PAY INCREASES FOR LAWMAKERS, JUDGES HINGE ON SENATE

The Missouri Senate could put the nail in the coffin Monday on proposed pay hikes for state lawmakers and judges.

Senators will reject the pay plan, state Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, predicted Friday.

Staples estimated that at least 23 of Missouri's 34 senators will vote to reject the plan when it comes to the Senate floor Monday. It takes only 18 votes to kill it.

"I can't justify giving Danny Staples a $6,000 salary increase," Staples said.

The Missouri House Thursday overwhelmingly rejected the pay plan, 122-25.

The vote, however, was expected to be closer in the Senate. "It is going to be touch-and-go in the Senate," said state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau.

Kinder said 13 of the Senate's 15 Republicans oppose the pay praise.

The outcome will hinge on how the Senate's 19 Democrats vote, he said.

Like Staples, Kinder opposes the pay raise.

The pay-raise issue has been on the front legislative burner since the session began this month.

The pay plan, drawn up by a state salary commission, takes effect automatically unless rejected by both the House and Senate by Feb. 1.

Kinder praised the quick action of the House. He said the House action puts more pressure on the Senate to follow suit.

The commission recommended pay raises that would increase the pay for state Senate and House members by 30 percent over the next two years. The salary would climb from $26,803 to $35,000 by July 1998.

Lawmakers' daily expense allowances would jump from $35 to $86.

Judges would get hefty pay raises too: Associate circuit judges would get $18,377, Supreme Court judges $14,283, circuit judges $13,537, and appeals court judges $13,272.

Staples said associate circuit judges in small, rural counties don't do enough work to justify an $18,000 pay raise.

Staples said associate circuit judges shouldn't all be paid the same salary. He suggested it would be better to set their salaries on the basis of the populations of the counties they serve.

"We have associate circuit judges in our larger counties that are working five days a week, 15 to 16 hours a day," he said.

Staples said the state could eliminate some judicial positions by not replacing retiring judges.

Although many lawmakers oppose the pay plan, they favor raising the daily expense allowance. The allowance was last increased in 1977, when it was raised from $10 to $35.

State Sen. John Schneider, D-Florissant, is the Senate's senior member. He wants the pay raises phased in over four years.

"John's version is much better than the commission's version," Staples said.

But Staples said senators need to reject the pay plan entirely. "What I would like to do is send that commission a message: They need to meet and redo this thing."

The citizens commission by law can only propose a pay plan once every two years.

Both Kinder and Staples said lawmakers don't have to wait for the commission to come up with a new plan.

Kinder said the legislature can deal with pay issues through the appropriations process. Staples said the Senate could offer legislation to immediately raise the daily expense allowance.

Staples said he would settle for a $65 daily expense allowance.