HOLDEN HAS FEW DAYS LEFT TO SIGN BILLS

Gov. Bob Holden has until Saturday to take action on remaining unsigned bills passed in his first legislative session.

Holden has already signed most of the high-profile legislation that cleared the Missouri General Assembly this year, but a few noteworthy bills remain, including a proposal to commit future state funding for a new University of Missouri sports arena and a ban on same-sex marriages.

Lawmakers sent 201 bills to the Democratic governor's desk by the time the 2001 session ended in May. As of Friday, Holden had signed 117, roughly 58 percent.

The state Constitution gives the governor a line-item veto on spending bills, and Holden used it to trim $36.1 million from the $19.3 billion state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. However, if other bills are to be vetoed, they must be so in their entirety. Holden has yet to veto a bill outright.

Problems' with arena bill

The arena measure is a possible candidate for the veto stamp. Holden said he had "some problems" with the proposal at the time it passed. At a news conference last week, Holden said he still needed to be convinced it would be a good deal for state taxpayers.

The bill calls for the state to issue $35 million bonds to help pay for the $75 million arena. The bonds would be issued in 2004 and, including interest, cost between $60 million and $70 million over 30 years to pay off.

A $25 million pledge from an anonymous private donor for a 16,000-seat arena put the project on the legislative fast track this year, bypassing the regular process for judging the priority of major state construction projects against other needs.

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said forces on both sides of the issue have been strongly lobbying the governor. Kinder voted for the bill.

"I understand opinion is divided on the stadium bill, but I expect him to sign it," Kinder said.

One arena opponent, state Rep. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, called the end-run lawmakers pulled around the normal appropriations process "kind of scary." Crowell said that with the governor instructing state agencies to cut back on spending because of lagging state revenues, Missouri can't afford a new arena.

"I'd like to see a veto of it," Crowell said. "I don't think that with all the state's need we need to be committing bonding for sports stadiums."

Law without signature

Any bill Holden neither signs nor vetoes by the deadline would automatically become law. There has been speculation Holden will take this route with the same-sex marriage ban.

The bill would clarify that Missouri only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman and that the state wouldn't recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where such unions are legal.

Kinder said Holden likely wouldn't suffer any political fallout by allowing the measure to become law without his signature.

"I think a veto would be disastrous for him," Kinder said. "Bill Clinton signed a similar version of that bill, and Mel Carnahan did too. I don't see a big downside to signing it."

In 1996, then-Gov. Carnahan, also a Democrat, signed a such a bill into law, but a court declared it invalid on a technicality.

Holden has announced plans to sign 11 bills into law today. Among them is a measure sponsored by two Southeast Missouri lawmakers, state Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, and state Rep. Don Koller, D-Summersville.

Under that bill, a person convicted of stealing fuel from a gas station would lose their driver's license for 60 days for a first offense, in addition to any criminal penalties. The suspension period would increase to 90 days for a second offense and 180 days for subsequent violations.

Another provision of the bill would impose a $250 fine for speeding in a construction zone when workers are present. That fine would be on top of the regular fine for speeding.

Holden is scheduled to sign more bills on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, but the specific measures to be signed haven't been announced.