Power Profile: Representative Josh Hurlbert

Representative Josh Hurlbert discusses the importance of Senate Bill 4 during debate in the Missouri House of Representatives.Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel/House Communications.

When Rep. Josh Hurlbert reflects on what led him to public service, he doesn’t point to a single moment. Instead, he credits growing up in a politically active family and early activities like handing out candy at parades for relatives running for office as his introduction to civic life. 

“It’s always been a little bit in my blood,” he said, noting his family was involved in local county politics.

Hurlbert, a Republican representing Missouri’s 8th District in the Missouri House of Representatives, has spent much of his career behind the scenes. After graduating from Park University, he interned for U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, a Republican representing Missouri’s 6th Congressional District, during Graves’ 2008 reelection campaign. That internship turned into a full-time role in the congressman’s district office, where he worked for more than a decade, gaining firsthand experience in constituent services and public policy. 

“It was pivotal,” Hurlbert said of that early experience. “(Graves) was never about being the show horse. He was always a workhorse. It wasn’t the big flashy bills — it was what’s best for the community.”

In 2020, Hurlbert was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives and began serving in January 2021.

This year, he helped deliver one of the most consequential energy bills in recent Missouri history: Senate Bill 4. The utility reform legislation, signed into law in April, was, as Hurlbert puts it, “a once-in-a-generation piece of utility legislation.”

The bill introduces new tools for financing power generation, provisions to protect consumers and requirements for replacing retired power plants with dispatchable energy to preserve reliability. For Hurlbert, the timing couldn’t have been more critical.

“Five years ago, we started seeing a change,” he said. “High demand from advanced manufacturers, data centers, people electrifying their homes — it’s creating more demand on the system. Missouri must be able to meet that demand if we’re going to be in the place to compete for these big jobs coming in from all over the world.”

And those jobs are beginning to arrive. Google recently announced plans for a $10 billion data center in Kansas City’s Northland, a project within Hurlbert’s district that he sees as emblematic of the opportunities Missouri must be prepared to seize.

Maintaining that momentum, he said, requires decisive action by the state. Last year, Kansas secured a massive Panasonic battery plant after passing similar legislation, a deal Missouri couldn’t compete for at the time.

“If we don’t do something to increase our (energy) generation in Missouri, we’re going to keep losing out on those kinds of job creators,” he said. “This bill gives us the tools to be competitive again.”

But Hurlbert said SB 4 isn’t just about attracting new businesses. It also includes protections for residential customers. 

“If a utility were to go over budget or over schedule, those ratepayers get paid back with interest,” he said. “We needed to make sure that Missouri ratepayers are not on the hook for all this extra expansion.”

He also addressed public concerns that the legislation could raise energy bills by as much as $1,000 annually, a figure he called “hogwash.”

“There’s no way that could happen, especially with the protections in this bill,” he said. “That number was just out there to scare people.”

The legislation also requires large energy users, like data centers, to pay their fair share of energy infrastructure expenses. 

“They’re going to be paying extra instead of the same rate as every other Missouri ratepayer,” Hurlbert said. “We need to make sure these companies are paying their fair share. 

Outside the State Capitol, Hurlbert’s focus is even closer to home. He and his wife, Ashley, both homeschooled, met through that community and now live in Smithville with their four children, ages 9, 6, 3 and 1.

“It’s all family time when I’m not down here in the Capitol,” he said.

These days, that means making it back from Jefferson City in time to coach his son’s soccer practice.

The work-life balance isn’t always easy, but for Hurlbert, it’s all part of building the kind of Missouri he wants his kids to grow up in.

“A thriving, growing place — for them and for the rest of northwest Missouri,” he said. “That’s what this work is all about.”

To learn more about Rep. Hurlbert, please visit his official House website.