Sen. Rowden says Missouri state legislators think too small

Missouri State Senator Caleb Rowden discussed issues ranging from economic growth to the new University of Missouri system president Dr. Choi at the Show-Me Institute’s 2017 legislative update forum Tuesday.

Rowden and Bob Roper, retired president and CEO of Central Trust Company, first discussed the issues the university has been going through, such as the state audit of the system and the budget crisis.

Rowden said the state auditor did the job she needed to do, and that the new system president handled the situation well, especially for starting just two days after the audit came out.

Rowden and Roper talked about why some issues are harder to pass than others, and why it seems like legislators don’t talk about bigger issues that might take longer to be put in place.

“In a term-limited environment, it us much easier for us to do things…small incremental things around the edges that look good on our next push piece to help get re-elected. It is much, much more difficult, and there is literally no incentive,” Rowden said, in reference to talking about big-ticket issues.

He continued to say the only incentive for some legislators is to want to make the state better in the long run.

Rowden also talked about budget issues involving road maintenance. He said voters will most likely see either tolls on I-70 or higher gas taxes on a ballot in the future. He said that budget isn’t getting enough revenue to maintain roads and bridges, which in turn could hinder travel through the state for new businesses.