Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden Archives

Schatz: Missouri Senate to return next week; two senators who tested positive for COVID have recovered (AUDIO)

November 24, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Senate leader says two state senators and a Senate staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) briefs Capitol reporters on March 12, 2020 in Jefferson City, as Democratic Leader John Rizzo (D-Kansas City) and Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) look on (file photo from Missourinet’s Alisa Nelson)

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, says the full Senate plans to return to Jefferson City next week.

“I haven’t spoken to both of them (the two state senators who tested positive for COVID) but I’ve spoken with one of those senators and he has fully recovered and feeling fine. And I do believe the other senator according to reports, that he is fine also and fully recovered,” Schatz says.

Schatz and Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, announced last Monday that the Senate would postpone debate and votes on the proposed $1.2 billion supplemental budget until after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, due to the positive COVID cases. Schatz says that decision was not made lightly and was done in the best interest of protecting senators, staff members and the public.

Pro Tem Schatz tells Missourinet that the Senate will return next Tuesday afternoon to debate and vote on the supplemental budget. He says the Senate needs two days to get it done, and that will include time for committee hearings.

“Our plan is we adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1,” says Schatz. “So we are planning to come back and take up some of the appropriations work that the House has sent over to us.”

The House approved the supplemental budget on November 10, on a bipartisan 133-4 vote. The budget deploys federal resources across numerous state departments.

It also provides more authority to spend federal dollars on personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing. It also addresses Missouri’s unemployment fund shortage.

Schatz expects a final vote on the supplemental budget next Wednesday. If the Senate approves it as is, it would go straight to the governor’s desk. If any changes are made, the budget would go to a conference committee.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, which was recorded on November 23, 2020:

Columbia’s mayor touts radiopharmaceutical corridor and three massive construction projects (AUDIO)

November 23, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Columbia’s mayor says his fast-growing city and all of mid-Missouri will benefit greatly from three massive projects happening in the area.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson (left) and Columbia Mayor Brian Treece (center) speak to businessman Greg Steinhoff on November 17, 2020 at a groundbreaking ceremony at Columbia Regional Airport (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Mayor Brian Treece notes that more than $500 million in new construction will be happening in the next 12 to 24 months, with some already underway.

“Between a new I-70 bridge at Rocheport, a $200 million NextGen precisional health complex, that will bring life saving cures to Columbia. And now a new $38 million airport terminal (at Columbia Regional). That’s great for mid-Missouri,” Treece says.

The NextGen Precision Health Institute, a $220 million facility, is under construction. It’s expected to train the next generation of scientists who will help Missouri address future health care needs.

The NextGen project is the UM System’s top capital priority, and enjoys bipartisan support in the Legislature from lawmakers such as Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, State Rep. Sara Walsh, R-Ashland, and State Rep. (and State Sen.-Elect) Greg Razer, D-Kansas City.

Mizzou says researchers in medicine and engineering will work in the institute, to advance lifesaving research.

As for the I-70 Rocheport bridge, Missouri has received an $81 million federal grant to replace the current bridge, which was built in 1960. More than 12-million vehicles cross that bridge annually, including three million trucks.

Rocheport is just west of Columbia.

Mayor Treece also predicts that a new terminal that will be built at Columbia Regional Airport (COU) will be a generational investment that will pay big dividends in future economic development for his city and for central Missouri. The mayor says the terminal will also be huge for the University of Missouri.

“For new businesses that want to come to mid-Missouri, that want to take advantage of the University of Missouri’s nuclear reactor and building a radiopharmaceutical corridor right here in central Missouri for life-saving cures that we all benefit from,” says Treece.

The current COU terminal was built in 1968, and Columbia will soon begin flying to Charlotte. Mayor Treece says the new terminal will put further destinations in play, and says Atlanta and Phoenix are two major hub cities Columbia would like to fly to.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, which was recorded on November 17, 2020 at Columbia Regional Airport:

Look for Missouri Senate to vote on $1.27 billion supplemental next week (AUDIO)

November 13, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Senate is expected to debate and vote on the proposed $1.27 billion supplemental budget next Thursday and Friday. That’s according to Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia.

Missouri House Majority Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, (left) speaks to House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, in the House chamber in Jefferson City on November 10, 2020 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The House gave final approval to the supplemental budget this week, with a bipartisan 133-4 vote. That pleases House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage.

“It (the budget) was more of a what I call ‘keep the trains running on time supplemental budget bill.’ The deployment of federal resources across a variety of state departments is mostly what the bill was about,” Smith says.

He says the budget also provides more authority to spend federal dollars on personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing. Chairman Smith says it also addresses Missouri’s unemployment fund shortage.

“Our plans for unemployment program ran short with higher than expected unemployment,” says Smith.

If the Senate approves the supplemental budget as is, it would head straight to the governor’s desk. If changes are made by the Senate, the budget would head to a Senate-House conference committee.

Smith is hopeful the Senate will send it to Governor Parson’s desk, saying he doesn’t expect it to be controversial in the upper chamber.

Meantime, the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says there have been 25,961 new COVID cases in Missouri in the past seven days, along with 63 new deaths in the past week.

State Rep. Jon Carpenter, D-Gladstone, a senior Democrat in the Missouri House, addressed the issue on the floor this week. He’s warning his colleagues that COVID hospitalizations are skyrocketing in the Midwest.

“We now have twice as many people getting infected with coronavirus in our region (the Midwest) than any other region in this country at any point during the pandemic,” Carpenter says.

During his House floor speech, Carpenter called on the Parson administration to address the pandemic itself and to use some of the $1.2 billion supplemental to address economic hardships, school hardships and food hardships in Missouri.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, which was recorded on November 10, 2020 at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City:

Boonville hospital closing and Medicaid expansion emerge as issues in key Missouri Senate race (AUDIO)

November 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Both major parties are pouring money and resources into a mid-Missouri state Senate race, a race that could determine whether Republicans keep a veto-proof majority in that chamber.

The race features Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, and former State Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia.

The district covers Boone and Cooper counties, along the I-70 corridor. While Columbia and Boonville are the two major cities in the district, there are also numerous small towns and farms across the two counties.

Rowden, who served two terms in the Missouri House from 2013-2016, won the Senate seat in 2016 by defeating then-State Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia. Rowden had 45,335 votes, to Webber’s 43,179. Rowden won the race by about two-and-a-half points.

The majority leader is the two number two position in the Missouri Senate. Rowden says serving as majority leader gives him a larger role in impacting the agenda.

“For me that’s making sure that we find a way to get past COVID, trying to find a way to make sure that small businesses have what they need on the back end of COVID, that’s going to be a challenge,” Rowden says. “Trying to make sure the budget situation is stable.”

Rowden also says transportation is huge in the district, noting the importance of an $81-million dollar federal grant to replace the aging I-70 Rocheport bridge. Rocheport is just west of Columbia.

More than 12 million vehicles cross the massive bridge annually, including three million trucks. The bridge connects Boone with Cooper county, across the Missouri River. The current bridge is more than 60 years old, and the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has said it’s in poor condition.

Judy Baker served two terms in the Missouri House, from 2005-2008. She left her House seat to run for an open U.S. House seat in 2008, narrowly losing that race to Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, who’s now in his sixth term.

If elected to the Missouri Senate, Baker’s top priority is implementing and protecting Medicaid expansion, which was approved by Missouri voters in August.

“We just passed it (in August) and in this (senatorial) district, it passed with 62 percent of the vote. And my opponent, of course, has voted against it every time he could,” Baker says.

Medicaid expansion supporters say it will provide healthcare to Missourians who earn less than $18,000 annually.

This year’s closing of a hospital in Boonville has emerged as an issue in this race. Baker tells Missourinet that Pinnacle Regional Hospital in Boonville and some other hospitals would have been saved by Medicaid expansion.

“Those hospitals would have been able to stay in their communities, had they had some kind of revenue for the patients they were already seeing,” says Baker.

But Rowden tells Missourinet that the Boonville hospital closed because of mismanagement, saying hospital leaders in Boonville didn’t have the best interest of the community at heart. Rowden disagrees with Baker on Medicaid expansion.

“Well Medicaid expansion wouldn’t keep any rural hospital open, and there’s no data to back that up,” says Rowden. “I do think the infusion of federal dollars could have postponed the inevitable, in some cases.”

The Missouri Hospital Association says ten rural hospitals have closed in Missouri, since 2014.

Rowden and Baker are also clashing over the initial cost of Medicaid expansion, with Rowden saying it will cost $300 to $500 million in the first five years. He says the money has to come from somewhere, and doesn’t want it coming from Mizzou.

Baker says Medicaid expansion would be an economic boost to hospitals and to the towns that have hospitals, especially rural areas.

Republicans currently control the Senate 23-8, with three vacancies. Two of the three vacancies are in the heavily-Democratic Kansas City area, and one is in southeast Missouri, a GOP stronghold.

A veto-proof majority in the Missouri Senate is 23 Senate seats.

Democrats hope to unseat both Majority Leader Rowden and State Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, on Tuesday. If that happens and if the other Senate races end up as expected, Republicans would have 22 seats, one short of a veto-proof majority.

Governor Mike Parson (R) noted the importance of Rowden’s seat, during a speech last week to supporters at Emery Sapp and Sons in Columbia. Parson spoke directly to the construction workers in the back of the room, saying “I need him,” referring to Senator Rowden.

Rowden’s other top priorities include protecting funding for Mizzou, as well as K-12 and other higher education funding.

Baker is also focused on the COVID pandemic, and says any economic recovery should be geared toward working families.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, which was recorded on October 28, 2020:

Click here to listen to Brian’s full interview with former State Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, which was recorded in Columbia on October 29, 2020:

Missouri House GOP leaders will handle crime bills as single-subject bills; full House to return August 24

August 11, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The top three Republican leaders in Missouri’s GOP-controlled House say they intend to simplify the process during the special session on violent crime, with single-subject bills.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, addresses Capitol reporters on May 15, 2020 in Jefferson City (Tim Bommel at House Communications)

All Missouri House committee hearings originally scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday have been canceled, and the full House isn’t scheduled to return to Jefferson City until Monday August 24.

“In an effort to protect the integrity of the lawmaking process, and to ensure these important issues are thoroughly vetted, we intend to simplify the process with single-subject bills so we can focus on the merits of each bill individually to produce legislation that makes our streets and neighborhoods safer. Given the fact the governor expanded the call as one of our committees (the House Judiciary Committee) was considering the bill he originally proposed, we think it’s important to take a step back and give additional thought and attention to each part of the plan. This will provide a more deliberative process that will allow us to craft the kind of policy that will better protect Missourians from the scourge of violent crime,” the statement from House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, R-O’Fallon and Majority Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, reads.

The committee hearing that Haahr, Wiemann and Vescovo referenced took place Monday afternoon. Late Monday afternoon, Governor Mike Parson (R) expanded his special session call on violent crime, to include a provision to help with what he calls the growing backlog of murder cases in St. Louis.

The governor wants Missouri lawmakers to allow the state attorney general’s office to take on some murder cases that haven’t been prosecuted yet by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner (D). The governor emphasizes that this isn’t about taking away authority, and that it’s about fighting violent crime. Governor Parson says there have been 161 murders in St. Louis City this year, and that charges have been filed in only 33 cases.

Circuit Attorney Gardner issued a statement on Monday, criticizing the governor’s plan.

“This allows the governor and his cronies to make a mockery of judicial checks and balances and demolishes any notion of a free and independent judicial system,” Gardner’s statement reads, in part.

The Missouri Senate approved the crime bill last week, by a bipartisan 27-3 vote.

Speaker Haahr tells Missourinet that he spoke by phone with Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, earlier today, before the Haahr announcement. Rowden told Haahr that he would speak to Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, to fill him in.

The governor has emphasized that the special session is about violent crime.

St. Louis has had 163 homicides in 2020. The city had 194 murders in 2019. Across the state in Kansas City, there have been 122 homicides. There were 90, at this point in 2019 in Kansas City.

Witness protection and eliminating the residency requirement for St. Louis Police officers are top priorities for the governor.

A key proposal in the governor’s January State of the State Address was $1 million in funding for witness protection. Despite bipartisan support in both the Missouri Senate and House, the measure did not pass this year.

Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Chairman State Rep. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, has asked the governor to call a special session on police reform. Governor Parson has told Capitol reporters he’s focusing on violent crime, and wants to wait until January’s regular session to take up police reform.

Other Democrats, including State Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, D-Kansas City, have called on the governor to address the root causes of crime, such as poverty.

Former Missouri lawmaker who championed jobs for the disabled dies

May 20, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A former Missouri state senator and representative who championed disability rights has died, after suffering a heart attack.

Then-State Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, briefs Missouri Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on February 16, 2004 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Former State Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, died this morning at the age of 55, according to his wife, Kate. She posted on Facebook that he died at home, after suffering what’s believed to be a massive heart attack.

Graham served 12 years in the Missouri Legislature: eight in the House and four in the Senate.

Graham was first elected to the House in 1996 and served four terms. He was forced out by term limits, and ran for an open Missouri Senate seat in 2004. The incumbent that year, former State Sen. Ken Jacob, D-Columbia, was term-limited as well. Graham won the 2004 race and served one term, losing a 2008 re-election bid to Columbia Republican Kurt Schaefer.

The top issue that Graham championed in both chambers was disability rights. Graham, who used a wheelchair, emphasized the importance of job opportunities for disabled residents in his district, and across the state.

Graham successfully led the bipartisan legislative effort in 2001 to obtain money for construction for a new Mizzou basketball arena in Columbia. Graham’s legislation provided $35 million in revenue bonds for construction of the new arena, which replaced the Hearnes Center as the home for Tiger men’s and women’s basketball.

Political figures on both sides of the aisle have been praising Graham’s service and focus on disability rights.

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, who served with Graham in the Legislature for four years, tweeted today that Graham was a “great Missouri Democrat, and even a better man. Proud to call him my friend. He will be deeply missed.”

Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, who now holds the Senate seat Graham once did, tweeted his condolences as well.

“Chuck served our community in a number of meaningful ways while always staying focused on protecting our community’s most vulnerable citizens. His passion to help those in need serves as a reminder and motivation to each of us. I will be praying for his family as they mourn his passing,” Rowden tweets.

Rowden tells Missourinet that he and Graham talked numerous times in various settings. Rowden notes that Graham moderated a few disability-themed forums, when Rowden ran for the Missouri House and Senate.

Former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) praises Graham too. She served as the Missouri state auditor for eight of the years that Graham served in the Legislature.

“A fearless advocate for stem cell research, mental health coverage, and for those with disabilities,” McCaskill tweeted Wednesday.

Legislators to return to Missouri Capitol to vote on supplemental for COVID-19 funding (AUDIO)

April 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri lawmakers will return to Jefferson City next week to vote on a key supplemental budget, which includes millions of dollars in federal funds to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, (left) talks to House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, in the House chamber on May 9, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, says senators will come back on Tuesday.

“We will get it done. I don’t envision it becoming a hyper-partisan thing by any means,” Rowden says.

Rowden and House Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, have been working with MU Health Care to make sure it’s safe for state lawmakers to get back inside the Capitol to vote.

The Capitol has been closed to the public since March 24, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The Capitol closed after veteran State Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview, tested positive for COVID-19. Runions has since been released from the hospital, and continues to recover.

Leader Rowden tells Missourinet that those entering the Capitol next week will have their temperature taken. They’ll also receive health questions.

“Taking temperature, asking questions making sure they’ve not been in any of the hot spots, that they don’t have any symptoms, etc.,” says Rowden.

He says they’re taking steps to mitigate risks for senators, staff and the public. The roll call will be much slower next week.

“And people for the most part will probably be in their offices,” Rowden says. “Their name will be called and we’ll give them plenty of time to come from their office into the chamber, cast their vote and then leave again. I think the House is going to do something fairly similar.”

The Senate is expected to return Tuesday morning. The 34-member chamber now has 31 senators, with three vacancies.

The 163-member Missouri House will gavel-in Wednesday afternoon at 1. House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, and Floor Leader Vescovo say it’s imperative that “the Legislature move without delay to keep Missouri’s government operating during this crisis and provide the needed resources to those on the front lines of the pandemic.”

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) says there are now 1,834 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Missouri, along with 19 deaths.

Governor Mike Parson announced this week that he’s withholding $180 million in state spending, to ensure a balanced state budget during the pandemic. The governor is warning that the state could see a $500 million budget shortfall between now and the end of June.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, which was recorded on April 2, 2020:

How will the coronavirus affect Missouri’s state budget?

March 13, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Legislature is working on a more than $30 billion state budget for the fiscal year beginning in July. Lawmakers are crafting a balanced budget they are required to pass in early May. Now they are faced with the effects of COVID-19, often referred to as the coronavirus, and how it will creep its way into the current and future state budgets and state revenues.

Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia

Several events, businesses and schools in Missouri have taken precautionary steps in an effort to avoid an outbreak of COVID-19. Missouri cities hosting major college and high school basketball tournaments will take a hit for getting the games called off or limiting the number of fans allowed, not to mention the St. Louis Blues having the plug pulled on the team’s season.

Missouri will miss out on all those fans once coming through its airports, spending money to hitch a ride to the events, crashing at a hotel, shopping, eating, and drinking. Speaking of drinking, Kansas City and St. Louis have both canceled their St. Patty’s Day parades. That’s a lot of green beer sales not bringing in as much green paper.

The financial impact of these events collecting far less money than planned will trickle down to the state level. There might also be a growing state-level price tag for coronavirus response for agencies like the State Health and Human Services Department. It all depends on how the disease plays out.

During a press conference Thursday at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, says lawmakers might have to make some tougher decisions.

“This is unchartered waters for us and so we’re going to take it as it comes,” says Rowden. “It’s probably two-fold: One, we figure out how much money we’ve got coming in and obviously what we have to spend. But also, potentially what dollars need to be utilized and resourced for the purposes of dealing with this particular issue.”

Rowden says Gov. Mike Parson and legislative budget leaders did not reach a consensus revenue estimate – an agreement on how much they project the state to earn in revenue during the upcoming state budget year. The estimate helps lawmakers shape the budget.

“At least maybe a silver lining in that, which is not something we are celebrating, but it provides Senator (Dan) Hegeman a little bit of flexibility when the House budget comes over to recognize, I think we were under the general assumption that the economy has been good. And so, we thought if anything, that we might have the chance to spend a little more money than the House did on our priorities. But if that’s reversed, based on the information that we have, based on the economic realities of the coronavirus and the backlash, we’ll have to deal with that as well,” he says.

The Missouri Constitution requires state lawmakers to approve a balanced budget by early May.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States has more than 1,200 cases of COVID-19. So far, 36 people have died from the illness. Globally, the virus has sickened more than 125,000 people and killed about 4,600. About two-thirds of the cases originate in China.

So far, Missouri has tested 73 patients for the virus and that number continues to grow.

Thursday, Gov. Parson announced the state’s second “presumptive positive” case of the respiratory illness is a Springfield patient in their 20s who recently traveled to Austria.

Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a positive case involving a St. Louis County woman in her 20’s who recently studied abroad in Italy.

Schatz: Rural Missouri hospitals are critical to their communities

January 24, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s Senate Majority Leader says he’s working with state health officials and leaders in mid-Missouri’s Boonville in an effort to reopen a hospital which closed last week.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz testifies before a House committee on May 1, 2019 in Jefferson City (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Pinnacle Regional Hospital is located in the district of State Sen. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, who’s the Majority Leader. Last week’s closing impacts about 160 employees.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, is also concerned about the Boonville hospital’s closing. Schatz says reimbursements are a major issue for rural hospitals.

“And obviously those rural hospitals struggle with that type of population of being, they’re payment-based and things of that nature, so it’s problematic,” Schatz says.

Pro Tem Schatz tells Missourinet that rural hospitals are critical to their communities. He notes the importance of Missouri Baptist Sullivan hospital in his eastern Missouri hometown.

“I live in Sullivan, Missouri and obviously we have a good rural hospital right there, but again, they struggle at times meeting financial obligations that are there,” says Schatz.

As for Leader Rowden, he says Pinnacle ceased surgical operations after the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) discovered that Pinnacle allegedly wasn’t sterilizing surgical tools and equipment.

DHSS spokeswoman Lisa Cox tells Missourinet the agency and Pinnacle agreed to a 90-day suspension last week. Rowden says that gives any potential buyers time to repair and reopen the hospital as quickly as possible.

Rowden also praises Columbia-based MU Health Care for holding open interviews this week in Boonville, for affected staff.

Senator Rowden also says he’s outraged at reports about how Pinnacle has treated their employees and patients. He notes those are his constituents.

Hospital closings have been an issue in rural Missouri. The “Columbia Missourian” reported in June that six rural Missouri hospitals had closed, in the previous five years.

NCAA’s sanctions against Mizzou athletics are blasted by Missouri lawmakers in both parties

November 28, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri lawmaker is working to draft a House resolution that will criticize the NCAA for its sanctions against Mizzou athletics.

State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, speaks on the Missouri House floor on April 11, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, a Mizzou graduate, is the ranking Democrat on the House Higher Education Committee. He tells Missourinet he’s working on the resolution’s language now.

Representative Razer is upset with the NCAA for upholding the sanctions against Mizzou’s football, baseball and softball teams, including a one-year postseason ban for the programs.

Razer spoke to our Kansas City television partner KMBC, the day the sanctions were upheld this week.

“What the NCAA is telling institutions with today’s ruling is cheat, and then when you get caught, lie about it and hide it,” Razer told KMBC on Tuesday.

Missouri lawmakers return to Jefferson City on January 8 for the 2020 legislative session. The resolution would put the House on record as opposing the NCAA’s decision. It would also provide Razer and lawmakers in both parties with an opportunity to address the issue on the House floor.

Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, also criticizes the NCAA, describing the organization as a “fraud.”

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) also blasts the NCAA, saying the sanctions are unfair and unwarranted. He says Mizzou “did the right thing by self-reporting the actions of the tutor and a small number of players.”