MOScout Daily Update: Shrinking Senate Freedom Caucus - Redistricting Legal Hurdle - Who Pays for AI Energy Spike and more…
And Then There Were Two….
I wrote yesterday about Sen. Brad Hudson leaving the Freedom Caucus, saying it left three senators still in the group. But I’ve been informed by multiple senate sources that Sen. Rick Brattin also exited the caucus earlier this summer.
· That leaves just two senators as part of the Freedom Caucus: Sen. Nick Schroer, and Sen. Adam Schnelting.
What It Means
The Senate is not conducive to sub-caucuses. Unlike the House where banding together amplifies one’s voice, a senator is powerful in their own right. Adhering to a sub-caucus, restricts a senator’s ability to work on compromises.
· It’s a reminder how effective Bill Eigel and Jim Lembke were to be able to keep the Conservative Caucus cohesive.
Redistricting’s Legal Challenge
If Republicans go through with the quickie redistricting to carve up Congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s seat before the mid-terms, look for Chuck Hatfield, or another Democratic-leaning attorney, to challenge its constitutionality.
Hatfield signaled the line of attack yesterday on Twitter. “The Missouri constitution doesn’t appear to allow more than one redistricting in a 10 year period.”
He may be referring to Article III, Section 3 which connects the start of the process to last census.
Within sixty days after the population of this state is reported to the President for each decennial census of the United States or, in the event that a redistricting plan has been invalidated by a court of competent jurisdiction, within sixty days that such a ruling has been made, the state committee and the congressional district committees of each of the two political parties casting the highest vote for governor at the last preceding general election shall meet…
But… the state constitution is referring to the process for redistricting state House and Senate districts. Does that tie the legislature’s hands for congressional redistricting? It’s a question that would ultimately end up at the Missouri Supreme Court.
· Dems best case scenario: a messy redistricting process with lots of Republican in-fighting over where the exact lines are drawn, followed by the whole plan being spiked by SCOMO.
Meanwhile
One building insider mulling the logistical path in the Senate sees little in the way of guidance. “The only Senate Rule offering guidance on congressional redistricting is Rule 6, giving leadership the ability to call redistricting bills out of order on the calendar. Leadership would be able to either establish a select committee to run any redistricting bill through, or use an existing standing committee to move the bill forward. If redistricting moves forward, Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin and Floor Leader Tony Luetkemeyer will have lots of leeway to get the bill to the floor.”
WSJ on Energy Gobbling AI
Wall Street Journal reports on the dance between tech companies and utilities…
· Technology companies need an extraordinary amount of electricity to power data centers at the core of the artificial-intelligence race… Utility officials are concerned that the cost of new power infrastructure needed to serve data-center demand could raise rates for regular customers.
· Tech companies are investing tens of billions of dollars in the AI race, much of it to build the data centers. Microsoft expects to spend $80 billion this year. Google this month increased its expected investment this year to $85 billion. Amazon expects to spend $100 billion.
· Some are building data centers in regions where there isn’t yet a large number of them, leading utilities to make costly upgrades to meet the huge new power demands… Utilities in Kansas, Missouri and Texas are debating who should pay for the build-out. Ohio this month became one of the first states to require companies to pay more of the costs associated with connecting data centers to the grid after receiving requests for more than 50 times the amount of power used by its existing data-center customers.
· Tech companies and other data-center developers opposed the requirements. The Data Center Coalition, a trade group, is looking at ways it could push to change it.
Audits Coming
According to the State Auditor’s website, recently added “new audits in progress” include the Office of State Treasurer, St. Louis Public Schools…
eMailbag
House could not pull together tax reform in time for Veto, now the entire General Assembly is teeing up redistricting? What could possibly go wrong with a rush job to a “snap map”?
Lobbyist Registrations
Lauren Edens and Robert Dixon dded Union Electric Co. DBA Amerenue, Ameren Services, Ameren Corp.
Ron Berry added Jaks; and deleted MyScholar LLC, Draiver, Medea, Security Concepts Training Group, Natrabis, Atlas Strategy Group, Mobile DMV LLC, and Montenot Meadows LLC.
$5K+ Contributions
Another Viceroy PAC - $10,000 from J & J Ventures Gaming of Missouri LLC (Effingham, IL).
Conservative Leadership for Southeast Missouri (pro-Bean) - $12,500 from Sterling Bancshares Inc.
Missouri Alliance PAC (pro-Patterson) - $7,500 from MO Soybean Association.
Missouri Alliance PAC - $7,500 from MO Senior PAC.
Missouri Alliance PAC - $10,000 from J&J Ventures Gaming of MO (Effingham, IL).
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Karla Eslinger and Vicki Englund.