Cape, Jackson lawmakers wrap up freshman session

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- For Rep. Wayne Wallingford, the last few days of his first session in the state legislature have been like playing in the Super Bowl.

"But it's the last two minutes and you're out of time-outs," said the 64-year-old Republican who represents Cape Girardeau. "That's how fast things are happening."

Wallingford and Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Jackson, are wrapping up their freshman sessions in the state legislature and both said the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of last-minute amendments, debate and controversy.

Donna Lichtenegger

The Missouri House this week gave final approval to several pieces of legislation, including bills that would require drug testing for welfare recipients and place a ban on so-called "bath salts."

Last week, the House and Senate gave final approval to the 13 appropriations bills that make up the $23.2 billion fiscal 2012 state operating budget that will go into effect July 1. Earlier that week, House members voted to override Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of legislation that would redraw Missouri's congressional map.

That doesn't include the flurry of activity going on in the next 48 hours as the House and Senate work to reach final agreements with the state Senate on bills before Friday's 6 p.m. deadline.

Elected in November, Wallingford replaced Clint Tracy in the 158th District, and Lichtenegger claimed the 157th District seat vacated by Scott Lipke.

Wallingford, a Cape Girardeau businessman, and Lichtenegger, a retired dental hygienist, acknowledged a bit of a learning curve. But they said they found their new posts rewarding and each relished the opportunity to enact change at the state level.

"I was really excited to get up here and it's what I thought it would be -- a lot of hard work," said Lichtenegger, 60. "I intend to keep going. If you really work hard and really listen to what's going on and what people are telling you, there's a lot you can do."

Wallingford seems to have made quite an impression, catching the eye of House Speaker Steve Tilley. Earlier this week, Tilley, R-Perryville, named Wallingford one of several freshman legislators of the year for his work on higher education initiatives.

Through Wallingford's role as vice chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education he sponsored a bill that established the Nursing Education Incentive Program. The House also passed legislation that Wallingford sponsored that will give grants of up to $500 to students who score well on Advanced Placement tests. Wallingford said the grants will give more students an incentive to study math and science, which he said will benefit the state's economy.

Lichtenegger pointed to the one piece of legislation she sponsored that passed, a dental teaching bill that allows Missouri's dental schools to hire instructors from outside the U.S. Lichtenegger said that will address a teacher shortage, but it will still require the teachers to meet all the same standards as American teachers.

She also noted that she worked hard on the Land Reclamation Act, though it was ultimately defeated. That bill would have given the Land Reclamation Commission, a division of the state's Department of Natural Resources, the ability to deny a mining permit if the quarry would be within one mile of a school, child care facility, church, nursing home, public building or cemetery. But she said state Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, introduced a bill that passed that restricts such quarries within 1,000 feet of a school.

She said when working on the budget, she helped save $1.4 million for Meals on Wheels that Nixon wanted scrapped.

Both Lichtenegger and Wallingford said they already have their eyes trained on the next legislative session. Wallingford wants to introduce a bill that would prohibit criminal youth offenders from being housed with adult offenders. Lichtenegger wants to work on bills that would require defibrillators to be placed in gyms and for Missouri to produce and use incandescent light bulbs solely for the state, an act that would defy federal regulations that call for the bulbs to be phased out over the next three years.

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