JEFFERSON CITY — As Missouri lawmakers worked to hammer out a state budget this spring, one senator had a special request.
It wasn’t for a pet project in her southwest Missouri district. It wasn’t for more or less spending on a particular government program.
Instead, freshman Sen. Jill Carter called on budget writers to address her concerns about providing money to build a new, multi-agency health laboratory campus in the capital city.
When the final votes were cast in early May, the Republican from Granby got her wish. Included in the language for the $75 million lab was a caveat that none of the money “shall be expended to the World Health Organization.”
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Mention of the WHO was not sought by Gov. Mike Parson’s administration. And, according to budget writers, there was never an intent to spend money meant for the lab on the organization.
“(W)e were not responsible for this added language,” said Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Lisa Cox.
Rather, the phrase was added in response to conspiracy theories about the WHO that began gaining traction in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lab, which has been in the works for more than three years, would be a joint effort between DHSS, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Conservation and the Department of Natural Resources, all of which are out of room in existing labs or lack a centralized location for research.
According to the budget request, a single campus would provide more efficient action on diseases that transfer from animals to humans, such as avian influenza, and from humans to animals, such as foot-and-mouth disease.
The so-called ““ concept, which has support from the WHO, is based on the idea that the health of people is connected to the health of animals and the environment we share with them.
The project triggered some traffic on social media this spring attempting to connect the WHO to the project.
“Call your senators and the budget committee — tell them to remove this item…. Missouri should not be establishing anything connected to the WHO,” wrote one anonymous poster on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Carter said she supports the project, but wanted to make sure there is no foreign intervention in state spending decisions.
“The idea of multiple agencies working together to increase efficiency and be better stewards of Missourians’ money is very appealing. However, my primary focus is that Missouri elected officials have the flexibility to do what’s best for Missourians. The reasoning behind the budget language was to ensure that decisions made for Missourians are done by those who were elected to represent them, not by foreign entities,” she said in a statement Thursday.
Her intervention came as she was ending her membership in the Missouri Freedom Caucus, which is a small faction of hard-right Republicans that held up action in the Senate for much of the session, resulting in one of the most unproductive years by the General Assembly in modern history.
Some of the bills Carter introduced during the legislative session reflect her and other Republicans’ embrace of conspiracy theories related to global organizations allegedly infringing on the rights of Americans.
Under one proposal, she sought Senate agreement on a resolution highlighting the Missouri Senate’s “unwavering dedication … to the principles of sovereignty and self-determination, declaring unequivocally that any encroachments on the freedom of its residents must be immediately stopped.”
The resolution adds that the Legislature is concerned by “all attempts made by international organizations, such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organization, to advocate for policies and initiatives that could undermine the core values and interests of Missouri’s residents.”
The measure did not advance.
Meantime, officials are waiting for Parson to act on the package of budget bills on his desk before work on the new facility can begin.
“To my knowledge, construction would begin soon after,” Cox said.