Changes in road policies offered in new bills

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Scrapping the independent Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission in favor of a transportation chief directly accountable to the governor is among the many proposed constitutional changes lawmakers will consider next year.

Dozens of proposed amendments to the Missouri Constitution annually are introduced in the General Assembly, but only a chosen few ever make it on the statewide ballot for voter ratification.

Proposed amendments typically appear on the ballot only during general elections, the next of which is in November 2004. However, those offered by the General Assembly can be decided at any election lawmakers or the governor choose.

The legislative session begins Jan. 8.

State Sen.-elect Matt Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, has prefiled a measure to abolish the six-member highways commission, which runs the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The commission was established in the 1920s with the intent of taking politics out of highway funding decisions. However, Bartle, a four-year veteran of the House of Representatives, said the current system is broken, as evidenced by claims of mistrust of MoDOT and the commission in voters' nearly 3-to-1 rejection of a transportation tax package in August.

At present, the governor appoints commissioners, who are subject to Senate confirmation. Aside from that, neither the governor nor lawmakers have a direct say in MoDOT policies. The governor can't fire commissioners.

"The sense is this unelected commission has presided over a massive decline and deterioration in Missouri's transportation infrastructure," Bartle said. "Now is time for a change."

Bartle's measure would make MoDOT's director, who currently is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the commission, a gubernatorial appointment subject to Senate confirmation. If the governor wants a change in transportation policy, he could replace the director.

"If people don't like the decisions being made at the Department of Transportation, ultimately the governor would have to be accountable to the people," Bartle said.

Toll road proposal

State Rep. Jim Seigfreid, D-Marshall, has offered another transportation amendment that would authorize MoDOT to build toll roads. Seigfreid has pursued this proposal for several years and managed to win House passage in 2000, but the bill died in the Senate.

However, with the massive failure of the transportation tax this year, Seigfreid said lawmakers may be more inclined to put his plan before voters. State Sen. John Louden, R-Ballwin, has prefiled a similar measure.

"This would be an alternative to taxes but not a cure-all," Seigfreid said. "This might be something we could use here and there to get things done, but I don't want to see toll roads all over the state."

Using tolls to fund a new Mississippi River bridge at St. Louis is one example where tolls might be appropriate, Seigfreid said.

MoDOT is planning to push for toll authorization next year since the chance of putting another tax before voters is unlikely. Missourians rejected toll-road amendments in 1970 and 1992.

A second proposed Seigfreid amendment would abolish the Missouri Citizen's Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials.

Established by voters in 1994, the commission recommends a new salary scale for lawmakers, statewide officeholders and judges every two years. While the scale automatically takes effect unless lawmakers reject it, officials get the raises only if the legislature appropriates the money.

Last month, the commission recommended $5.6 million in pay increases, but key lawmakers have said the state can't afford it. The commission's 2000 recommendations were also ignored.

Seigfreid said the commission was well-intentioned but irrelevant because lawmakers make the final decision anyway.

"The whole idea was to take salary decisions out of our hands, and it hasn't really done that," Seigfreid said. "I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense, to be honest."

Other prefiled amendments include:

Exempting veterans organizations from paying property taxes.

Requiring a simple majority to pass school bond issues instead of the current supermajorities of four-sevenths or two-thirds of the votes cast, depending on when the election is held.

Allowing public school districts to provide bus service for private and parochial school students. The constitution currently bars any public aid for religious schools.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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