COUNTIES WATCHING LEGISLATION

JACKSON - Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller is keeping a close watch on legislation being considered this year that will have an impact on county governments.

He is doing so in his role as president of the Missouri County Clerks Association and as past president and a current board member of the Missouri Association of Counties,

"There are quite a few bills dealing with counties this year, but at this point I don't know what will fly and what won't," observed the Cape County Clerk.

Two years ago, as MAC president, Miller promoted a philosophy of trying to get the state to assume costs that were really its own but were being borne by counties.

Those included such things as paying for juvenile personnel, paying the costs of conducting elections for state-level offices, and increasing state reimbursement to counties for keeping state prisoners.

Miller said by having the state assume costs it should be paying anyway, that would help ease the pressure on many counties suffering from financial difficulties. But now, the state is in a severe financial crunch and legislators are warning that anything likely to cost the state more money is not likely to pass this year.

A key concern of county officials this year is to make sure they at least do not lose any ground through legislation that might increase what counties have to pay. They are also monitoring any legislation that would reduce state assistance and require local governments to pick up additional costs.

One of the bills under consideration this year would have the state assume worker's compensation costs for juvenile employees. Miller points out that since the state is self-insured for workers compensation, there would not be any increased costs to the state up front, only an increased exposure.

"There is no immediate big fiscal note for the state, and the reduced cost to counties would be significant," remarked Miller.

Another bill moving along would give associate county commissioners four-year terms, instead of for two years. A similar bill passed two years ago but was vetoed by Gov. John Ashcroft.

Under the legislation, associate commissioners would be elected in presidential-election years, with clerks and presiding commissioners still elected in off-years. The rationale for this bill, noted Miller, is that some counties have had a complete change of their administrative government that has caused some confusion.

Legislation being pushed this year by county officials would establish a retirement system for all elected county officials. Under present state law, prosecutors and sheriffs have separate systems, but other officials do not.

"The idea is fairly simple that even though some counties have some type of retirement plan, three-fourths of the counties have no retirement plan of any type," said Miller. "The MAC position is that if one group of county officials have a retirement system, every official should have one."

The retirement system would be funded by a series of fees, administrative fees, some interest earnings allocated to the fund, and from contributions by elected officials.

The retirement bill has already been passed out of a Senate committee and may be voted out of a House committee later this week.

Miller said he believes the day is coming when there will be a retirement system in the state not only for elected officials but also for county employees.

A bill that would require the state to reimburse counties for medical expenses of state prisoners they are housing is being pushed again this year, but has a big fiscal note that jeopardizes its chances. "It will take quite a lot of push to get something like this through this year," observed Miller.

Another measure working through the legislative process this year would give cities and counties the option of collecting sales taxes on such things as catalog sales. A bill passed last year was supposed to have accomplished that, however, the Missouri Department of Revenue later said the law needed some clarification.

Miller said the chances appear to be good that the changes will be approved this year.

One bill being watched by the county clerks would result in a presidential preference primary being held in Missouri next year. In 1988, a primary was held on a one-time trial basis.

At this point, the bill does not appear to have much chance. But the clerks are urging lawmakers if they do consider the bill to run the primary in conjunction with the April municipal and school elections.