Review panel OKs transfer of securities division

The governor would also get more control over educational policy.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A panel recommending ways to revamp state government embraced proposals Thursday that would give the governor more control over education policy and securities regulation.

The votes by the Missouri Government Review Commission would take power from the independent commissions that currently oversee K-12 and higher education and would strip from the secretary of state the powers to regulate investments.

Securities regulation would be placed in a reconfigured state Insurance Department, to be known as the Department of Financial Regulation and Professional Registration. The director of that department would be appointed by the governor.

However, the move is far from final. The panel's recommendations first go to Republican Gov. Matt Blunt, then would require legislative approval and, in the case of the securities division, voter approval of a constitutional amendment.

Blunt appointed the commission to suggest ways of making government less costly and more efficient. He has declined to say whether he supports specific ideas until he receives the full commission report.

The securities proposal proved one of the more contentious, being adopted on an 11-7 vote despite opposition from Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. She contends Blunt's commission has no authority to mess with her constitutionally separate office and that the move would be a bad one for Missouri investors, who would be protected by the same agency that would regulate barbers and tattoo artists.

"Anyone who has a 401K plan or a retirement plan should be worried about this," Carnahan said.

But supporters of the plan said combining securities regulation with the oversight of banks and insurance companies makes sense because they can offer similar products. They said a combined agency also would make it easier for financial businesses to complete needed paperwork.

The panel also backed recommendations making the commissioners of higher education and elementary and secondary education direct appointees of the governor, instead of employees hired by oversight boards that the governor currently appoints.

The change was opposed by the state's current education commissioners as well as by review panel member Paul Steele, of Chillicothe, who warned it would politicize education decisions.

But Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder countered that the state's education officials had become insulated from accountability and resistant to new ideas.

"These people need to get a message, and they need to get a strong one," Kinder said.

Panelists also voted to replace the citizen-led Coordinating Board for Higher Education with one composed primarily of administrators from colleges and universities. All the education proposals would require legislative approval.

Commissioners rejected a proposal, 13-4, that would have made chancellors at the University of Missouri's four campuses accountable directly to the university's Board of Curators instead of the system president. The proposal had been driven by some community leaders in Kansas City, who believe their local campus struggles to attract prestige and donations because of they way it is managed by the university system.

Also rejected by a 12-6 vote was a proposal that would have shifted the state's Medicaid health care program for the poor to the Department of Health and Senior Services, instead of the Department of Social Services. That same failed proposal also would have shifted the state Veterans Commission to the health department from the Department of Public Safety.

Another defeated proposal would have eliminated funding for Centers for Independent Living, which compete against private contractors to provide in-home care for the disabled and elderly under the Medicaid program.

Clients of the centers have more say over who provides the care, and when they do so, than those covered under other contractors. But some commissioners had questioned whether the centers cost more. Commission co-chairman Stephen Bradford of Cape Girardeau, who operates an in-home care company, abstained from Thursday's debate and vote after pushing for the changes last week.

A proposal to transfer vehicle and drivers licensing from the Department of Revenue to the Department of Public Safety was overwhelmingly rejected after concerns were raised that the move could prove costly and the Public Safety Department didn't want the duty.

Commissioners approved a proposal to expand the Highways and Transportation Commission from six to eight members, something that would require a change in law. They rejected an alternative that would have expanded the commission to nine members, with each person representing a congressional district -- a move that could have required a constitutional amendment.