Working for the people: Rone uses agriculture expertise as state representative

Don Rone, 149th District state representative, sits at his desk in Missouri's state capitol building. As part of his legislative duties this year, Rone is chairman of the ag policy committee.

Jill Bock/Standard Democrat

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. —There is a line waiting outside the second-floor office of 149th District Rep. Don Rone. Lobbyists want to talk about the projects they are promoting, fellow legislators seek his input on farm-related issues and his secretary waits to hand him a list of calls from citizens with their concerns.

Rone listens intently to each.

Later he explains that is why he decided to come to Jefferson City. The Portageville native said simply: “I came up here to serve.”

As he begins his third term as representative for a district that spans from Sikeston south through New Madrid County and reaches into parts of Mississippi and Pemiscot counties, Rone is heading up the agriculture policy committee.

The 25-member House agriculture policy committee is second only to the budget committee in size. By serving as the committee chairman Rone said he can draw on his background in farming and his work as a national accounts manager and sales representative for agriculture firms.

“I think I can be of better service to my constituents of the 149th and to the people of Southeast Missouri as well as the rest of the state using all of my expertise in the farm industry,” said Rone. “We are going to serve the people very well.”

The committee, which includes both rural and urban legislators, reviews all agriculture-related bills which seek to come before the House. Rone said his goal is to move them through the committee as quickly as possible.

It will also be an opportunity for him to work on his own proposal, House Bill 588, which seeks to readdress the fee structures of the Department of Agriculture.

“Most people don’t realize it but the Missouri Department of Ag is financed probably 90 percent through fee structures, not through the general revenue of our budgeting process,” Rone said.

He estimated that of the department’s $38 million budget only $5.6 million is from the general revenue fund. Rone called that funding imbalance an injustice for Missouri’s Department of Agriculture.

“Ag is the No. 1 industry in the state. It is the No. 1 industry of new money. We create new money every year when we grow and harvest crops. No other industry in this state can say they do that at the level (agriculture) does,” he said. “So I really do believe we need to put more GR money into that No. 1 industry in the state.”

He will also work to improve an industrial hemp bill passed last year in Missouri. With the federal government approving the production of industrial hemp, surrounding states such as Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois and Oklahoma will begin commercially growing industrial hemp this year, according to Rone.

“Although we passed the hemp bill last year there are some technical problems that we can’t get around. We are going to have to wait until 2020 to open up the hemp business for the growers in the state of Missouri. We are working diligently on it,” said Rone. “It is going to be an absolute boom to the ag industry throughout the Midwest.”

Rone also calls Missouri’s ports as a boom for the state and its economy.

As an example he said Magnitude 7 Metals, the recently reactivated aluminum smelter in New Madrid County, used the New Madrid County Port to ship a barge load of aluminum ingots. According to Rone, the barge carried what it would take 189 trucks to carry at the cost of 12 trucks.

“That is economic development right there in itself,” he said.

Rone said Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has realized this and has urged financing Missouri’s ports at the highest level in the five years that Rone has served in the House.

“I understand that the governor is proposing $10 million,” Rone said. “I have gone to the budget committee chairman and asked for another million and a half dollars. That will fund everything that all 13 port directors have asked for for 2020.”

Since his first election in 2014, Rone said he is most proud of two bills he has championed.

House Bill 1, which was passed in a special session, gave the state’s aluminum and steel industries the right to negotiate power rates. According to Rone that bill enabled Magnitude 7 Metals to bring 500 jobs to New Madrid County.

Also he is proud of his work on House Bill 662, which strengthened the state’s pesticide laws.

Taking an idea and turning it into a bill, shepherding it through the House and Senate then placing it before the governor for a signature is a daunting task.

“I was surprised at how hard it was to get anything across the finish line,” Rone admitted. “This is a very intense process up here. Very intense.”

He pointed out in 2018 some 2,500 bills were proposed in the House. Only about 90 became law.

But, Rone said, it isn’t the passage of a bill that gives him the most satisfaction as a representative, it is those he can help.

Rone said he often will get calls from constituents who have a problem and want to know if he can fix it.

“I personally can’t fix much, but I can put them in touch with the person who can fix it. … That is the key to up here, to know the people that can make the decisions in whatever problem arises at a state level and also on the federal level,” he said.

“I don’t call myself a great legislator or an orator on the floor, but I can help the people who call me and say, ‘Don, I need some help.’ I’m a good servant of the people of my district,” he added.

Rone is also pleased with the state’s leadership. He noted Parson, who became governor in June of last year, has both experience as a businessman, a law enforcement officer and in politics at the county and state level.

Rone said he has worked on numerous bills with former Sen. Mike Kehoe, who was selected by Parson as lieutenant governor.

“I think the world of both gentlemen. They are great leaders for the state of Missouri,” he said. “We are in good hands, very good hands.”

When it comes to working together, Rone said he also strives to work closely with local leaders.

Working with officials from Sikeston and New Madrid County, Rone said they were able to create Advanced Industrial Manufacturing Zones to help boost employment.

“Local government is working very hard along side me to bring economic growth,” Rone said. “I say what is good for Sikeston is good for New Madrid is good for Portageville. What is good for Portageville is good for Sikeston, good for New Madrid, good for Hayti. We are all in this together.”