Mo. legislature begins 2008 session

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri politicians placed a target on illegal immigrants and pledged an election-year tax break for some homeowners as they opened their 2008 legislative session Wednesday.

Lawmakers also will consider plans to expand government-subsidized health care to the uninsured and boost spending on education -- though majority Republicans and minority party Democrats differ on how precisely to fulfill those broad goals.

Most of the politicians making Missouri's laws also will be running for re-election this year, which tends to encourage two outcomes -- more money for popular programs and less consensus on important issues that could crop up in campaign ads.

On Day One, however, lawmakers talked of cooperation and remained hopeful of accomplishments.

"I think we started with a bipartisan spirit that you don't often see in an election year," said Rep. Sam Page, D-St. Louis, a lieutenant governor's candidate who is just one of several lawmakers campaigning for higher office in 2008.

Gov. Matt Blunt, Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons and House Speaker Rod Jetton, the Republican leaders at the Capitol, all listed efforts against illegal immigrants among their session's priorities. So, also, has Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon, who his challenging Blunt in the gubernatorial election.

Their proposals vary. Some would mandate routine checks on people's legal residency status when they come in contact with government. Others would punish the businesses that hire illegal immigrants. And still others would prevent illegal immigrants from attending college or wiring money to family and friends in their native lands.

"Missourians are frustrated with a government in Washington that can't get anything done, that can't secure the border," Blunt said Wednesday. "They expect and they deserve a government here in Jefferson City that can get things done to curb illegal immigration, to expand access to health care, to invest in education and to continue to exercise good fiscal management."

Blunt is to outline his budget and policy priorities in his State of the State speech Tuesday.

As a buildup to his speech, the Republican governor already has proposed hundreds of millions of dollars of new spending on education, health care and various other things.

Blunt also has proposed an income tax exemption for the pensions of military veterans.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers -- as well as Nixon -- have placed greater emphasis on property tax relief. They're looking for ways to counteract rising property value assessments that have resulted in higher taxes.

"You've got property owners, homeowners, who are being taxed out of their homes," said Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, the Senate's top-ranking member who also is running for attorney general this year.

Republican Senate leaders also share Blunt's priority to expand government-subsidized health insurance to low-income residents, some of whom they cut from the Medicaid rolls just three years ago. Blunt dubs his plan Insure Missouri. He intends to kick it off in a couple of months but will need the legislature to approve additional money and new laws to expand it in years to come.

Republican House leaders aren't quite as enthusiastic about Blunt's plan, remaining skeptical about its potential for bloated costs and bureaucracy.

"Had Insure Missouri been offered up in [last year[']s Medicaid overhaul bill], that would have killed the bill. It never would have passed," said Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, a physician who has been the chamber's lead sponsor on government health care bills.

Nixon and Democratic lawmakers insist the top priority on health care should be restoring all of the 2005 Medicaid cuts -- something Republicans remain unwilling to do.

"I find it curious that we're going to spend more money, but we're not going to focus on probably the most important topic in our state," said Rep. Paul LeVota, D-Independence.

Lawmakers have outlined a variety of ways to boost education spending.

All support core funding increases for K-12 schools and public colleges. Blunt has proposed to increase funding for financial-needs based scholarships. House Democrats, meanwhile, want to expand a scholarship program that now focuses exclusively on community colleges.

Jetton, R-Marble Hill, lists higher teacher salaries among the House priorities. The minimum starting salary for public school teachers is just $23,000 annually, and Missouri's average teacher salary ranks among the lowest in the nation.

Jetton said he expects fewer significant bills to pass this year than last. But "we're just going to try to do our best to work together and not let the election get in the way," he said.