By Chip Brownlee
Alabama Political Reporter
State Rep. Connie Rowe, R-Jasper, vice chair of the House Republican Caucus, will chair this year’s Caucus Platform Committee, the influential committee that sets Republican priorities for the legislative session.
House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, announced the appointment Monday in a release.
“Because of the judgment and leadership she has shown since taking office, Rep. Rowe has quickly earned the trust and respect of her fellow Republicans in the Alabama House of Representatives,” Ledbetter said. “That is why she was elected to serve as vice chair of the House Republican Caucus, which made her the first woman to hold a caucus leadership post, and it is why she has been chosen to chair the platform committee and shoulder this important task.”
The platform committee sets the party’s publicly announced platform for the legislative session, which last year included points dedicated to ending “sanctuary” cities and campuses, preventing the removal of Confederate monuments and passing a constitutional amendment declaring Alabama a pro-life state.
The House Republicans succeeded in passing all three of these platform points.
Rowe said Monday that she is eager for her committee to begin working. She hopes to help craft an agenda that reflects conservative ideals, she said.
“Some of the most significant reforms passed by the Legislature in recent years, such as the Proration Prevention Act, our toughest-in-the-nation ethics law, and our strong gun rights protections, began as items in the House Republican Caucus agenda,” Rowe said. “I will work with my fellow Republicans to put together an agenda that continues to reform state government, attracts widespread support, and supplements President Trump’s agenda here, on the state level.”
Rowe, a conservative, has also shown an ability to side with more moderate Republicans and even some Democrats on public education issues. She also supported a successful bill passed last session that was intended to crack down on extremist gay conversion and behavioral boot camps, going at odds with some more conservative members of the party who were opposing the bill.
On top of this new job and her position as the caucus’s vice chair, Rowe also sits on the powerful House Rules Committee, which sets the House’s legislative agenda. Between the two posts, Rowe will have a strong influence on any legislation that makes it through the lower chamber of the Alabama Legislature.
Rowe served as a former investigator and police chief in Jasper, Alabama, prior to being elected to the House in 2014. She also serves on the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and the Children and Senior Advocacy Committee.
