MOScout Daily Update: Spencer PAC Dings Jones - PubDef Back Before Budget - Data Center Backlash - MO’s Health Problems and more…
MO’s Long-term Health Problem
Yesterday, Sarah Wilson, acting director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, began her testimony before the House Budget committee with a sober analysis of Missouri’s health situation.
· Missouri is not a healthy state. We rank 42nd among states in our overall health rankings. Further, among states we rank at the bottom of the list for chronic disease including heart disease, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, and kidney disease over the age of 60.
· Estimates suggest that older adults will outnumber minors for the first time in Missouri within the next five years and greatly outnumber minors within 30 years.….
· An aging population means an increase in the incidence and prevalence of chronic disease, as well as the need for additional and different public health-related services. In my experience, it will be much harder to control downstream health care costs without a renewed focus and intentional investment in disease prevention, especially chronic disease and public health.
Meanwhile
MOIndy reports that “proposed cuts to Medicaid being considered by the Republican-controlled Congress could create a massive budget shortfall in Missouri, the director of the state Medicaid program told lawmakers on Tuesday.”
· Todd Richardson, director of MO HealthNet, the state’s health insurance program for low-income and disabled Missourians, told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the state could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid costs under proposals being debated in Congress.
First in MOScout: Spencer PAC Dings Jones
The St. Louis mayoral primary is next week. The consensus is that Mayor Tishaura Jones and Alderwoman Cara Spencer will be the top two vote-getters and move on to the general election in April.
But the campaigns aren’t waiting until next week’s results to fire away at each other.
New today… A Better Future for St Louis, the pro-Spencer PAC, is out with an ad hitting Jones for “mismanagement.” See it here.
“Failed leadership and mismanagement. Tishaura Jones hasn't been the mayor we need… funds went to businesses with unpaid taxes, organizations that weren’t operational or headquartered in vacant buildings and $1.3 million to political insiders…”
Driving the Day: Pub Defs Back Before House Budget
This morning’s House Budget hearing could be an interesting affair. The Public Defender’s Office is coming back before the committee. When they last appeared a couple of weeks ago, they did not even crack their budget book. Rather various committee members railed against their decision to hire an ex-felon involved in a notorious crime.
· I expect that issue will still be front-and-center on the committee’s agenda this morning.
Data Center Backlash
Yesterday there was an article in the Wall Street Journal noting that data centers tend to produce very few long-term jobs. Missouri gets a mention….
· The reality is data centers can employ more than 1,000 people in the several months or years it takes to build them, but rarely need more than one or two hundred once they open…
· Walking through a data center, the primary thing you would see are racks of whirring computers stretching hundreds of yards in every direction and connected by bundles of cables. Occasionally an electrician who works on the wiring or a plumber who maintains the liquid cooling system might walk by. Other jobs for people who work in data centers include data analysts, software and hardware engineers, and security guards.
· Patmos is erecting a data center in Missouri that will employ 40 to 50 people in a building that previously housed the printing press for the Kansas City Star. To garner local support, the company is also building a co-working space and office complex on the property that is expected to create hundreds of jobs.
Sen. Rick Brattin, speaking on Senate floor Monday night about the utility bill, related his own experience with data centers: I bring up the the data centers and the AI technology folks, it's not going away. And it’s only going to get 1000 times worse. Because AI is only going to continue to multiply and its need is going to be profound. I had a data center attempt to try to move into one of my communities. And it would have really been terrible move and my community was able to actually step up and put a stop to a data center moving in that would have raised the rates because it would have been passed on to the consumer.
Malek Contra Vanguard
Press release: Today, Missouri State Treasurer Vivek Malek expressed his concerns to Vanguard regarding the upcoming trustee election for all U.S.-domiciled funds, where they are attempting to sneak by a hand-picked slate, stacked with a climate activist, DEI advocates, and a partisan donor. The letter was signed by six other State Treasurers and the Texas Comptroller.
· One MOScouter: Good issue for Malek to discuss. Most Missourians would say it is wrong to give a politicians wife a $380K board of directors job.
Sieren Exits AG’s Office
Press release: Today, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced the departure of Communications Director Madeline Sieren, who served in the position since June of 2023. Communications staff will be taking over future press inquiries.
· Look for Sieren to announce her next endeavor soon.
Lobbyist Registrations
Megan Howerton added Kaleo Pharmaceuticals.
Maggie Shaffer added Humana, Inc.
Derek Coats added Sun Solar LLC.
Dustin Backes deleted Association of Missouri Nurse Practitioners.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Rep. Louis Riggs, Brad Green, Brad Thielemier, and Mark Langston.