Health care, education get top billing as legislative session starts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's 94th General Assembly convened Wednesday with a pledge to tackle health care and education problems and an eagerness among some to divvy out an expected budget surplus.

What figures to be a lengthy and weighty 2007 session kicked off with lawmakers taking group oaths in the House and Senate. But amid the traditional opening day enthusiasm and calls for cooperation was a reminder -- in the Senate, at least -- that the pains of past partisan division still linger.

The legislative agenda is topped by an overhaul of the Medicaid health care program for the poor, a college construction funding plan and consideration of tax cuts alongside the budget's spending demands.

Republicans will be fully in charge for the third straight year, with Gov. Matt Blunt leading the executive branch and Republicans holding a 21-13 Senate majority over Democrats and a 92-71 majority in the House.

The annual legislative session will be the longest possible, running from Jan. 3 to May 18, because of the way the calendar meshes with the constitution's starting and ending dates.

Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, and House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, were re-elected by their colleagues to their leadership posts.

In an acceptance speech, Gibbons called for an overhaul of the state's health care system and educational reforms, particularly citing the troubles of the St. Louis School District, which faces a potential state takeover.

Jetton also cited the St. Louis schools "crisis" while proposing broader educational initiatives, such as open enrollment among Missouri's 524 school districts, merit pay for math and science teachers and tax credits for donations that could help students in failing schools leave for private or other public schools.

Jetton also proposed making English the official language of Missouri -- something that touches on another issue on the legislative agenda, immigration.

He declared the House's No. 1 priority cutting taxes on Social Security benefits -- a topic not mentioned in the Senate.

Gibbons said lawmakers "must declare war on the high cost of health care" and characterized the state's current Medicaid program for the poor as an affront to decency.

"A health-care plan that only provides treatment when sickness or disease attacks is inadequate, dangerous and a direct assault on our unalienable rights," said Gibbons, calling for a new focus on illness prevention.

House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, echoed the assertion of health care as a priority, but he said the first action should be restoring coverage to the thousands of people cut from Medicaid in 2005 by Blunt and the Republican-led legislature.

"We believe in health care for all Missourians, and they don't," Harris said.

While chastising the St. Louis School District, Gibbons also noted that 12 other districts are in poor shape.

"We should be open to any solution, any solution, that will improve the opportunities for these students," Gibbons said to applause without outlining any specific proposal.

The focus on St. Louis schools ruffled Ray Cummins, a vice president of the St. Louis Teachers and School Related Personnel Union, Local 420.

"All politicians right now want to have an education arrow in their quivers. It's very trendy to take pot shots at St. Louis public schools," Cummins said. But "we think we've made a course correction and we're back on track."

The warm feelings of opening day fizzled in the Senate, where Gibbons' traditional call for "working together" was dismissed as hollow by Sen. Tim Green, D-St. Louis, who delivered a speech as long as Gibbons'.

Still burned in Green's memory was the Republican move last year to shut off debate and pass a contentious bill requiring voters to show a photo identification at the polls. The requirement was later ruled unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court.

"I believe he and the majority leadership have failed in one of the most important tasks, maintaining professional decorum in Senate debate and business," said Green, the only person to vote against Gibbons' election.

His comments were received with applause by Democrats and some audience members; Republican senators sat silently. Gibbons later expressed disappointment that Green had veered from Senate tradition by making partisan remarks on opening day.

House Budget Chairman Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, expressed general optimism that lawmakers would have a surplus while considering how to divide a more than $20 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, urged caution, however, noting that rising Medicaid expenditures, a new women's prison and other items already are placing a high demand on the $300 million carried over from last fiscal year.

Blunt and Jetton want to return some of that money through tax cuts. The questions are: How much, and through what means?

Lawmakers also intend to tackle an overhaul of the state's health care programs for the poor, or at the very least must extend a scheduled mid-2008 expiration of the state's Medicaid program.

But both the health care and tax issues are likely to take a back seat to education at the start of the year. Whether as part of their regular session or in a special session that could be called by Blunt, lawmakers plan early consideration of the governor's plan to finance college construction projects by tapping into the profits of the state's student loan agency.

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Associated Press writer Chris Blank contributed to this report.