• Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
    • Legislature
    • Politics / Govt
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • The Bill Pollock Show
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support

Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Archives for Caleb Rowden

Missouri Senate calls off next week’s session; House pushes forward

March 12, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Add the Missouri Senate to the growing list of places taking measures to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. The upper chamber has called off next week’s session.

As for the House, Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, says the House Budget Committee will meet Sunday and the full House will return next Wednesday. On Twitter, Haahr says the House will pass a state budget next week.

From left: Sens. John Rizzo, Dave Schatz, Caleb Rowden

During a press conference today at the state Capitol, Senate President Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, says many events and schools have taken precautions to protect themselves against the respiratory illness.

“We feel it may be in the best interest for us to not be in this petri dish that we all show up in every week,” says Schatz. “With nothing seriously pressing the Senate, the decision was made from a cautious – not a panic perspective – to take next week off and see how this progresses.”

One positive coronavirus case in Missouri has been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The victim is a St. Louis County woman in her 20s who returned last week from studying abroad in Italy.

A group of Mizzou Journalism School students in Columbia went to the same conference as someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus. The organization Investigative Reporters and Editors says the patient has mild symptoms after spending a few days late last week at the conference in New Orleans.

Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, says no particular incident led to the move.

“We come from all over the state, as do all the other people who come here,” says Rowden. “Even to take that a step further, people who fly in to testify on bills, they’re flying in from other states. We have no understanding of where they’ve come from, the variables around their situation.”

The Legislature’s spring break is the week of March 23. That means Senators will be out until at least March 30. Rowden says the return date could change, depending how things play out with virus concerns.

“We’re going to get done what we need to get done. We’re going to pass a budget,” says Rowden. “If we need to get creative in figuring out how we do that, we’re willing to do that. We’ll get done what we need to get done. The state of Missouri is running, everything is fine but we need to be prepared. Being proactive and figuring on the back end that you were too cautious is much, much better than the reverse.”

Senate offices will be closed through March 29, but employees are supposed to work from home during regular business hours.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Legislature, News Tagged With: Caleb Rowden, Dave Schatz, Elijah Haahr

Missouri Senate GOP’s division on governor’s bridge plan sparks lengthy filibuster

April 10, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

State Senator Bob Onder

The Missouri Senate Conservative Caucus blocked action into this morning on fellow Republican Governor Mike Parson’s $350 million proposed bridge repair plan. The governor’s blueprint would fix 250 bridges over three years. The bill, sponsored by Senate President Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, was tweaked to gain more support. The latest version would issue seven-year bonds at roughly $25 million in interest, instead of 15-year bonds at $100 million in interest.

During the filibuster lasting at least seven hours, Lake St. Louis Republican Bob Onder described the plan as putting the infrastructure costs on a credit card.

“The idea that ‘Well gosh, as long as we could borrow 2% money, why don’t we borrow all we can.’ Well then why don’t we borrow our whole budget this year at 2%,” Onder asked Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia.

State Sen. Caleb Rowden (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“Well, because there’s obviously a point in which borrowing becomes unhealthy as it relates to your ability to pay it back,” replied Rowden, who backs the governor’s proposal.

“The idea that we have to deficit spend and borrow in good economic times, what happens in bad,” Onder questioned.

Onder supports the House’s version to put $100 million in the state budget for road and bridge improvements. He said the state owes $1.8 billion in current infrastructure debt and asked Rowden if owing another $350 million for Parson’s plan is offensive.

“The idea that we would capitalize on the fact that our debt is historically low in our state to fix a transportation infrastructure problem is not offensive to me in the least,” said Rowden.

Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, said Republicans “need to get it together”.

“Right now, you all hold a supermajority. You have the House, the Senate, the Governor’s Mansion and you have veto power. You can’t seem to get nothing done when it comes to infrastructure. That is a problem for me,” she said. “If I was in control, I would have a problem with all this infighting. However, we don’t have time to implode. We have a problem with infrastructure.”

She said GOP priorities don’t make sense.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed speaks at the Missouri Capitol on January 23, 2018 (file photo courtesy of Missouri Senate photographer Harrison Sweazea]

“How can we continue to cut taxes and then have to go borrow money? That’s like an oxymoron. You go cut taxes – Republicans cutting the taxes – and then you have to turn around and borrow? I’m done talking,” said Nasheed.

The Senate did not vote on the measure.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: Caleb Rowden, governor mike parson, Jamilah Nasheed

Budget director: will work with lawmakers on how association dues are paid

May 17, 2014 By Mike Lear

The state’s budget director tells House Republicans the Nixon Administration’s budget office is willing to work with legislative budget makers to change how the state pays dues to organizations its agencies and elected officials belong to.

Republicans called attention this week to the paying of dues to the National Governors Association out of the budget for the Department of Social Services’ administration. For three years that added up to more than $390,000 dollars.

See earlier story

Budget committee members including Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) feel they appropriated money to be used by that agency, not to pay organization dues.

“We feel like we’ve been duped, I think it what it really boils down to, intentional or not,” Rowden told State Budget Director Linda Luebbering. “It’s absolutely and unequivocally wrong, and there’s no other way to put it.”

Luebbering told the committee she doesn’t have the authority to commit to changing how dues are paid, but said she would talk with others in the Nixon Administration and future legislative budget makers about the issue.

“I have committed that we are willing to work with the House and Senate to see if we can’t come to agreement on how to do this differently in the future.”

Republicans say the appearance is that the paying of the Governors Association dues was being hidden, but Luebbering says that was not the intention.

“There are dues paid in a lot of different places in appropriations. They don’t have specific line items. This is not any different from the other ones,” Luebbering told lawmakers. “Clearly we felt it was appropriate, clearly previous administrations have paid it from various places as well.”

Luebbering notes other expenses such as food are also covered out of administrative appropriations that don’t have specific line items.  She says the expenditures can be found on the Missouri Accountability Portal.

“We think it is just as transparent as any other dues that are paid in state government,” says Luebbering.

Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) disagrees, and calls the expenditures, “clearly not transparent, extremely opaque.”

Representative Robert Ross (R-Yukon) says “incredible” is that the Governors Association dues were paid out of the Social Services budget in September of 2013, three months into the fiscal year’s budget.

“If that’s the case, clearly we have been over appropriating to Children’s Division, Social Services, the whole gamut, if they already know at that point that they have extra money and can say, ‘Hey, let’s pay the Governors Dues on this.'”

Kelly says the only way such expenditures will stop is if future budget committees do a more extensive job of going over the state budget.

“I think we are not doing as good a job managing the budget as Jeremiah Nixon is at spending the money,” says Kelly. “We’ve seen example after example of example of that brilliance, about how he finds ways to spend the money in ways that we don’t authorize.”

Kelly suggested twice the amount spent on dues be removed from the governor’s budget for Fiscal Year 2016.

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) in his comments Friday on the end of the regular session of the General Assembly hinted that work to review such expenditures will continue during the legislative interim.

Filed Under: Legislature, News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: budget, Caleb Rowden, Children's Division, Chris Kelly, Jay Nixon, Linda Luebbering, Missouri House of Representatives, Robert Ross, Tim Jones

Legislature proposes regulation of electronic cigarettes

May 13, 2014 By Mike Lear

The Missouri legislature has proposed a ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes to people under 18.

Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) carried the e-cigarettes bill in the House.  (photo courtesy; TIm Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) carried the e-cigarettes bill in the House. (photo courtesy; TIm Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The proposal is aimed at preventing young people from being exposed to nicotine. Some lawmakers opposed the proposal saying it doesn’t go far enough.

Representative Jill Schupp (D-St. Louis) wants legislation that will tax e-cigarettes like tobacco products.

“We know for a fact that the way [teens have] stopped smoking cigarettes happens when we increase the tax on cigarettes, we move the cigarettes behind the counter in stores where they are sold,” says Schupp.

Representative David Wood (R-Versailles) talks with the bill’s sponsor, Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) about why the bill doesn’t treat e-cigarettes like tobacco products.

“You’re trying to take care and protect our children under the age of 18 from a product that could be harmful to them,” says Wood, “but you’re in no way trying to treat it as tobacco no more than we treat Nicorette gum or the patches as tobacco.”

The legislation has been sent to Governor Jay Nixon (D).

The Food and Drug Administration recently announced plans to ban the sales of e-cigarettes to minors and put warning labels on them.

 

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Caleb Rowden, David Wood, e-cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, Jay Nixon, Jill Schupp, Missouri House of Representatives, Missouri State Senate

House advances bill to restrict e-cigarettes to adults

April 15, 2014 By Mike Lear

The state House has given initial approval to restricting the sales of electronic cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18. The bill (HB 1690) would add alternative nicotine products to the list of those restricted for those under 18. It also defines those products and prevents them from being taxed or regulated as tobacco products.

Representative Caleb Rowden (courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Caleb Rowden (courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The sponsor, Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) says the language was written with the goal of being acceptable to both Republicans and Democrats.

“As the industry evolves and as we begin to know more if we get to the point where we say, ‘Okay, we need to tax these at the same rate, at the same level that we’re taxing tobacco products, then that’s something that we could very well do in future years,” says Rowden, “but for simplicity and for making sure that we could get this across the finish line and make sure that at the end of the day that folks 18 and under do not have access to these products, to make sure that was something we could get done, that’s part of the reason we decided to go this route.”

Representative Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur) says the legislation shuts the door to regulation.

“Why we would want to start now by saying we will have no regulations around this as it relates to tobacco products makes no sense to me,” says Schupp. If our goal here today is truly to stop young people from accessing these E-cigarettes as we learn more about what their effects will be, we can do that without this [language] in the bill.”

With another favorable vote the legislation would go to the Senate.

Filed Under: Health / Medicine, News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Caleb Rowden, e-cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, Jill Schupp, Tobacco

House committee hears five takes on ethics reform

February 25, 2014 By Mike Lear

The House Committee on General Laws spent an hour-and-a-half Tuesday afternoon hearing five different proposals that all take different approaches at ethics reform. Lawmakers left that hearing appearing to agree that ethics reform is needed. Governor Jay Nixon and Secretary of State Jason Kander have also called for ethics reform, and legislation on the issue was also heard in a Senate committee Tuesday afternoon.

Three of those bills include a limitation on how quickly after leaving office a former legislator can become a lobbyist. That was one provision that drew criticism from some lawmakers.

Representative Rocky Miller (R-Tuscumbia) questions the need for such a provision.

“Everybody wants to limit what somebody does for a living. I thought the whole point of being a free nation was that we could grow up and become adults and go to work and do what we want to do for a living.”

Representative Mike Colona (D-St. Louis County) says such provisions could cause the law to be thrown out by a judge.

“You’re telling me I can’t work in an industry that I’ve been in for the last 8 years, or 6 years, or 4 years, to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Representative Kevin McManus (D-Kansas City) says one problem with lawmakers immediately becoming lobbyists is that those individuals would be allowed to convert campaign contributions to personal use for someone else.

He explains to one committee member, “If you employ me to work on your campaign and you pay me $10,000 and I don’t do one thing, you’ve just transferred your campaign funds to me and we’ve gotten around this whole issue of converting campaign funds to private use.”

Committee Chairman Caleb Jones (R-Columbia) suggests that rather than one, comprehensive proposal, the committee should consider sending out several bills that address different ethics issues.

“My concern is,” Jones says, “that this would go before a judge on one piece of [a large bill], the judge is going to throw the whole bill out and we’re stuck back where we are, where the public keeps having concerns about how we operate.”

McManus, whose proposal is the largest of the five heard Tuesday, told Jones he would be open to breaking its provisions up into a series of bills.

Policy Director John Scott with the Secretary of State’s Office commended the committee for taking on the ethics issue.

“I think it speaks well of the committee … I think Missourians around the state who have expressed support for ethics reform would really appreciate that.”

The committee has not voted on any of those bills.

The five proposals are:

HB 1340 (McManus)

HB 1440 (Randy Dunn)

HB 1258 (Caleb Rowden)

HB 1260 (Jones)

HB 1267 (Robert Cornejo)

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Caleb Jones, Caleb Rowden, ethics reform, Jason Kander, Jay Nixon, Kevin McManus, Mike Colona, Missouri House of Representatives, Randy Dunn

Debate of whether Governor’s budget is ‘unrealistic’ aired in House committee

January 23, 2014 By Mike Lear

House Republicans continue to criticize Governor Jay Nixon’s proposed budget, saying he has promised 140-million dollars in funding that they don’t believe the state has.

Representative Caleb Rowden (left) asks questions of State Budget Director Linda Luebbering (not pictured) during a House Budget Committee hearing.  (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Caleb Rowden (left) asks questions of State Budget Director Linda Luebbering (not pictured) during a House Budget Committee hearing. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Budget Committee member Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) voiced those concerns in a hearing Thursday to Budget Director Linda Luebbering, saying it isn’t that he disagrees with the priorities the Governor has for spending more money.

“Obviously being from Columbia, the University funding is a great thing … I get all that. I’m just concerned, number one, it is obvious that this budget is unrealistic. Blatantly obvious.”

The House and Senate, led by Republicans, project that in the fiscal year that begins July 1 state revenue will grow by about $8.6-billion dollars. The Nixon Administration projects $8.73-billion in growth.

Rowden says the House and Senate appropriations chairmen’s estimate is backed up by analysts with the University of Missouri.

Luebbering defends the Nixon Administration projection, saying they got their information from experts, too.

“We believe that the economic data does support the estimate that we’re using,” Leubbering says. “Based on input that we’ve received from several national economists, we believe that our estimate is realistic.”

Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) is also a budget committee member. He says the fault is Nixon’s, but it is also that of House and Senate budget chairmen.

“I think that’s a comprehensive failure because it means the term ‘balanced budget’ has no meaning,” says Kelly.

Having said that, though, Kelly says Republicans are just politicizing the issue by attacking Nixon publicly saying that his budget is unrealistic.

“There’s every bit as much reason to believe we the General Assembly are wrong, and it’s something that we ought not cloud with politics.”

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Caleb Rowden, Chris Kelly, Jay Nixon, Linda Luebbering

House gives initial approval to $25 billion budget, Medicaid expansion rejected

March 27, 2013 By Mike Lear

The House is poised to send the Senate a $25 billion budget that does not include Medicaid expansion. House Democrats offered several amendments that would have plugged the Governor’s proposal to expand Medicaid in Missouri back into the new state spending plan but they were all defeated along party lines.

House Minority Leader Jake Hummel (D-St. Louis City) offered several amendments Tuesday attempting to plug Medicaid expansion back into the House's FY 2014 budget proposal.

House Minority Leader Jake Hummel (D-St. Louis City) offered several amendments Tuesday attempting to plug Medicaid expansion back into the House’s FY 2014 budget proposal.

Minority Floor Leader Jake Hummel (D-St. Louis City) sponsored several of those amendments.

“We’re talking about the creation of 24,000 jobs, $8.2 billion of federal investment to this state, 300,000 Missourians with access to healthcare.”

Representative Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur) says Medicaid expansion is widely supported.

“The hospitals, the (state) Chamber, insurance groups, advocates for the poor and the working poor, mental health groups, the Catholic Conference, Metropolitan Congregations United … non-partisan, disparate groups who have come together and said, ‘This is the time, this is the opportunity, this is the moment to do what is right for the people of the State of Missouri.'”

Republicans say accepting expansion rather than pursuing reform would hurt the state in the long run. Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) says that could see the state in the future having to choose between the two greatest parts of its budget: education and healthcare.

“Which schools are we going to shut down because we’re giving $100 million or $200 million dollars out of the schools’ budget to expand a blatantly flawed system?”

Democrats say if the federal government does not keep its promise to pay for expansion for the first three years, and most of the cost after that, the expansion can be scrapped. Representative Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) says the last time a vote was taken to remove people from the Medicaid rolls he was there voting for it, but Democrats did not.

“I want to know which ones of you are going to be willing in three years to vote to take 300 and something people off of Medicaid. I want to be here waiting for that. It is not going to happen. You won’t do it. You didn’t do it in the past. You won’t do it in the future.”

The House is expected to vote on Thursday whether to send the budget to the Senate.

Filed Under: Legislature, News Tagged With: budget, Caleb Rowden, Jake Hummel, Jill Schupp, Kevin Engler, Missouri House of Representatives

House Budget Committee approves $24.7 billion budget

March 13, 2013 By Mike Lear

The House Appropriations Committee has passed a proposed $24.7 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, and it does not include Medicaid eligibility expansion.

Representative Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood) chairs the House Appropriations Committee.  (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood) chairs the House Appropriations Committee. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The Committee rejected two amendments that would have reinserted federal dollars and projected revenue and savings tied to Medicaid expansion in the House budget proposal.

Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) says the state won’t be able to sustain an expanded Medicaid program without cutting into other areas.

“We get out to 2020 when we become on the hook for some of this stuff, it is still my opinion that we’re going to have to pillage education funding to get to the point where we can make this work. For that reason and that reason alone I would be inclined to not support the amendment.”

Representative Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur) urged the Committee to let the full House chamber weigh in.

“We have an opportunity here to not only expand service but to provide an opportunity for more than 24,000 jobs to be created in the first year alone, to bring money into Missouri that would not otherwise be here and to help develop and build our economy.”

The amendments would have plugged in $46 million in projected savings and revenue and more than $800 million to pay for eligibility expansion. Both were defeated along party lines.

The Committee has put money in place to temporarily fill a gap left by the federal sequester cuts, to fund scholarships for National Guard members. Money pulled from several other places will fund the $2.5 million Show-Me Heroes fund.

Representative Jeff Grisamore (R-Lee’s Summit) says it was important not to leave National Guard soldiers behind.

“We will know possibly by the end of the month if there will be a continuing resolution in Congress that would possibly restore this federal side of tuition assistance for National Guard, but if the cuts of the sequester stick, we want to step up and assist and offset that loss so we can ensure that our student soldiers continue to have the funding they need to further their higher education.”

The Committee also voted to pull $85,000 from the administration of the Department of Revenue. That amendment was sponsored by Representative Robert Ross (R-Yukon), who says he is not satisfied with the Department’s response to questions about its scanning and retention of personal information from Missouri driver’s license and concealed carry permit applicants.

Ross withdrew another amendment that would have taken $3-million from the Department.

The budget proposal will go to the full House for debate when lawmakers return from Spring Break.

Filed Under: Legislature, News Tagged With: budget, Caleb Rowden, Department of Revenue, Jeff Grisamore, Jill Schupp, Medicaid expansion, National Guard, Rick Stream, Robert Ross



Tweets by Missourinet

Sports

Budweiser ads will be missing from Super Bowl LV

Anheuser-Bu … [Read More...]

Missouri will be well represented in Super Bowl LV

A former … [Read More...]

The difference in the AFC title game? Kelce got open, Diggs didn’t (PODCAST)

Thanks for … [Read More...]

Chiefs will likely be without starting left tackle Eric Fisher

Patrick … [Read More...]

Chiefs will defend their Super Bowl title

The Kansas … [Read More...]

More Sports

Tweets by missourisports

Archives

Opinion/Editorials

TwitterFacebook

Copyright © 2021 · Learfield News & Ag, LLC