Rowland-Hubrecht's first experience with legislature 'baptism by fire'

JEFFERSON CITY -- No one said it would be easy.

Newly-elected Mo. House Representative Tila Rowland-Hubrecht had just gotten sworn in to her office as representative of the 151st district when she found herself in the midst of what would become a historical veto-override session for the state.

Last week, the Missouri House and Senate held a marathon session to override 47 line-item budget vetoes and 10 other bills. The previous single-year high of 12 veto overrides was in 1833 when only a simple majority was required.

"It was a baptism by fire," Rowland-Hubrecht commented. "We got finished sometime around 4 a.m."

Rowland-Hubrecht said she feels good about the session and felt the legislature made the right decisions.

"We wanted to look at different things and fix what we didn't like about some bills," Rowland-Hubrecht added. "I feel like everyone was able to come together with some good compromises for the best interest of Missouri."

The Republican-led legislature often received aid from some fellow Democrats in overturning some veto items. Gov. Jay Nixon said he had vetoed as many bills as he did because the state cannot afford new or expanded programs; but lawmakers said Nixon had decided poorly on which spending items to strike.

Among the vetoes to be overridden was a controversial bill that makes Missouri one of the most stringent states for abortions. The bill, HB 1307, proposed making those seeking an abortion wait for 72 hours before being able to get the procedure.

"I think it's important for people to know that the new bill doesn't keep a woman from getting an abortion," Rowland-Hubrecht explained. "It just means they have to wait 72 hours and think about it. The waiting period also doesn't apply to emergency situations where a woman might have to abort the pregnancy for emergency reasons."

Another highly-publicized bill was SB 656, which allows for public school staff to be trained and allowed to carry a firearm in school.

"That's only if a school decides to do that," Rowland-Hubrecht said. "If they do, then the bill allows for whoever is selected to carry a firearm to receive proper training for it."

One piece of legislation that was one of the earliest vetoes to be overridden in session was SB 829. The bill changes the law to put the burden of proof on the Department of Revenue when a business claims a tax exemption.

Nixon had spoken out strongly against the bill when he submitted his letter to the Missouri Secretary of State. In the letter, Nixon said he supported eliminating "the arbitrary limitation in current law" that puts the burden of proof on some businesses but not on others. He went on to say that businesses claiming a "special carve-out or loophole" without evidence or support is unfair to the majority of tax payers who don't have the ability to obtain special tax exemptions.

Nixon criticized the legislature for submitting the bill -- along with numerous other bills -- one week after they had submitted the budget. Nixon claimed the the budget process had been disregarded, as the new bills were not accounted for on the budget that had been previously submitted. State law requires the Governor sign a balanced budget, but does not require the legislature to submit a balanced budget.

When asked about the financial impact of SB 829, Rowland-Hubrecht said it was her understanding -- based on information she received from Caucus leaders -- that there would be no negative economic impact. But it isn't clear at this time, what will happen, as Nixon has remarked the changes proposed in the tax bills could further drain the state's general revenue.

Rowland-Hubrecht said she was surprised by the line-item issues being discussed.

"That was something there was a lot of talk about," Rowland-Hubrecht remarked. "There was a lot of discussion about cleaning up the language of the bills that get submitted so there aren't a lot of extra things tagged onto it."

Nixon had previously accused legislators of including certain provisions on some bills as "Friday favors" to certain interests.

"I think it's important that we keep a lot of extra provisions being added on to bills," Rowland-Hubrecht remarked. "Maybe that's something good that the Governor brought to our attention and caused us to focus on it."

Though legislators overrode several vetoes, there is no guarantee the money will be spent for those bills, as Nixon has the power to freeze the spending. As of last Thursday, Nixon had unfrozen $143 million of education funding.