The Oregon legislature has approved a bill that would give data centers tax certainty, so they won't move out of the state.

The senate bill passed the House on Friday. It aims to retain and attract communication companies and their family-wage jobs.

House Minority Leader Mike McLane of Powell Butte helped write the bill and feels it will help retain an important sector in the Oregon economy.

"One of the things that came up is the status quo is not acceptable," McLane says. "Data centers like Prineville's Facebook or Google in the Dalles or Amazon were going to leave, so we had to do something."

The legislation provides some tax certainty for communications companies by placing a 130 percent cap on their taxable intangible assets.

It also lays the groundwork for Google fiber to consider moving to Portland.