AREA LAWMAKERS GET PANEL ASSIGNMENTS

JEFFERSON CITY - Five Southeast Missouri members of the House of Representatives will hold committee chairmanships in the new legislative session.

Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, is the only area legislator to receive a chairmanship for the first time. He was named by House Speaker Bob Griffin to head the committee on legislative research, which meets with a committee of senators to oversee research staffs for the General Assembly.

Reappointed to second terms as chairmen of what are considered major committees in the House are Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, and Rep. Joe Driskill, D-Poplar Bluff.

Ziegenhorn will head the Insurance Committee while Driskill will head the Commerce Committee, which handles many key pieces of legislation considered important to business and economic development in the state.

Rep. Herb Fallert, D-Ste. Genevieve, was appointed to a third term as chairman of the Tourism, Recreational and Cultural Affairs Committee.

Also reappointed to his chairmanship was Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid, who was first elected in 1960 and is the senior member of the General Assembly. Copeland will continue as chairman of the Banks and Financial Institutions Committee he has headed for over two decades.

Since Democrats are the majority party in the Missouri House, all chairmanships and vice chairmanships are held by Democrats. Representatives holding vice chairmanships are not necessarily in line to move toward chairman of the committees should a vacancies occur, however.

In most cases, the power of the vice chairman is limited to presiding when the chairman presents a bill before the committee. The chairman does confer with the vice chairman on bills, giving that person more influence than other committee members.

Committee chairmen, especially of more important committees, can have considerable influence over the kind of legislation that is sent to the full House for consideration.

Committee leadership positions and committee assignments are generally based on seniority.

The House minority leader determines what Republicans are assigned to committees, except that the speaker has the power to veto any appointments he does not want made.

There was also an effort this year by Griffin to cut the size of some committees so they can function more efficiently.

But although Democrats have the chairmanships, a Republican holds the lone Southeast Missouri seat on the powerful House Budget Committee, which will review the intimate details of the state's more than $10 billion budget.

Serving her second term on the budget panel will be Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, who was first elected to the House in 1982. She represents the 158th District.

The committee dealing with elementary and secondary education will also have just one voice from Southeast Missouri in State Rep. Marilyn Williams, D-Dudley. Serving her second term in the House from the 159th District, Williams is vice chairman of the committee.

Williams is also the lone area voice on a special joint committee that will meet to draft a new school foundation formula.

The education committee, always considered a key committee in the legislature, will have increased visibility this year with the need to draft a new school foundation formula and the priority of Gov. Mel Carnahan to pass an education reform bill this year.

Williams, whose district includes most of Stoddard County and Oran, Morley and Chaffee in Scott County, is also serving as vice chairman of the committee for agribusiness.

There will be two area voices on the Appropriations Committee that deals with education and public safety - Rep. Mark Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, and Ziegenhorn. Both are new to the appropriations panel.

Also named to his first appropriations committee is Rep. David Scwhab, R-Jackson, who will serve on the committee for general administration.

Schwab will also join Kasten on the Higher Education Committee.

Schwab, serving his third term from the 157th District, also continues to serve on the committee for transportation and the panel for professional registration and licensing.

Kasten also continues on the appropriations committee for health and mental health and on the Children, Youth and Families Committee.

Besides the two committees she serves as vice chairman of, Williams also serves on the committees for governmental organization and review; banks and financial institutions; and fees and salaries.

Richardson, serving his second term from the 154th District, has claimed a seat on the new Workers Compensation and Employment Security Committee. The new panel will focus much of its early efforts on drafting a bill to deal with problems of rising costs of workers' compensation to businesses in the state.

Richardson will also be on committees for: judiciary and ethics; mines and mining; and professional registration and licensing.

Ziegenhorn, representing the 160th district, will also spend his sixth term working on the Accounts Committee and the Miscellaneous Bills and Resolutions Committee. The accounts panel is considered a major assignment because it controls some spending by the House.

Copeland, representing the 161st District, also serves on the Accounts Committee; appropriations for general administration; local government and related matters; and on the committee for legislative research.

Thomason's committee on legislative research was chaired for many years by his predecessor from the 163rd District, Rep. Lew Maddox. Thomason, who is in his third term, will also be serving as vice chairman of the Transportation Committee.

His other committee assignments are agriculture; commerce; and appropriations for natural and economic resources.

Besides his chairmanship of the tourism panel, Fallert will serve on four other committees: banks and financial institutions; state parks, recreation and natural resources; and appropriations for natural and economic resources.

Fallert, whose 155th District includes Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties, is serving his sixth term.

Driskill, in his sixth term from the 156th District, holds four other committee assignments besides the Commerce Committee, which he chairs. He serves on the committees for: agriculture; ways and means; the joint committee on economic development; and on the appropriations committee for natural and economic resources.

Driskill's district includes Wayne County and parts of Butler, Ripley and Bollinger counties.

Rep. Jim Graham, R-Fredericktown, who represents the 106th District, begins his second term with three committee assignments: agriculture; corrections and state institutions; and mines and mining.

The lone freshman in Southeast Missouri's House delegation is Rep. Donald Prost, D-Caruthersville, who serves the 162nd District.

Prost has drawn four assignments for his rookie session: agriculture; commerce; local government and related matters; and tourism, recreational and cultural affairs.