KINDER, BANKS AT ODDS OVER WEAPONS MEASURE

JEFFERSON CITY -- With two days remaining in the 1994 session of the Missouri General Assembly, Sen. Peter Kinder is at odds with Majority Leader J.B. "Jet" Banks over a concealed weapons amendment he is trying to have added to a juvenile crime bill.

The Cape Girardeau Republican offered the amendment Tuesday night and it was immediately challenged with a point of order. Banks protested that the amendment was not relevant to the bill.

The parliamentary committee has indicated that once their report is asked for, they will rule in favor of Kinder. Banks, D-St. Louis, wants Kinder to withdraw his amendment, and has said he will filibuster the bill if Kinder's amendment is attached.

"I would prefer not to see the juvenile crime bill killed," said Kinder Wednesday evening. "But I'm not the one who is doing it. The majority leader is the one who says he will filibuster it."

On Wednesday morning, Kinder cast the lone opposing vote to Senate Bill 676, a measure designed to clear up some problems with SB-380, a major education finance and reform bill passed last year.

"This is yet another brazen attempt to strip away decision making from our local school boards," said Kinder. "With this bill, our communities are losing local control of our schools. I am saddened by its passage, but proud to have stood alone in opposing it."

The bill is now on the governor's desk.

Kinder read excerpts from letters sent him by superintendents in Southeast Missouri explaining how the proposal would harm their districts. Loss of school funds and loss of local control over how education dollars will be spent were common complaints among the superintendents.

At a meeting last week, Kinder said 55 superintendents unanimously voted to urge defeat of the bill. "Without exception, superintendents who were asking me to vote for 380 last year were asking me not to vote for this one," Kinder said.

The bill passed the House with a handful of dissenting votes last week, many of them from lawmakers south of Cape County.

Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, and Sen, Danny Staples,D-Eminence, expressed reservations about the bill on Monday, based on comments from superintendents. But after some minor changes in the final version, Howard and Staples voted for the plan.

"I was surprised to see the other no votes desert me as debate wore on," said Kinder.

Howard said he voted for the bill because he was satisfied they got as good a bill as possible.

"I felt like we had been accommodated as much as we could be," said Howard. "We got the best compromise we could."

The senator said he was pleased that instead of allocating 70 percent of all school foundation formula money for teacher salaries, the bill capped at 9 percent the amount of new money from SB-380 that had to go for salaries. He said some districts were faced with having to grant huge pay hikes.

Howard said he still is concerned by the change in assessment ratio from 33 and a third to a range of 5 percent, and a provision to have a two-year moratorium on compliance with the ratio by school districts.

Rep. Marilyn Williams, D-Dudley, complained the compromise was not enough and that the bill's original intent was solely to close a loophole dealing with lease purchases.

"This bill goes way beyond the problems we created last year in 380," said Williams.

She also was upset that the bill places too many restrictions on how state funds are spent by local school boards.

On his concealed weapons amendment, Kinder said Banks knows that 19 to 22 senators will vote for it. Gov. Mel Carnahan strongly opposes a concealed weapons measure and has threatened to veto any bill that contains such a provision.

The provision was added to a crime bill, on a vote of 110 to 40 in the Missouri House, which is also a top priority of the governor and legislative leaders this session. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Steve Carroll, D-Hannibal, is awaiting action in the Senate.

A similar crime bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Moseley, D-Columbia, is awaiting action in the House and does not have a concealed weapons provision.

Kinder said he fears that the Senate bill will be taken up in the House and rushed through quickly before any concealed weapons provisions can be added. Meanwhile, the senator stressed that the proposal clearly has a strong majority of support from lawmakers in both houses and should be included on a final bill.

For Carnahan, any type of crime bill containing concealed weapons will leave him with a dilemma, since he has pledged a veto. On the other hand, crime is a major area of concern for citizens.

"This is real crime control," said Kinder. "It is high time we even the score with the violent criminal and permit law-abiding Missourians to protect themselves. This measure will certify and regulate good citizens who are pleading for the right to fend off violent offenders."

Kinder said his amendment has adequate safeguards. Sheriffs would issue permits to applicants 21 and older, who have no history of violent, drunken or drugged behavior and who have not been judged mentally incompetent.

A weapon may be carried under clothes, in a briefcase or in a vehicle. Weapons may not be taken into a church, school, or onto school property; polling places on election day; or federal, state and local buildings.

Thirty-eight states already have concealed weapons laws.