REGION'S LAWMAKERS GET BILLS PASSED (SECOND OF THREE PARTS)

From higher speed limits to tougher regulations on grain dealers and commercial feed, Southeast Missouri lawmakers pushed through a number of bills in the 1996 session of the General Assembly.

But few actually make it through the session.

"We have about 1,500 bills introduced each year. We generally pass about 150 of them," said Mark Hughes, communications director for the Missouri Senate.

This year the legislature passed 210 bills and three resolutions. Those bills included amendments that were originally parts of other bills. Taking into account the amendments, lawmakers probably passed 400 to 450 pieces of legislation, Hughes said.

"Basically, the system is designed to kill bills, not pass them," said Hughes.

"If it were easy to pass legislation, we would have a whole lot more bad legislation passed," said state Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett.

Among laws that did pass were some sponsored by Southeast Missouri lawmakers.

All three of Cape Girardeau County's lawmakers had a hand in a new law that gives the county the option of continuing to elect its coroner or appoint a medical examiner when it becomes a first-class county in January.

State Reps. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, and David Schwab, R-Jackson, sponsored the measure in the House. Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, sponsored a similar bill in the Senate. Both measures passed.

Kinder also sponsored a ban on same-sex marriages. His measure was amended onto a bill by Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, which was approved by the General Assembly.

Lawmakers also approved a bill sponsored by Schwab that requires drivers' licenses to include the name of the county in which the driver resides.

Most Missouri counties now draw up their lists of prospective jurors from drivers'-license lists provided by the Department of Revenue.

Schwab said the addition of the county to the licenses will make it easier to obtain an accurate list for jury selection.

The most well-known of the new laws that originated with Southeast Missouri lawmakers was a bill sponsored by Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, that raises speed limits on interstates and highways in Missouri.

Thomason also sponsored legislation that adds Water Patrol vehicles to the list of emergency vehicles for which drivers must yield the right of way.

Rep. Marilyn Williams, D-Dudley, sponsored legislation that imposes tougher standards on grain dealers and commercial feed products. Among other things, it allows the state to suspend or revoke licenses of companies that provide a product that is unfit for use as commercial feed.

The legislation requires the Missouri Department of Agriculture to audit all classes of grain dealers. It also increases license fees.

Rep. Mark Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, successfully sponsored bills that increase the number of claims that can be filed in small-claims court in a year from six to eight and regulates out-of-state dental hygienists who provide free dental services at summer camps in Missouri.

Rep. Joe Heckemeyer, D-Sikeston, sponsored a bill that allows citizens to bypass the state administrative hearing system in certain cases and take their claims against state agencies directly to the courts. That measure didn't make it through the legislature. But an identical bill sponsored by Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, passed and was signed by the governor.

Many area House members sponsored only a few pieces of legislation.

On the Senate side, Kinder sponsored 12 bills, of which one -- the coroner bill -- made it through with his name on it.

Howard handled 25 Senate bills and managed to pass four of them.

He successfully sponsored bills that require any psychologists hired by the state after Aug. 28 to be licensed, strengthens the law enforcement powers of Department of Conservation officers, continues the landfill tipping fee for economic development by removing a sunset clause that would have resulted in the fee expiring in 1998, and allows probate courts to place a disabled child's inheritance or the proceeds from a settlement directly into the Missouri Family Trust.

The family trust bill preserves the child's access to Medicaid and Social Security benefits, Howard said.

The same-sex marriage ban was added to the bill. Howard said some lawmakers urged him to remove the ban from the bill. But he refused. "As far as I am concerned, I am not in favor of same-sex marriages."

Kasten and other Republican lawmakers said they are at a disadvantage when it comes to sponsoring bills. Democrats, being the majority party in the legislature, get their names attached to the lion's share of the bills, she said.

"The rest of us worked just as hard and just as much," she said.

Kasten, who only filed two bills in the recent session, said she doesn't file a lot of bills because many of the proposals are contained in other legislation.

"They are required to print a thousand copies of any bill and I think that is a waste of money," she said.

Kasten said it makes more sense to offer amendments to existing bills rather than sponsor completely new legislation.

Richardson said many bills have 30, 40, 50 or 60 co-sponsors. "I was co-sponsor on about 30 bills, many of which became law."

Richardson said he offered about 40 to 50 amendments to bills. "I probably passed a couple dozen." But lawmakers typically don't get credit publicly for their amendments, he said.

Wednesday: A look at major bills passed during the session and those that affect daily lives of Missourians.