Missouri's reform recommendations largely languishing

~ Just 10 of the 85 recommendations have been proposed as legislation.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The trees were losing their leaves and temperatures dipping when 20 influential Missourians settled upon 85 suggestions to make state government better.

Now with the leaves re-emerging and temperatures rising, it's time to see whether the dormant season has brought life to the recommendations of Gov. Matt Blunt's Missouri State Government Review Commission.

A quick look reveals some budding potential for a few suggestions to become reality. But most of last fall's recommendations appear to be languishing.

Of the 85 recommendations, 10 were adopted this winter by Blunt's administration -- perhaps the most prominent being the reorganization of the Department of Insurance into a new agency that consolidates financial and professional regulatory duties from other departments.

A little more than half of the commission's recommendations require legislative action to be carried out. But with just four weeks remaining in the legislative session, just 10 of those have been proposed as legislation.

The reasons for the relatively low percentage are mixed. Some lawmakers say they oppose certain recommendations. Other lawmakers acknowledge they have paid little attention to the report. Still others are in no rush to act, believing next year would be a better time to try to grapple with the suggestions.

"I think the shelf life of this report is this year, next year, and then we probably won't see it again," said Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood.

Less contentious issues

Gibbons has spearheaded what is probably the legislature's most thorough attempt to actually enact some recommendations. Although he acknowledges looking at only parts of the report, his staff read it more thoroughly, and Senate leaders looked for lawmakers who could sponsor some of the proposals.

For the most part, senators are tackling the less controversial issues. For example, they have passed a bill following commission recommendation No. 12 to transfer state milk rating duties from the Department of Health and Senior Services to the State Milk Board in the Department of Agriculture.

Another bill, awaiting an initial Senate vote, includes numerous recommendations to shift duties among agencies. For example, oversight of the crime victims compensation fund would be shifted to the Department of Public Safety from the current Division of Workers Compensation in the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. And administration of tax credits for donations to domestic violence shelters would be transferred to the Department of Social Services, instead of the Department of Public Safety.

Perhaps the most contentious idea seriously considered by the Legislature is recommendation No. 25, which would raise the threshold for advertising bids on construction projects to those worth more than $100,000 instead of the current more than $25,000.

But Sen. John Griesheimer said he didn't even know the provision -- included in a bill he said the Office of Administration asked him to sponsor -- was part of the recommendations.

"I read some of those, but to be honest with you, I didn't pay much attention to it," said Griesheimer, R-Washington.

Blunt's office said some suggestions are being implemented in spirit, if not exactly as written by the commission. For example, the panel produced 11 recommendations calling for the creation of special executive branch councils to coordinate overlapping issues among state agencies. Blunt has created none.

But "the way that communication works among agencies is different now than it was two years ago," said Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson. "So hopefully some of these objectives of working together are being accomplished through management and an open dialogue."

Other commission recommendations remain buried because lawmakers don't like them.

For example, the Government Review Commission suggested the leaders of the K-12 and higher education departments be appointed by the governor, instead of two commissions that oversee the agencies. It also recommended that college and university leaders be put in charge of the state Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

"I don't think any of the higher education stuff's good," said House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, who is pursuing his own ideas for revamping the state's higher education funding. "Getting rid of CBHE and putting the universities in charge is kind of like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum -- they start cutting deals among themselves."

Bearden acknowledges that lawmakers haven't looked at the report very thoroughly this year. But he said that's because it was issued just a couple of months before the start of the session. Next year, it might get more attention, he said.

Blunt's administration said the 85 recommendations could be implemented during his entire term -- at least the next two-and-a-half years; potentially until January 2013, if he is re-elected.

"There are none of them that are definite no's," Robinson said.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Capitol Correspondent David A. Lieb covers Missouri government and politics for The Associated Press.