Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Political sorts wield this phrase when arguing that some progress is better than none. It’s often sound reasoning, especially in the service of negotiation. But absent that spirit of collaboration, the philosophy can be detrimental to a cause. That’s why Illinois Democrats aren’t likely to cede control of political mapmaking unless Texas Republicans do the same.

And sometimes – in Springfield at least – the good can be the enemy of the perfect.

Consider Senate Bill 2181. Sitting in the Assignments Committee since state Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, introduced it Feb. 7, the Illinois Data Center Energy and Water Reporting Act is drawing a new round of attention of late, amidst concerns about spiking utility bills. (Shaw Media’s Kelsey Rettke has an excellent analysis of utility cost influences, published Monday, at tinyurl.com/EnergyCostPrimer.)

Under the proposal, all data center owners would have to file annual reports on energy and water consumption with the Illinois Power Agency. The bill establishes confidentiality and public data access provisions and directs the IPA to study the information and report on how data center usage impacts bills for all customers.

In an interview last week with WSPY-FM, state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, suggested SB 2181 could resurface during the October veto session.

“These data centers are signing nondisclosure agreements with municipalities that prohibits the municipality discussing how much water and electricity that they use,” Kifowit said, per WSPY’s Sam Woodworth. “And so there is a law proposed in the Senate that I hope we can pass that makes it public knowledge, which I think the public needs to know, how much of our natural resources are going into these data centers.”

The plan is indeed a good idea. Given data centers aren’t unique to Illinois, state agencies can coast a bit on broader research. Some companies produce their own information. According to Rettke’s report, Meta publishes an annual sustainability report, including information on its DeKalb data center. But a more specific, localized and objective study can only help our leaders make informed decisions.

Yet Kifowit’s quote about data centers and local governments reaching nondisclosure agreements poses a more obvious question: Why is that legal in the first place? Whether the subject is data centers or just about anything else outside of personal privacy concerns, NDAs where one party is funded by tax dollars seem to run directly counter to the ideal of government transparency.

Passing SB2181 is probably a good step. But that it’s needed at all is evidence that state law has a government secrecy loophole. If lawmakers tighten that string on just data centers, they’ll likely have to do the same for another industry later.

Transparency should be the rule, never the exception.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.