LEGISLATIVE LEADERS ARE PLEASED WITH SESSION'S OUTCOME

JEFFERSON CITY - Democratic leaders of the Missouri General Assembly said Friday night they believe the 1992 session turned out to be a productive one as a result of work completed during the final two weeks of the session.

"The picture looked pretty dismal several weeks ago, but we were able to salvage a lot out of this session," observed House Speaker Bob Griffin. "I commend our members for their cooperation and courage in tackling a number of tough problems that demanded legislative solutions in this session.

"There are a number of things that both the House and Senate can be very proud of."

Senate President James Mathewson said he too had been concerned about the productivity of the session, but was satisfied with the end result. "The bills we were able to deal with this year were major pieces of legislation," he noted.

"I think we've covered the area well this year. I think we've had a good session and I'll tell you without any question at all that 10 days ago I was really concerned we were going to pull it out. But again, because of good quality effort between the leadership in the House and the Senate and good cooperative effort between members of both sides I think we've had an excellent session."

Griffin and Mathewson generally agreed on what they felt were the top bills of the session. Both also praised the budget process for the way it worked this year.

"I want to compliment Roger Wilson (Senate Appropriations chairman) and Chris Kelly (House Budget Chairman) for doing an excellent job on this budget. They worked well together, had good support from staffs and members, and we were able to put together I think excellent bills on the budget considering there was no new money," said Mathewson.

"The one thing that I think is most important to emphasize is that we brought in a budget with 160 less employees than we had last year."

Mathewson said as far as he can determine, it has been at least 20 years since a budget was passed without an increase in state employees.

Passage of a fuel tax increase early in the session to enable the state to fully match federal highway funds that will become available, and an initial effort toward reforming the state's workers compensation laws, were listed by the leaders as major accomplishments of the session.

Griffin stressed the 40,000 new jobs that are expected over the 15 year life of the highway program and the projects that will be funded should provide a major economic boost to the state.

The worker's comp bill that was passed is a start toward solving the problem, but Mathewson and Griffin said lawmakers will have to continue working to address the problems.

A drug bill, being touted as a top priority of the session by Gov. John Ashcroft, died on the last day. Provisions of the bill are designed to toughen penalties for drug offenders.

Griffin was criticized for allowing legislators to tack 32 amendments onto the bill during a Thursday afternoon and evening session; however, Griffin said the amendments were other bills that had already passed one or both houses and were good bills.

A conference committee cut the amendments in half and Griffin said he felt that Friday afternoon a consensus had been reached between both chambers and the governor's office.

"I kept thinking from 3:00 on that we would get a drug bill," said Mathewson. When the bill came on the Senate floor about 45 minutes from adjournment, two Republican senators - Tom McCarthy of Chesterfield and Emery Melton of Cassville - did not like the wording of a part of the bill and threatened a filibuster.

Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler, sponsor of the measure, withdrew the bill from debate so it would not delay other issues.

Mathewson said he was disappointed that the drug bill failed, however, Griffin downplayed the importance of the bill. He pointed out that it was the governor's top priority, but complained he was not active enough in getting it passed and was unable to keep two Republican senators from filibustering against it.

Both agreed the drug bill would be taken up again next session.

Griffin said two of the other major failures was an inability to pass day care safety laws and a new school foundation formula. "We lacked the governor's support on both," remarked the Speaker.

Griffin said the foundation formula is a difficult issue for legislators to resolve because different approaches change the impact on school districts of legislators. It is hard to find an approach to please everyone, he remarked.

Mathewson said he was encouraged by the work on the formula and is optimistic a joint committee can come up with a compromise during the interim period between sessions. "I thought we made a giant stride. I'm not disappointed; I'm excited about the opportunity to take the best of both proposals and get to work.

"I think it is important to recognize that we both passed a formula. That hasn't been happening in previous years," said the Senate leader. "I think we have an excellent base to start from. I'm encouraged because with the bill the Senate passed and the bill the House passed we can start working together now to come up with a plan.

"There is a misconception about the formula. There are a lot of people in this state who believe if the General Assembly passes a new formula all the problems of education are over. But a formula doesn't mean anything if you don't have any money to put in it, and we don't have any money to put in it.

Griffin said he is pleased that the Legislature made "modest progress" toward dealing with health care accessibility, but added, "My goal is to have universal health care."

A bill that would provide universal health care was defeated earlier this session.

Other issues cited by leaders as key bills are: a proposed constitutional amendment to increase the counties share of the gas tax; a bill to give school districts the option of participating in federal school breakfast programs; a measure to assist financially troubled school districts and a proposed constitutional amendment to require a minimum $2 property tax levy in school districts; new elderly abuse laws; new smoking regulations in public buildings; and earmarking lottery revenues for education.

Other highlights were several economic development initiatives; a bill that makes it easier for smaller businesses to form health insurance pools; proposals to bring Missouri into compliance with federal clean air guidelines; and retaining the state's right to enforce drinking water standards instead of federal authorities.