Senate strips Cardinals, Blues subsidies from stadium bill

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- With memories of a bitter fight three years ago over taxpayer subsidies for professional sports teams still fresh in the minds of some lawmakers, the Senate last week stripped benefits for the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues from legislation that would earmark state money for the maintenance of sports stadiums.

State Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington, said subsidizing the teams is "politically and publicly unpopular." His amendment to remove them from the bill was adopted by acclamation.

"I cannot vote for this bill under any circumstances if it has money for the Cardinals' stadium or the Blues' stadium," Griesheimer said.

In 2002, the Senate narrowly approved $210 million for construction of the Cardinals' new ballpark following days of acrimonious debate. That bill also included funds for the maintenance of the Blues' existing hockey arena and renovations to stadiums in Kansas City.

The proposal died for lack of action in the House of Representatives. Despite saying the ballpark couldn't be built without help from state taxpayers, the Cardinals found private investors for the project and construction is underway.

The current bill, which won preliminary Senate approval, would set aside for the maintenance of sports stadiums 60 percent of taxes paid by visiting professional athletes and entertainers who perform in Missouri. That money currently funds general state services.

Although the two St. Louis teams were taken out, the bill would still provide money to maintain the publicly owned facilities in which baseball's Kansas City Royals and football's Kansas City Chiefs play.

State Sen. Charlie Shields, the bill's sponsor, said public assistance is needed to keep major league teams in Missouri, particularly in small-market Kansas City. It makes sense, he said, for visiting athletes to help pay for the upkeep of the facilities in which they play.

"If you don't do something on the Kansas City side, you seriously risk losing one of the major sports teams," said Shields, R-St. Joseph.

Although the debate wasn't as heated as it was three years ago, strong opinions on the subject still emerged.

"There seems to be this attitude that whoever pays a tax needs to get it back in a subsidy," said state Sen. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis. "It doesn't work that way."

The bill would also set aside some revenue for cities, including Cape Girardeau, whose convention and visitor bureaus operate sports marketing programs. The measure requires another vote to move it to the House.

Term limits spiked

The House Elections Committee on Tuesday rejected a proposed constitutional change that would ask Missouri voters to extend legislative term limits.

Although he supports term limits, which cleared the legislature of its last remaining longtime members last year, state Rep. Gayle Kingery, R-Poplar Bluff, said the current limit of eight years per legislative chamber is too short. He proposed raising the service cap to 12 years per chamber.

Kingery's proposal also would have doubled the length of House terms to four years, the same as Senate terms.

Dalton highway

A Bootheel highway would bear the name of the first governor from Southeast Missouri under a bill that cleared the House on Wednesday.

The measure would dub U.S. 412 from Kennett to Hayti as the Gov. John Dalton Memorial Highway. Dalton, of Kennett, was governor from 1961 to 1965. His term followed eight years as state attorney general. He died in 1972.

"We are proud of his accomplishments during the many years that he served the state of Missouri and feel it is only fitting to have a highway named in his honor," said state Rep. Terry Swinger, D-Caruthersville.

mpowers@semissourian.com

(573) 635-4608