Riggs to chair House committee addressing workforce innovation, technology

HANNIBAL, Mo. — State Rep. Louis Riggs (R-Hannibal) recently was named chair of the House Special Interim Committee on Workforce Innovation and Technology by Speaker Dean Plocher.

In a press release, Riggs said, “It is an honor to be named chair of this important committee. We will consider how to future-proof Missouri’s workforce at a time of constant technological change. We will also consider how to eliminate training deserts across Missouri, how to make sure that every Missourian has broadband internet access so they can participate in online education and how to take maximum advantage of existing strategic resource partners like the Ag Tech corridor in St. Louis to provide those job opportunities to all Missourians.

“This committee will also take a hard look at workforce housing issues, how to best use technology in such areas of the economy as production agriculture and advanced manufacturing, how to use our highways to bring more supply chain logistics jobs to areas of Missouri that do not have any, and we will study the implications of artificial intelligence on our workforce for the next 10 to 20 years.”

Riggs was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2018. His prior Interim Committee on Broadband Development, which met in 2021, produced a 521-page report with six recommendations, all of which became law in whole or in part in 2022. He currently chairs the House Workforce and Infrastructure Development Committee and is a member of Budget and the Government Efficiency and Downsizing Committees.