Capitol Report 8/31/2026

Missouri News Network: Statehouse News for MPA Members

This report is written by Missouri School of Journalism students for publication by MPA member newspapers in print and online.

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Missouri News Network this week looks at new laws taking effect, concerns about youth employment and a new report on how AI growth is driving the need for additional power resources.

If you have thoughts or questions, contact Fred Anklam at anklamf@missouri.edu.

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FRIDAY

Judge considers motion to dismiss a lawsuit against a data center project in Montgomery County

By Sedona Schrunk, Missouri News Network

Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker listened to arguments Thursday about the continued development of a massive data center project in Montgomery County.

Google and Amazon are both building data centers that cover a total of 1,900 acres on opposite sides of I-70 east of New Florence in Montgomery County.

In February, advocacy group Preserve Montgomery County filed a lawsuit against the county and the Missouri Department of Economic Development in an effort to halt the Amazon data center.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuit in March.

After hearing arguments on the motion for two hours Thursday, the judge said he would take the matter under advisement.

The plaintiffs have argued that both the county and the state failed to post a proper public notice of the project or adequately provide information about water and electricity usage by the data centers. They also claim they weren’t fully apprised of the terms of the tax abatement.

Attorneys for the state and the county countered that there is no factual evidence to support the claims.

Walker set the next hearing for Sept. 4.

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THURSDAY

Unclaimed property auction brings treasures to Columbia

By Jae Jepsen, Missouri News Network  

Collectors and antique hunters scoured over cases upon cases of jewelry, stamps, coins and more on Wednesday at the first preview for the 2026 Unclaimed Property Auction. 

The annual live auction is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Thursday and Friday at the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center in Columbia, offering up over 2,000 leftover items from abandoned safe deposit boxes in Missouri. Additional previews will be held from 8 to 9 a.m. each day.

Self-described "treasure hunter" Shane McFall travels the country to search for antiquities. He came from Pittsburgh for the auction.

"Sometimes you'd be surprised at what you find," McFall said. "Sometimes there'll be life changing pieces ... if you know what you're looking for."

Despite the availability of digital auction technology, State Treasurer Vivek Malek has stayed true to in-person auctions, rotating the auction across the state to reach more people. 

"I know that (with) online auctions you can save some time," Malek said. "But we have kept this experience the way it is, not only because you can get the real experience of touching the stuff in person, but also ... taking some time out from your regular daily life and having some fun at these auctions."

For some repeat attendees, the auction's value lies in more than just the inventory. Joanne Harris and her husband have come to the auction for six years now, becoming part of the community.

"We got to know the people, and, you know, they always speak to me, they know my name, it's just like family," Harris said.

This year, Harris said she's on the hunt for an emerald.

Malek is hopeful that this year's auction will break last year's record of over $319,000 in total sales. All proceeds from the auction are held until their rightful owners or heirs come forward to claim them.

The auction also serves as an awareness campaign for unclaimed property. Malek said he hopes by attending the event, citizens are motivated to check showmemoney.com to see if they are among the 10% of Missourians who have unclaimed property waiting for them.

"It is not only the money that is sitting there, there's also military medals that we never auction off," Malek said. "So you always try to get those medals back to the families where they belong."

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WEDNESDAY

New state laws taking effect Aug. 28

By Anika Austvold, Hailey Sanford and Nolan Haberstroh, Missouri News Network 

Seventy-six new Missouri laws are set to be enacted Friday.

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed them over the summer, and their effective date is 90 days after the end of the annual legislative session.

Driving

HB 1740, sponsored by Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, will increase the penalty and felony ratings for all intoxicated driving crimes resulting in personal injury or death.

The law prevents parole or probation for five years for those convicted of drunk driving resulting in a death. The law also prevents convicted persons from receiving limited driving privileges until they file proof that their vehicle has a car breathalyzer, known as an ignition interlock device or IID.

Additionally, it will prevent any person with an income at or below 150% of the federal poverty line from paying more than 10% of the cost of their IID.

Sen. Mike Henderson, R-Desloge, sponsored SB 1135, which establishes Bentley and Mason’s Law. This provision will allow the surviving family of victims of intoxicated driving who leave behind children to petition to receive child maintenance payments until adulthood from the convicted driver.

If the driver is incarcerated, the payments must begin within one year after their release.

SB 1408, sponsored by Sen. Jamie Burger, R-Benton, will increase the speed limit on rural interstates and freeways from 70 miles per hour to 75 miles per hour. This will not apply to urban areas. Missouri Department of Transportation officials, who will determine where the enhanced speed will apply, said last week that those areas are under review, and the 70 mph limit will be enforced in all areas until later this year.

SB 1421, sponsored by Sen. Nick Shroer, R-Defiance, increases the penalties for those who drive past a stopped school bus. Those cited for failing to stop while children are getting on or off buses will incur increased fines and five penalty points. Accruing eight points over 18 months leads to a suspension of a driver’s license.

Any violation that leads to injury or death of a child also will see increased felony charges with additional fines.

ADA compliance

HB 1840, sponsored by Rep. Sheri Gallick, R-Benton, will establish a statewide communications access services program. The program is designed to improve compliance with federal Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

The bill also establishes a Purple Alert system for missing people with developmental disabilities. The bill includes Mason’s Law, which will allow people with disabilities or health conditions that would have difficulty communicating with officers to have a designation listed with their license plate numbers.

The Act Against Abusive Website Litigation, SB 907, was sponsored by Sen. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair. The law intends to prevent law firms from pursuing legal action against small businesses over ADA infractions on their websites by allowing 90 days for the infraction to be corrected. The law will allow businesses to counter-sue if the original lawsuit was filed to receive a settlement rather than in pursuit of ADA compliance.

Family issues

SB 982, sponsored by Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, reestablishes Missouri’s sex offender registry tier system.

Tier I encompasses less severe sex crimes, like sexual misconduct, possession of child pornography and sex with an animal. Tier II includes grooming, patronizing prostitution and sexual exploitation of a minor. Tier III addresses rape, child molestation and sex trafficking of minors.

It also allows for sex offenders to petition for removal from the list after 10 years for Tier I and 25 years for Tier II. Offenders on Tier III are banned from removal.

HB 1908, sponsored by Rep. Cecelie Williams, R-Dittmer, would stop pregnancy status from preventing a divorce or legal separation. Previously a person’s separation from their spouse could be prevented by pregnancy, a situation Williams endured and described in promoting the bill.

Sponsored by Gallick, HB 1839 requires websites with significant amounts of sexual material deemed harmful to minors to verify that users are at least 18 years old. The requirement applies to commercial websites, including social media platforms, where more than one-third of the content falls under the law’s definition of sexual material harmful to minors.

Those sites must use a third party to perform age verification, and that third party is prohibited from retaining that identifying information.

HB 2292, sponsored by Rep. Holly Jones, R-Eureka, will require service workers in certain professions, primarily mental health professionals, school workers and law enforcement employees, to report animal abuse if they see it occur. The bill provides for 90 minutes of instruction for these workers in identifying animal abuse. The training is to be completed by eligible service workers by Dec. 31, 2027.

Free speech, education

SB 1067, sponsored by Henderson, creates the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, giving Missourians a new process to quickly challenge lawsuits based on constitutionally protected speech or participation in public affairs. The law allows defendants to seek early dismissal of certain claims involving free speech, press, assembly and other forms of public expression and generally requires the losing party to cover legal costs.

SB 905, sponsored by Sen. David Gregory, R-St. Louis, creates a Missouri Rangers training program for the rangers to be placed in participating schools. The rangers will be allowed to carry a firearm. The school will employ them, and they will have qualified immunity.

Rep. George Hruza, R-St. Louis, sponsored HB 2061, which provides protections against antisemitism and other hate speech in public schools. Supporters say this law will not infringe on First Amendment protections.

HB 2896, sponsored by Rep. Chris Brown, R-Kansas City, makes several changes to education programs and the governing boards of Missouri’s public colleges and universities.

The law removes the 2028 expiration date for the state’s Workforce Diploma Program, which helps adults earn high school diplomas while developing career and technical skills.

It also changes residency requirements for the governing boards of public institutions including Lincoln University, Truman State University and the University of Central Missouri. Under this provision, no more than half of a covered institution’s board members may live in the county where the school’s main administrative office is located.

The law also allows the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish an ongoing agricultural education program for elementary schools beginning with the 2027-28 school year, replacing an existing pilot program. Participating local school districts would be responsible for funding the program.

Economy

HB 3231, sponsored by Rep. Brad Christ, R-St. Louis, expands Missouri’s economic development incentives, with a focus on attracting major investments and encouraging redevelopment in downtown and rural communities.

The law creates the Missouri Innovation, Public Safety and Accountability Act, allowing cities to apply for designation of a Missouri innovation zone. Projects within those zones can become eligible for state and local economic incentives aimed at encouraging business investment, housing development and redevelopment of underused properties.

The law creates funds to direct new tax revenue generated in innovation zones toward public safety, infrastructure and rural economic development.

It also expands the Missouri Downtown and Rural Economic Stimulus Act and creates or modifies incentives for large capital investments. Among its provisions are tax incentives for investments in Missouri businesses, office-to-residential conversions and companies making major capital investments in the state.

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Missouri claims part of $17 billion Meta lawsuit settlement

By Maddie Carr, Missouri News Network 

The state of Missouri could receive up to $150 million as part of a proposed $17.1 billion consumer protection settlement with social media company Meta, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced Wednesday.

The state is one of 47 that filed suit against Meta — which owns Instagram and Facebook — over claims that it designed Instagram to be addictive, harming the mental health of young users and misleading the public about platform safety.

“As a mother, I know how critical it is to shield kids from predators, addictive material and content that harms their mental health,” Hanaway said in a news release. “Every minor should be secure the moment they log on, and we will continue working toward a digital environment where children are truly protected, no matter where they live or which platform they use.”

Missouri will receive between $100 million and $150 million from the proposed settlement, according to the release.

As part of the settlement, Meta is required to bring several safety changes to its platforms for minors, including daily time limits, nighttime blocks, content controls, limited features and age verification, among others.

“We are proud that Missouri could be a part of this broad, nationwide coalition. The safety measures Meta has agreed to implement as part of the settlement will provide meaningful protections for families,” a spokesperson from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office said in an email.

“Our office has a strong record of advocating for young people in online spaces, and we remain committed to ensuring the safety of minors across digital platforms,” he added.

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TUESDAY

Missouri teens struggled to find summer jobs as workforce participation rate declined

By Misbahul Haque, Missouri News Network

Amelia Donaldson, a 20-year-old Missourian, started looking for a job in early May with a clear goal – find work doing something in healthcare. As a junior working toward a bachelor's degree in health science, she wanted to build experience for her future career.

It didn't work out that way. “There are quite a few jobs here in Columbia, Missouri, but unfortunately, a lot of the jobs that I'm looking for are not something that will apply to my career,” she said. 

Donaldson kept searching for about a month and a half. By mid-June, she stopped focusing only on healthcare and started applying for jobs in food service, security, Amazon warehouses, airports and other places. In total, she applied to around 42 jobs, but got only five interviews. Eventually, she started working as a cross-utilization agent at Columbia Regional Airport. 

Donaldson is one of many young people who have struggled to get a job this summer.

Not everyone had the same difficulties finding employment. Claire Dunkin, 16, has worked for two summers as a Life Enrichment Assistant at a Columbia senior living facility. They got the job through Columbia's Career Awareness Related Experience program, which helps place teens with local employers and supports them during the hiring process.

Dunkin said CARE made finding a job easier for them, but they do not think most teens have that experience. Their friends were able to find jobs, but they "had to work really hard to get them.” 

Chidima Oguchiku, 17, had a similar experience. She applied to work at Walmart but did not receive a response. Instead, Oguchiku relied on CARE to get a summer job. 

She said her friends who applied outside of the CARE program often wait weeks to hear back from employers, if they receive a response at all. 

“That can be hard for us, especially as kids, because we don't have patience,” Oguchiku said.

Data shows drop in teen workforce participation

The youth labor force – 16- to 24-year-olds working or actively looking for work – grows sharply between April and July each year. In 2026, this labor force grew by 2.1 million, or 9.8%, from April to 23.5 million in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report also said 53.8% of workers in this age group were employed in July 2026, up slightly from 53.1% a year earlier, and unemployment for that group fell to 9.1% from 10.8% over the same period of time.

But, the outlook changes when looking at only teen employment. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas had projected in May that it would be the weakest summer for teen hiring since 1948. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows that teen participation in the workforce has been declining across the country for a long period of time. 

According to the FRED data, the labor-force participation rate for 16- to 19-year-olds was 37.3% in June 2024, and it had fallen to 35.1% by June 2025. This June, it went up slightly to 35.4%. 

In a month-by-month comparison, the participation rate declined steadily in recent months – 35.8% in April, 35.7% in May, 35.4% in June and 34.9% in July. The most recent July participation rate is lower than July 2025, when the rate was 35%, and July 2024, when it was 36.4%.

The BLS report said the three largest employers of 16- to 24-year-olds in July 2026 were leisure and hospitality with 25% of employed youth, retail trade with 18% of employment, and education and health services with 14% of employment. Leisure and hospitality registered an employment decline of around 1.1% from a year earlier, while retail trade rose about 4.7% and education and health services were roughly flat. 

Youth job programs see rising demand, waning funds

Job-placement programs across Missouri are seeing more demand while receiving less funding and dealing with an increased minimum wage in the state.

STL Youth Jobs is a St. Louis-based nonprofit that helps teen workers get jobs and raises private and public funding to pay them directly. They typically receive between 2,000 and 2,500 applications a year, and that number jumped by roughly 500 this year. 

Hillary Frey, the executive director of the STL Youth Jobs, said it was “a pretty big jump” for them. She said the program funded about 400 jobs last summer, but with about the same amount of fundraising, it could support only 325 jobs this year.

The CARE program in Columbia also registered a sharp increase in applications this summer. 

Ron Schmidt, the program’s supervisor, said, “This year we received 595 applications, and that is a record. Just four years ago, we had 250 applications, and so it's really gone up substantially since then.”

​​He said the program had received 506 applications in 2018 and 567 in 2019, but it hadn't come close to 500 again until this year. 

“Maybe it's because other places are not hiring teenagers as much as they used to,” he said.

Ericka Schmeeckle, the assistant director for workforce development for the city of Springfield, said the state’s Jobs League program lost all of its funding this year. The program had helped teens get their first jobs by paying wage subsidies and covering costs such as gas cards, bus passes and childcare. Because of this funding loss, they could not offer any subsidized positions. 

Experts point to declining employment trends

Alan Spell is an assistant extension professor researching regional economic development at University of Missouri Extension and a former lead researcher at the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. Spell said the trend of declining teen employment began more than 20 years ago. Before the 2000s, about half of 16- to 19-year-olds had jobs. Nationally, that rate was around 36% in 2025, while Missouri teens were doing somewhat better, with participation closer to 46%.

Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said cost pressures are hurting the industries that usually hire teens.

“The dynamics that drove that slowdown – cost pressures, automation, employers waiting to see how consumer demand holds up – are all still in place, and in some cases, they've intensified,” he said in a statement accompanying the firm's summer job projection report.

Peter Mueser, a labor economist at the University of Missouri, said the national job market is unusual right now. “There are far fewer people being laid off and far fewer people being hired,” he said, adding that with less turnover overall, “there might be fewer jobs available for those coming onto the market the first time.”

He also said that application numbers should be compared carefully. Seasonal changes and any changes within individual programs should be considered before determining any clear reason for the increase.

Spell sees two trends happening consecutively.

“One is that we do see, especially this summer, a lower hiring environment of employers in general,” he said. “The other is that there's still plenty of jobs out there for the youth, but more are choosing career and technical training so they can enter the workforce more quickly after high school. This is good, as they’ll earn higher wages with these job skills, but it does reduce the supply of available entry-level workers.”

Both Spell and Mueser, however, said low summer employment rates among younger folks can have long-term effects. 

“There's always a return... people who work on a job learn things on the job,” Mueser said. “If people are unable to find jobs and they're doing nothing, then that is going to be damaging to them in the long run.”

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MONDAY

Study: AI growth requires huge electric grid upgrades

 By Jana Rose Schleis, Missouri News Network

A new federal report shows the electric grid across much of the country is strained, requiring thousands of miles of new power lines and billions of dollars in investments.

The National Transmission Needs Study shows that approximately 4,000 miles of power lines will need to be replaced each year for the next few decades.

The federal report notes that most of the country’s transmission infrastructure was built in the 1960s and ’70s and is now reaching the end of its useful life and that currently, “operational challenges of the electric grid are evolving in complexity and magnitude.”

Threats from severe weather, increasing demand for electricity and additional wind and solar generation coming online all compound the need for new power lines nationwide.

“Significant transmission investment is needed to cost-effectively meet future demand through 2050,” the report states.

The federal analysis points to projections that show U.S. electricity consumption rising 16% to 25% by 2034.

Increasing electricity demand is due in large part to the rapid development of data centers needed to support artificial intelligence technologies.

During a visit to Jefferson City on Monday, Department of Energy leaders said they believe operators of forthcoming AI data centers will pay their fair share.

Katie Jereza is the assistant secretary of the federal Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity. She pointed to President Donald Trump’s voluntary ratepayer protection pledge that’s been signed by tech companies, utilities and governors.

“The whole principle is that the data centers will pay for the infrastructure upgrades for their generation, not the families,” Jereza said.

Jereza said the federal government will soon announce funding for what’s called “reconductoring.”

“Which is basically … restringing the lines,” Jereza said. “So you’ve got old conductors, and now we’re going to put in new ones that can carry more electrons through from generation to delivery.”

As technology companies build AI data centers across the state, Missouri lawmakers have passed legislation with new consumer protections in an attempt to ensure the company’s large energy needs don’t increase residents’ utility bills.

“We feel like the transmission element is something that largely gets glossed over, but it’s a huge cost that ultimately is borne by ratepayers,” said Geoff Marke, chief economist with the Missouri Office of Public Counsel, the state’s consumer advocacy department.

He said he’s concerned the cost for the vast infrastructure upgrades needed will fall to the average energy consumers.

“If the proper cost allocation is not in place there, then yes, I do think residential customers will be exposed more than they otherwise would be,” Marke said.

The national study of power lines comes as a group of nine electric transmission utilities, including Ameren and Evergy, are asking federal energy regulators for the right of first refusal to build and operate new multi-state, large-scale power lines. The energy companies say pausing the competitive bidding process will speed up needed grid upgrades.

But Marke said competition reigns in overspending.

“Incumbent utilities have the vast majority of the transmission investment,” Marke said. “Opening that up to requests for proposals or just competitive bidding will just force everybody to be more professional and curb those costs.”

Jezera said whether competition brings the cost of new transmission lines down depends on a variety of factors, including location.

“There are parts of the country where it has worked really well. It has gone faster and reduced the cost, and then in other areas it hasn’t worked as well,” she said.