Analyst- State needs big cut in spending

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Across-the-board spending cuts of around 15 percent are a necessary first step to regain control of Missouri's state budget, a respected analyst says in a new report.

Throughout the continuing budget crisis, lobbyist and former state budget director Jim Moody has issued a much-read series of studies examining Missouri's financial problems. The latest version of the Moody Report, as it has become known, was released Friday.

"Policy makers need to first wield the machete in order to get the budget back into some semblance of balance," Moody says.

After that, state officials must determine government priorities, how much they will cost and how to pay for them, he adds.

The state budget for the current fiscal year stands at $18.9 billion.

Moody, who served as budget director under Republican John Ashcroft's administration, reiterates several suggestions for change mentioned in his earlier reports.

Among them is to revisit tough mandatory criminal sentencing laws adopted in the 1990s that has led to a boom in Missouri's prison population. Moody acknowledges relaxing those laws would be "a politically charged action" but says the state would have to build a new $80 million prison every year to keep up with the current rate of inmate growth.

He also suggests redesigning the budgeting process by taking a multiple-year look at spending instead of the single-year focus currently employed. He also says the state should stop relying on one-time revenue to pay for ongoing operations.

GOP education ads

The state Republican Party last week began running a radio ad in Cape Girardeau and other Missouri media markets that blast Democratic Gov. Bob Holden for threatening to cut education.

The spot begins by saying "Republicans in the Missouri House and Senate have offered a plan to balance the budget while fully funding -- 100 percent -- our schools and colleges."

The campaign began just as a Republican-led House committee endorsed cutting $91 million in education spending for next year by eliminating the so-called "double count" of students enrolled in summer school, a move that allows school districts to collect more state aid.

Democrats such as state Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, accused the GOP of hypocrisy.

"If there's any question as to which party wants more money for education and which one wants to cut education, I think we answered that today," Graham said.

Workers' comp passes

House Democrats were also testy about a bill to reform the state workers' compensation system that won first-round approval last week.

The measure as passed out of committee was five pages long. The substitute version taken up by the full House, however, ballooned to 34 pages.

Making major back-room changes to legislation is a tradition in the legislature, even when Democrats were in charge. However, state Rep. Rick Johnson, D-High Ridge, chided Republicans for not keeping their pledge to change how business is done.

"This is a complete short circuit and circumvention of the committee process," Johnson said. "This is a disgrace to this institution."

The bill would tighten statutory language that defines what constitutes a workplace injury. Supporters says liberal construction of existing laws by administrative judges have led to an increase in workers' compensation insurance rates.

Under the bill, job conditions would have to be the dominant factor in causing a work-related injury for it to be covered by the workers' compensation system. At present, an injury simply has to be substantially tied to the job.

Opponents said the measure puts too heavy a burden on employees to prove their injuries occurred on the job.

No primary?

Last year, lawmakers passed a law moving up the date of Missouri's presidential primary to early February as a way to boost the state's national importance in the candidate selection process.

In the 2000 election cycle, the two major party candidates had been all but selected by the time Missouri held its primary in March.

The earlier primary may not happen in 2004, however, after a House committee voted to eliminate funding for the election. The cost-cutting move would save the state nearly $4 million.

If the primary doesn't take place, the state would revert to the caucus system, which the parties had used prior to 2000.

Caucuses tend to attract only hard-core party loyalists, and detractors say the system discourages the participation of average Missourians.

mpowers@semissourian.com

(573) 635-4608