MOScout Daily Update: Another Snow Day - SEMO's Statewide Mission - Reed on TV - What The Rolling Blackouts Mean and more...
Another Snow Day
The snow storm hits the legislature’s calendar. The House is off again today, but might try to salvage their week with Wednesday and Thursday sessions. We’ll see. The Senate has thrown in the towel for the week.
Rolling Blackouts
City Utilities warned yesterday of potential rolling blackouts as energy demand exceeded capacity. We have been told to reduce our electric load in the Southwest Power Pool. This is a combined group of power generating utilities throughout 14 states and all utilities are under similar reduction requirements. We will begin what is commonly known as a rolling blackout in sections of Springfield. These will last from 30 to 60 minutes in duration and will be executed in different areas of the city. All areas of the City Utilities electric service territory may potentially be impacted.
What It Means
From one MOScout reader with an eye on energy policy: While the legislature passed the smart energy plan SB 564 in 2018 it may only be the start to state legislation needed (almost all utilities are guided by state level policy). That bill was years in the making delayed due to politics. The grid is in a transformation. More renewables. Electric cars. Carbon zero pledges. Climate weather extremes. It will take a lot more policy, and not the politics of old, so investments can keep up with the transformation, and the lights on. If not, these rolling outages could be more the norm. Don’t believe? Just ask California.
And
Want to understand this a little better? Listen to former Public Service Commission Chair Kevin Gunn give a twenty-minute tutorial on Facebook here. Some of his bottom-line takeaways…
· It makes a lot more economic sense and makes a lot more sense for the grid to let someone be out of power for an hour than it is to spend a couple billion dollars on a coal plant that permanently will raise your electricity bill…
· What’s happening today isn’t really a failure of regulation; it’s not a failure of some government entity not telling you what to do. Power plants take a very long time to build, you’re talking years, you can’t just snap your fingers…
· It should have everyone starting to think about infrastructure. I know the federal government is doing that. When you look at your electricity bill or you look at your natural gas bill, part of what you’re paying for is the infrastructure that gets that to your house… And nobody wants to see their electricity bills go up but that stuff has to be paid for…
SEMO Seeks “Statewide Mission”
Assuming the House toughs out the weather and has its full day of hearings tomorrow, Rep. Wayne Wallingford’s HB 297 will come before the Higher Education Committee. The short bill states that “Southeast Missouri State University is hereby designated and shall hereafter be operated as an institution with a statewide mission in the visual and performing arts, computer science, and cybersecurity.” Sen. Holly Rehder is carrying a companion senate bill, SB 397.
SEMO is one of only three state universities still without a statewide mission. The other two are also in the process of solidifying theirs.
· Northwest Missouri State University has two bills to put its statewide mission into statute as well: Sen. Dan Hegeman’s SB 376 and Rep. Allen Andrews’ HB 907. Their areas of distinction would be: “educator preparation, emergency and disaster management, and profession-based learning.”
· And Rep. Louis Riggs’ HCR 29 would give approval for Harris-Stowe State University of their CBHE-approved “statewide mission designation in STEM for underrepresented and under-resourced students.”
What It Means
Higher education continues to be a place of great competition. Having a “statewide mission” is a great way to market oneself and draw students interested in specific fields.
Reed Releases TV Ad
The St. Louis City mayoral primary is two weeks from today. It’ll be the city’s first experience with its new non-partisan, approval voting (vote for as many candidates as you like) method.
Of the four candidates, President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed is first on the air. See the ad here.
· The ad’s topic is crime. A Remington/MOScout poll found this is the top issue for city voters. In the ad, Reed shares a personal story of praying over his brother’s dead body, having been shot to death.
· Team Reed says it’s a “six-figure” ad buy, running on both broadcast and cable TV.
· One savvy observer thinks Reed may be trying to “inoculate” himself on the crime issue if other candidates attack “how bad crime is on his long watch.”
· And this prediction as well: “Since it is from his committee, I assume one or both of his PACs will be attacking Cara Spencer or Tishaura Jones.”
What It Means
The top two vote-getters will go onto a run-off election in April. Reed was atop the MOScout poll a few weeks ago, and now is first on TV. Let the game theory begin… Do his competitors aim to him or each other as they seek to make the cut?
Blunt to Rep Nucor
In the lobbyist registrations today, Nucor hires their first lobbyist, Amy Blunt, in Missouri. Nucor’s investment in Sedelia represented a high point for the Greitens Administration back in 2017. See that announcement here.
Help Wanted
St. Louis Mental Health Board of Trustees (MHB) seeks Executive Director. “The MHB Executive Director provides leadership to a team of 11 talented and committed staff members and 15 dedicated Trustees. In concert with the Board, the Executive Director is responsible for the overall performance of the organization in meeting statutory and board policy requirements as well as the fulfillment of the agency’s mission and strategic plan, which has a commitment to health equity. Specifically, the Executive Director is responsible for ensuring excellence in the major functions of: Planning, Board Leadership, Staff Management, Funding/Grantmaking, Fiscal & Investment Management, Community Engagement, and Public Relations.” See the ad here.
Lobbyists Registrations
Amy Blunt added Nucor Steel.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Chris Pieper.