meeting, things had already been done prior to that meeting, and they were just trying to save face, which is not honest,” Sanders said.
Sanders also framed the petition drive as a call for civic accountability.
“Of course, we want to always do things peacefully. There’s no reason to hurt, burn, do any of that kind of stuff. But it is important that we make sure our voices are heard and accountability is not an attack,” Sanders said. “We just have to make sure that we hold our city council, commissioners, everybody accountable because if it were us, they would be holding us accountable.”
Sanders said the coalition behind the petition represents an unusual degree of political unity.
“This is the first time that I’ve seen Democrats and Republicans or libertarians, whoever, stand together since 9/11,” Sanders said. “It’s been really good to see people working together, standing together for one cause, and that is to protect our city.”
Mayor Mark McBrayer was present when the petition was submitted. He said elected officials are obligated to respond to the process.
“I never would complain about people taking advantage of the political process. That’s why it’s there,” McBrayer said. “If people think it’s a burden on us to deal with it, it’s a burden the Constitution puts on us to deal with. And so we will follow that.”
The city secretary must first verify that each signature belongs to a registered voter residing in Lubbock. If validated in time, the measure will go before city council at its next regular meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 2 p.m. at Citizens Tower.
If the council votes it down, the measure could go before voters in November. McBrayer said the timeline depends on several factors.
“If it goes to the voters, we have to have an agreement on the language for it. So that takes a certain amount of time. And then it’ll get put on the next available general election date,” McBrayer said. “It has to be on a general election date, which we only have them in May and in November. And so, I can’t guarantee which one that would be on because there’s a time frame for all of that.”
Sanders said the group is already focused on what follows; he was discussing how the group could encourage people to show up to vote.
“I think this is starting a new era for Lubbock. Once people see that their voices matter and that their votes count, they’ll continue to show up for other things that are going to be coming up down the line,” Sanders said.
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.