Majority of area representatives opposed gaming-for-education b

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri lawmakers generally voted with their parties last week on a key component of Democratic Gov. Bob Holden's education funding plan.

The bill, which passed the House of Representatives 90-68, would raise $150 million, mostly through raises taxes and fees on riverboat casino operators. The money would be pumped into the state formula for distributing state aid to local school districts.

While there were party defections on both sides, Democrats mostly supported the measure with Republicans mostly voting against it.

Southeast Missouri's mostly Republican delegation voted 5-9 against passage. State Rep. Tom Burcham of Farmington was alone among the area's nine Republicans to support the bill. Of the five local Democrats, only state Rep. Denny Merideth of Caruthers-ville was opposed.

The primary elements of the measure are hiking the per-person boarding fee on casinos from $2 to $3 and increasing the state's take of gaming receipts from 20 percent to 22 percent. Those two portions alone are expected to raise $81.5 million.

Many opponents were critical of the state's continued reliance on gambling revenue to fund critical needs.

Other provisions of the bill include closing a loophole that allows Missouri companies doing businesses outside of the state to avoid paying corporate income taxes and letting the state keep excess sales taxes charged by retailers, among various changes in accounting procedures.

The bill now heads to the Senate for further action.

Speaker pushes for MSU

If House Speaker Jim Kreider, D-Nixa, has any say in the matter -- and as speaker he does -- a bill that would drop the regional designation from Southwest Missouri State University's name will get much discussion in the lower chamber this week.

A Southwest graduate, Kreider was giddy when asked about the impend-ing debate on the bill, under which the Springfield school would become simply Missouri State University.

However, he completely lacks enthusiasm for an amendment opponents have suggested that would force Southwest to share the MSU name with other regional schools. For example, Southeast Missouri State University would be MSU-Cape Girardeau under the amend-ment.

"I don't like that at all, not at all," Kreider said. "I was kind of amazed at that little plan of attack. We'll work through that as it comes."

Kreider said that as the state's second-largest public university, Southwest deserves to be the sole MSU.

Officials at some other state schools, particularly the University of Missouri-Columbia and Central Missouri State University at Warrensburg, oppose the change, saying it is a prelude to Southwest seeking a larger share of higher education funding. Southeast officials have taken no stance on the issue.

When some senators attempted to add pet projects to his St. Louis Cardinals ballpark bill this week, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, shot down those ideas, saying he had summarily rejected adding funding for minor league ballpark in his hometown.

When asked to elaborate on the Cape Girardeau proposal, Kinder said there wasn't much to it. A couple of people simply offered the suggestion but no details, Kinder said.

"It wasn't even drawn on an envelope," Kinder said.

Kinder's bill, which is headed for the Senate floor, would earmark $210 million in state tax money over 30 years for a new Cardinals stadium. It would also provide funding to renovate existing stadiums in Kansas City and to help build convention centers in Springfield and Branson.

Airport grants

Ten Southeast Missouri airports will share more than $1.3 million in federal grants for facility improvements. The Missouri Department of Transportation is admin-istering the grants.

Eight airports will get $150,000 each -- Cape Girardeau, Dexter, Farming-ton, Fredericktown, Kennett, Malden, Perryville and Poplar Bluff. Of the remaining two, Sikeston will get $116,860 and Piedmont $38,400.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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