AI Infrastructure Community Evaluation Framework<\/a>, a guide for local municipalities to use when vetting proposed data center projects. <\/p>\nProposed legislation includes protections for residential energy customers, limitations on AI\u2019s use as a health professional, and definitions of liability in AI-related mistakes.<\/p>\n
Republican St. Charles Rep. Colin Wellenkamp chairs the Future Caucus and said the framework is designed to help communities engage the AI economy from a position of strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we don\u2019t want to help them through the legislative process, but that\u2019s a little ways away,\u201d Wellenkamp said. \u201cThe Future Caucus wanted to be responsive; these reps around me wanted to be responsive in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wellenkamp said a special session is unlikely given the complexity of the issue. Gov. Mike Kehoe is also on record saying he has no plans to call a special session.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor something as technical and as far-reaching as AI infrastructure deployment across the state of Missouri, I think you\u2019re going to find folks shy away from that because it\u2019s just too much to intake, and it just isn\u2019t a binary decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
St. Louis Democratic Rep. Kimberly Ann Collins said caucus members are aligned on the need for regulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all pretty much on the same page when it comes to AI regulations,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
Republican St. Charles Rep. Mike Costlow said the pace of technology demands urgency from lawmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have watched other states give incentives and give the keys to the kingdom in a way that damaged the relationships and the welfare of the residents,\u201d Costlow said. \u201cAs the Show Me State, it\u2019s important that we learn. They show us, we learn, we do it better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some Missourians are calling for a more aggressive approach. Festus resident and Republican politician Ann Moloney said she supports a statewide pause on data center development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe that a six-month moratorium throughout the state would be an incredibly big crowd pleaser,\u201d Moloney said.<\/p>\n
St. Charles City has already voted to permanently ban data centers within city limits. Data center proposals are emerging in communities across Missouri.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Heartland News. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (Heartland News) – A bipartisan group of Missouri state lawmakers is committing to legislation that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,2975,30139,67645,4202,39,67647,67646,2982,205,7647,7721,5413,764,602,2447,464,11763,46304,781,134,67644],"class_list":["post-136630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bill","tag-channel-12","tag-channel-3","tag-community","tag-data-centers","tag-future-caucus","tag-heartland-news","tag-house","tag-infrastructure","tag-jefferson-city","tag-kfvs","tag-lawmakers","tag-local","tag-missouri","tag-political","tag-politics","tag-regulations","tag-st-louis","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-wsil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}