MOScout Daily Update: Eigel Eyes 2024 Statewide Run - Solar Task Forces - Dueling Amendment 4 Committees - The Return of Jon Dolan and more...

Eigel Eyes 2024

Sen. Bill Eigel is eying a statewide run in 2024.  It seems right now he’s considering running for governor or lieutenant governor.

Tomorrow night he’s holding an event as he continues to explore and lay plans.  See the invite here.

“Come Hear Sen. Eigle’s Thoughts & Ideas – as he explores a possible run… looking forward to 2024 & asking for your thoughts & feedback – for the office in Missouri – most likely to make the Greatest Difference!”

·       One source says that “Eigel and [Jim] Lembke have been calling conservative activists and donors asking them to keep their powder dry and not commit to any candidate yet.”

·       But the idea of Eigel running for governor worries some Republicans.  They fear that if he and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft both run it will split the conservative vote, handing the race to Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe.  They’d prefer that Eigel yield to Ashcroft – who starts with a huge name ID advantage – instead running for LG with a gubby run in 2032.

Dueling Committees Over Mandated KC Police Funding

Amendment 4 on the ballot this November would amend the constitution to allow the state legislature to determine a minimum level of funding for the Kansas City Police Department.

With less than two months until Election Day, competing campaign committees have sprung up.  It’s unclear if either will be able to raise the substantial amounts of money necessary to make an impact on a statewide ballot.

Missourians for Safer Streets is the committee supporting the proposal.  Its treasurer is Chris Vas. For those tracing the political family tree here: KC police funding is Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer’s pet issue.  He’s a Graves/Roe guy, which you kind of have to be to be a successful Republican in the Missouri Northwest corner. Vas is a Graves soldier.  He headed up the short-lived “Liberty Alliance” after Greitens’ defeat.  He works for the Herzog Foudnation

Stanley M. Herzog Charitable Foundation. And he was treasurer of the Let's Go Brandon PAC which dumped oodles of money into the Jefferson County Executive race presumably as revenge for tough questioning during Todd Graves’ appointment to the Mizzou Board of Curators.

The other side’s committee is No On 4 Committee.  Its treasurer is long-time civic leader Alvin Brooks.  See their paperwork here.

Silvey Makes Initial Appts to Task Force

Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman Ryan Silvey yesterday named three members to the Task Force on Distributed Energy Resources and Net Metering.  This task force was mandated by last session’s SB 745 (Sen. Mike Cierpiot).   The appointments cover representation from the retail distributed energy resources industry, advocates for policy supporting renewable energy development, and advocates for the interests of low-income utility customers.  Silvery appointed Mark Gardner, James Owen and Jacqueline Hutchinson to fill those roles.

Additional members to be named: A PSC commissioner to be appointed by the chairman; 2 state senators, one appointed by the president pro tem, and one by the minority leader; 2 state representatives, one appointed by the speaker, and one by the minority leader; a designee appointed by the director of the division of energy; a designee appointed by the director of the office of public counsel; 3 representatives of “each of the three segments of the retail electric energy industry” appointed by the senate pro tem from “nominees submitted by the statewide associations of the investor-owned electric utilities, rural electric cooperatives, and municipally owned electric utilities.”

The task force is to study the value of solar “with the practical and economic benefits, challenges, and drawbacks of increased distributed energy generation in the state,” submitting a report and any recommended legislation by December 31, 2023.

And

There’s another task force forming in a related issue.  The same bill mandates the Task Force on Fair, Nondiscriminatory Local Taxation Concerning Solar Energy Systems.  Its report is due this December.  They are to study: “the economic benefits and drawbacks of solar energy systems to local communities and the state; the fair, uniform, and standardized assessment and taxation of solar energy systems and their connected equipment owned by a retail or wholesale provider of electricity at the county level in all counties… [and] potential legislation that will provide a uniform assessment and taxation methodology for solar energy systems and their connected equipment owned by a retail or wholesale provider of electricity that will be used in every county of Missouri.”

On The Move

·       Former Rep. Justin Hill, now in Florida, is a “Nationwide State Government Affairs specialist” with StateLinx.  Follow him on Twitter here.

·       And – now sure how I missed this earlier – but former Sen. Jon Dolan is back in Missouri. Considered one of the more colorful legislators during his time, he made national news when he received leave from his military post at Guantanamo Bay to return and cast the deciding vote to override a gubernatorial veto on concealed carry.  Dolan is now executive director of the Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association.

$5K+ Contributions

Teamsters Local Union No 688 Political Action Committee - $7,555 from International Brotherhood of Teamters Missouri PAC- Federal Committee.

Lobbyist Registrations

Scott Penman and Kaycee Nail added Missouri Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs.

Aaron Baker added Balchem.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Megan Price.