Crowell adamantly against special session

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - Republican Senator Crowell made it very clear during Tuesday's special session four hour debate that he had no problem ignoring Governor Nixon.

Crowell's animated antics sparked a historical special session debate the capitol has not seen in many years.

The senator expressed his adamant opposition of Governor Nixon's legislative maneuvering.

"The governor's not my dad and I don't live under his rules," Crowell said. "This is crazy! This is unbelievable! We have never had a governor try to tell on such a micro-level what the senate can do on such a variety of topics."

Crowell stressed democracy cannot be micromanaged and it is repugnant to the state's very ideals to do so.

He was also worried the governor's actions might turn Missouri into a monarchy.

Jessi Turnune, Missouri Digital News

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Crowell is not alone in opposition to tax credits for international trade hub.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - One State Senator was not alone in opposition to a bill creating tax credits for an international trade hub in St. Louis.

Southeast Missouri Senator Jason Crowell attacked the bill during an open meeting Tuesday, resulting in little compromise.

Chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee Chuck Purgeson says Crowell wasn't the only one opposing the legislation.

"There's an opportunity to have a lot of changes based on conversations I've had with individual Senators on directions they think the bill needs to go, you know, that's part of our legislative process," Purgeson said.

Lawmakers will discuss the bill next week during a special session.

Stacey Kafka, Missouri Digital News

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Crowell not running for office after he leaves Senate

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Republican Senator Jason Crowell says he is not going to run for elected office after his current term ends in the Missouri Senate.

Crowell will be forced out of office due to term limits next year. For the time being, he says he will focus on his personal life.

"I’m getting married October 15 and Kasey and I are going to start our life together," Crowell says. "And that life together does not include any kind of elected office. I’ve been very, very honored to serve Southeast Missouri in both the Missouri House and the Missouri Senate. But what I want to do next is to be the best husband that I possibly can be and God willing a father and focus on raising a family."

Crowell has served in the Missouri Senate since first winning election in 2004, representing Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Madison, Mississippi, Perry and Scott Counties.

He was elected to the Missouri House of Representative in 2000 and 2002.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Koster files amicus brief that questions individual mandate

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed an amicus brief in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that questions the Constitutionality of the Obama Administration’s Health Care law.

Koster joined the state of Florida in questioning the individual mandate.

Missouri voters passed a referendum last year that prohibits the federal government from requiring people to purchase health insurance.

Republican state Senator Jason Crowell reacted favorably to Koster’s decision.

“He is a Democrat. He is our state’s chief law enforcement officer. And he’s putting his duties as chief law enforcement officer over his affiliation as a Democrat and I applaud him,” Crowell said.

Crowell also recognizes that Koster’s amicus brief will have little to no impact on the court’s decision. An amicus brief is a so-called ‘friend of the court’ statement that outlines the issuer’s thoughts on a case. Therefore, Missouri did not join Florida’s lawsuit, as both house of Missouri’s legislature encouraged Koster to do through non-binding resolutions.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Mo. Senate agrees on worker's compensation

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - Missouri Senators voted to allow Missourians to keep workers' compensation benefits even after they sue third parties.

This bill allows Missourians who suffered injuries from toxic exposure in the workplace to keep all of their workers' compensation money.

The amendment's sponsor, Cape Girardeau Republican Senator Jason Crowell says he is trying to compromise on this bill before it gets to the governor.

"I'm not going to vote to override the Governor if he vetoes, I'm going to give him silent applause and say rock on," Crowell said.

The bill, along with Cowell's amendment, will get a final vote as early as Thursday. 

Andrew Weil, Missouri Digital News

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Crowds gather to discuss Callaway nuclear power plant

JEFFERSON CITY (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - Testifiers on a plan for a second nuclear plant for Callaway County gathered outside two Senate hearing rooms Wednesday a hour before a hearing on the issue even began, causing blockage of a hallway that continued even after Senate doormen allowed some of the crowd to enter the rooms.

The crowd, consisting of both supporters and dissenters of the plan, were forced to accumulate on nearby benches and watch the proceedings on a TV provided for them in the hallway. Each person in the crowd came to provide their opinions on an attempt by the state's main utility provider, Ameren Missouri, to put the cost of building the plant on its ratepayers.

In order to build the plant, Ameren needs to acquire a early site permit from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which would allow the utility company to hire outside researchers to analyze environmental, geological and safety aspects of the proposed building site. Sponsor of the bill, Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, said the bill is a compromise between Ameren, supporting energy providers and state lawmakers to ensure the site permit moves forward, while ratepayers are still protected from suffering a major tax-increase.

"After multiple meetings, I came up with [the bill], which is laid out to be a compromise, but I want to be clear, it is not an agreement to the letter from either side." Kehoe said. "No one on either side of this equation was 100 percent happy with it but it represents, me, as a common sense guy, saying I recognize what needs to be done and the need for consumer protection, and I thought that was fair."

Warner Baxter, CEO of Ameren Missouri, said the ratepayers would be charged an additional two dollars for the average resident and two-tenths of one percent for the larger industrial users. Baxter called the charge a low cost for building and promoted the potential benefits a site permit and nuclear plant could bring.

"[A site permit] gives us the opportunity to access federal incentives, which can save our customers money," Baxter said. "Certainly there is no doubt that a nuclear plant could present a great economic development opportunity by creating thousand of clean energy jobs and hundreds, if not more, permanent jobs in the future."

To protect the ratepayers, Kehoe said his bill provides certain instructions about how much Ameren can charge as well as procedures for ratepayer rebates if for some reason Ameren does not use the site permit to build a nuclear plant:

• The proposal places a "hard cap" on the amount of money Ameren can recover from its customers to pay for the site permit. According to the proposal, Ameren cannot collect more then $40 to $45 million from its ratepayers.
  
  
• Ameren can only conduct the additional rate for a period of 20 years. Once this period has concluded, Ameren can no longer collect fees from the ratepayers to help pay for the site permit. Ameren estimates, however, hold that at two dollars per resident per year, the company should be able to allot enough money to reach the $40 to $45 million cap.
  
  
• If the site is not built, the bill requires Ameren to give back the money it collected. Should the bill pass, if for some reason Ameren does not receive the site permit from the NRC, decides to sell it or does not build the plant, the utility provider would need to present a rebate to the ratepayers that equals the amount the company received from the consumers, including interest. Ameren would need to present the credit to ratepayers in a five to ten year period.

Opponents to the bill, such as members from the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, said making consumers pay for the plant's construction went along with the Construction Work in Progress proposal, which allows utilities to charge ratepayers for the payment of new power plants during construction. Ed Smith, the No-CWIP representative with the Coalition, stated that the proposed legislation should not pass since voters shot down similar legislation two years ago and that Ameren needed CWIP to build the second Callaway reactor.

"Without CWIP, Ameren would not be able to finance a second nuclear reactor and Ameren needs CWIP because the free market gave up on nuclear power decades ago," Smith said. "While construction of a second nuclear reactor is sure to create jobs in Missouri, no state has ever improved its economic well-being by going with the more expensive option."

Smith also said that Missourians should not be left to "pick up the tab on a 50-50 gamble" that he said Ameren has already spent millions of dollars on pursuing.

Matthew Patane, Missouri Digital News

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Public forum yields strong emotions towards "Puppy Mill" law

State Senator Jason Crowell addresses constituent concerns about the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act.

JACKSON, MO (KRCU) - Emotions and concerns ran high at a public forum held Friday evening regarding the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act. 

Over 40 people attended the public forum held Friday evening at the MU Extension Office in Jackson.

Representative Donna Lichtenegger and Senator Jason Crowell hosted the forum to allow concerned citizens from both sides of the issue to come forward, ask questions, and voice their opinions.

Aside from hearing comments and concerns from alarmed citizens, the legislators also used the forum to highlight several bills that have been proposed to amend the law. Nine laws have been introduced during the 2011 legislative session regarding the law. They range from a complete repeal to minimal modifications.

The wording and terminology of the law were the main focus of the forum.

Senator Crowell discussed the big issue of what the word “domesticated” covers as it is written in the law.

“As soon as you put a cow in a fence, is that cow domesticated? As soon as you put a pig in a fence, is that pig domesticated? As soon as you put a horse in a fence, is that horse domesticated?,” Crowell rhetorically asked. “Wild versus domesticated. And that term that was in Prop B has caused the alarm of, is this greater than just dog breeders or is it all livestock?”

This terminology will be challenged further as the law is currently being looked at by both the Senate and the House in hopes of amending it before the law goes into effect on November 2nd of this year.

Crowell voiced his opinion that he is in favor of a complete repeal but was open to some compromise.

“I’m willing to look at some help to really focus on the bad actors, I just think Prop B was focused on the legitimate, honest, hard working Missourians out there that happen to be dog breeders,” Crowell said.

Lawmakers are hoping to have amendments in place before the law goes into effect on November 2nd of this year.

The Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act passed as a ballot initiative last November. It sets limits on the number of breeding females that a dog breeder can have at any given time and establishes standards of care for dogs in breeding facilities.

Katie Long, KRCU

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