Mid-Missouri legislators look back on 2016 session

Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, gathers loose papers on her desk Friday before joining in with her fellow legislators as they toss their papers in the air following the adjournment of the second regular session of the 98th General Assembly.
Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, gathers loose papers on her desk Friday before joining in with her fellow legislators as they toss their papers in the air following the adjournment of the second regular session of the 98th General Assembly.

Mid-Missouri lawmakers generally praised the accomplishments of the just-finished legislative session.

Missouri House and Senate leaders said in January they were committed to passing ethics reform this year, and Mid-Missouri's House members said the Legislature accomplished that to an extent.

Revolving door legislation - which establishes a six-month time period after a lawmaker's term ends before he or she can become a lobbyist - passed in both chambers. The General Assembly also carried through legislation that prohibits lawmakers from being paid as political consultants and a third bill that stipulates how former legislators can use campaign funds.

"It's been a good session," Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, said. "We got a majority of ethics bills passed and across the finish line."

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Barnes said he also would have liked to see bills concerning lobbyist gift bans have the same fate.

"I'm disappointed that the gift ban did not (pass), but there's always next year," he said.

Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, gave the General Assembly an "A+" grade for a "very good" session.

"We said we wanted to get some ethics reform done, and we were trying to do two bills - but we actually put three on the governor's desk," Kehoe told the News Tribune.

Rep. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, said it was unfortunate the Senate didn't take up the lobbyist gift ban legislation, which he said is one of the most important pieces of ethics reform.

"I've worked in this building long enough to know that's a substantive reform that gives people a real belief (that) this is a process they can trust," he said.

Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, anticipates the legislation being brought up again in the 2017 session.

Reflecting on the past five months, Wood said he's had a very successful year. He carried an education bill in the House that was similar to one in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa. It reinstates a 5-percent cap on foundation formula spending, which distributes state aid to Missouri's public school system.

Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed the Senate version of the bill earlier this month, but the Legislature overrode the veto.

"Stabilizing funding for our schools is very important," Wood said.

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Another bill he sponsored is on Nixon's desk. The legislation makes changes to child abuse investigations and to the rules governing foster care children older than 18 who are re-entering the system.

Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said 2016 was a little different from other sessions, where "it always has rocky parts. But I think the gun bill we just passed was a tremendous victory for Second Amendment rights for Missourians."

Schaefer was the Senate's Appropriations chairman for the last six years and told the News Tribune on Friday, "I think the budget process this year went very well - we were able to get a lot of priorities done this year, including some capital improvements across the state."

He later noted during a news conference, passing a budget is the lawmakers' only constitutional duty each session.

Fitzwater said another major accomplishment from the session was the 2-percent salary increase for state employees in the budget. He hopes to see steady increases in future budgets.

"Hopefully over the years, we can dig ourselves out of the hole we created for state employee benefits," he said.

Rep. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, also called the pay increase a win for this year's session, along with legislation concerning tort reform, expansion of the A+ program and voter identification.

"We use an ID for almost everything," he said. "I think it's a great idea for people to prove who they are when they go to vote."

Kehoe noted Senate leadership also started 2016 saying, "We wanted to get voter ID done, and we got that done this week.

And, he added, "We wanted to do tort reform measures, to make Missouri a more friendly state to do business in, and we put two of those bills on the governor's desk.

"So, when you take that along with protecting Missourians' Second Amendment rights, and a lot of local issues, I think it was a very good session."

Fitzwater said he was happy the Legislature passed his savings program bill, which allows financial institutions to hold a savings promotion program that offers prizes to participants making a minimum deposit into eligible accounts.

He said he was also pleased lawmakers approved the process that Holts Summit and Lake MyKee can use for consolidation.

Sen. Jeanie Riddle, R-Mokane, sponsored a similar bill and handled Fitzwater's House bill when it was in the Senate.

"That's great, and very important to those areas," she said.

Riddle was also pleased lawmakers approved adding a court marshal for the Callaway County courthouse in Fulton and a Civics Education bill that requires high school students to pass the same test given to immigrants who are seeking to become U.S. citizens.

"That's been a two-year project in order to get that accomplished," she said.

Bernskoetter said he would have liked to see the so-called paycheck protection bill pass - the House overrode Nixon's veto, but the Senate fell one vote short of that override in a vote taken at about 12:15 a.m. Friday.

The bill placed restrictions on the processes to be followed by unions representing public employees.

Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, carried that House bill in the Senate - and said Friday he was disappointed with the failure to get the two-thirds margin needed to override Nixon's veto.

"I never go into something to lose," Brown, a veterinarian, said. "I've practiced large-animal medicine for many, many years - and sometimes when it's you and a rope and a black Angus bull, you lose.

"But you dust yourself off, you get back up and re-evaluate."

He predicted the Republican Caucus would re-evaluate paycheck protection later this year.