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Wild day engulfs Missouri lawmakers |
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KIT WAGAR and Jason Noble |
| Date Posted: |
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May 15, 08 - 7:04 AM |
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ptira@mcclatchy.com |
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http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/11766 |
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Wild day engulfs Missouri lawmakers; one senator suggests need to protect Speaker Rod Jetton from his own members
By KIT WAGAR and Jason Noble
The Star’s Jefferson City correspondents
JEFFERSON CITY | As the Missouri legislative session heads down to the wire, lawmakers tied themselves in knots Wednesday over immigration, property taxes, motorcycle helmets – even the definition of a village.
In a wild day that followed a nearly all-night session in the Senate, lawmakers managed to reconcile two versions of a property tax measure designed to stop increases in property taxes caused solely by rising real estate prices. The bill, which also provides a nearly 50 percent boost in the state property tax subsidy for moderate-income homeowners who are elderly or disabled, could receive final approval as early as today.
But the House nearly ground to a halt in a dispute over a bill that would repeal a law enacted last year that allows a single property owner to declare his land a village. The village provision was slipped into a bill late in last year’s session without debate.
Critics have been trying to bring up the repeal for weeks because it allows landowners to exempt their property from local zoning regulations. The fight has become so nasty that Sen. Jack Goodman, a Mount Vernon Republican, slowed action on legislation to a crawl and threatened to shelve a high-priority illegal immigration measure unless the House approved repeal of the village law.
After hours of debate, the House passed the bill Wednesday afternoon. But by the time House members finished, the measure contained a provision that created as many problems as it solved.
The House added an amendment that would impose new restrictions on adult entertainment. Such restrictions jeopardized passage of the village-law repeal by adding a controversial provision that some lawmakers oppose on First Amendment grounds.
Even a leading opponent of adult entertainment urged colleagues not to attach such restrictions to the bill. But it was ultimately approved.
The effect of the wrangling on immigration and other issues remains up to Goodman. With less than 48 hours left, every minute spent on one issue is a minute lost on another and some lawmakers are content to try to run out the clock.
Late Wednesday evening, Goodman’s committee approved the immigration bill, clearing the way for a final vote in the Senate. But the immigration bill’s prospects are equally murky.
Senators debated that bill late into the night on Tuesday, and in the process added what some say will be a killer amendment for House lawmakers.
The amendment, added by Democratic Sen. Tim Green of St. Louis County, would close a loophole businesses use to employ illegal workers by requiring them to file federal tax forms on all independent contractors.
“For once we’re going to stick up for the good employers,” Green said during debate Tuesday. “For once in Jefferson City we’re going to stick up for those who pay good wages, pay their workers’ comp and withhold their taxes — those who abide by rules.”
The bill’s handler, Republican Sen. Scott Rupp of Wentzville, said he agreed with the thrust of the amendment. But he said it would be unacceptable to House lawmakers and effectively kill the bill.
“This amendment is radioactive on the other side of building,” Rupp said. “I can’t defend why it’s radioactive, but it is.”
Illegal immigration legislation affecting issues like law enforcement, employment and public benefits has been a high priority both in the legislature this year and for Gov. Matt Blunt, who highlighted the issue in his state of the state address in January.
In the midst of the legislative tussling Wednesday, Blunt threatened to call lawmakers back for a special session if they failed to address the issue by Friday.
“Now is not the time to back away from our efforts to fight illegal immigration in our state,” he said in the statement. “It is time for us to work together to enact my directives into law and strengthen our statutes to curb illegal immigration in Missouri.”
As other legislation stalled, the Senate spent hours debating Missouri’s motorcycle helmet law. In what has become a perennial issue, lawmakers led by Republican Sen. Luann Ridgeway of Smithville sought to repeal the helmet requirement for motorcycle drivers and passengers age 21 years and older.
Ridgeway said it was a matter of freedom, of ending discrimination against bikers and an end to the nanny state telling people what is best for them.
Critics said the repeal would increase motorcycle fatalities and lead to more head injuries requiring expensive long-term car. They proposed amendments to require riders who choose not to wear helmets to have medical insurance policies of at least $1 million and to carry proof of such insurance with them.
After several amendments failed, they used used delaying tactics and multiple amendments to block a vote on the measure. Reflecting recent disenchantment among House Republicans, Democratic Sen. Chuck Graham of Columbia proposed an amendment to protect House Speaker Rod Jetton from his own members.
“The speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives shall wear protective headgear during the last three days of a regularly scheduled session,” Graham’s amendment said. “The speaker shall wear such headgear in the House legislative chamber, the hallways leading to such chamber and in the speaker’s office during the last three days of session.”
The amendment appeared to win a voice vote. But Ridgeway called for an individual vote and the proposal failed, 21-4. |
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