Stadium funding bill hastily sent to House floor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- After a hasty hearing, supporters of a stadium funding bill sent the $644 million package to the House floor Thursday in hopes it reach a vote in the final week of the legislative session.

The action by the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee came just two days after the stadium bill passed the Senate. The session ends May 17.

The bill's centerpiece would help build a new St. Louis Cardinals ballpark. State money also would help renovate stadiums for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals and fund developments in southwest Missouri.

The committee heard from about 20 witnesses in less than an hour, then rapidly approved about 10 amendments after brief descriptions by their sponsors.

When the committee endorsed the bill on an 11-9 vote, both supporters and opponents were unclear about the effects of some changes.

Committee chairman Rep. Henry Rizzo, a supporter of the bill, said representatives needed to hurry back to the House to debate other topics. He noted that other stadium bills had received ample committee time earlier in the session.

"I think we just gave it a very, very fair hearing," Rizzo, D-Kansas City, said as he left the committee room.

Rizzo said the bill has an excellent chance of passing the House.

But other backers have acknowledged they face staunch opposition.

House Speaker Jim Kreider, D-Nixa, who places bills on the debate calendar, has said the stadium bill will be discussed, but it is not one of his priorities.

Opponents were especially upset by Thursday's hearing.

"There is so much in this bill now that nobody on that committee can really understand the full ramifications it's going to have on the state economy if it passes," said Michael Chance of the Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums, a group formed to oppose the Cardinals stadium.

The Cardinals plan calls for the state to contribute $210 million over 30 years to pay off bonds for a new downtown ballpark. The baseball team would be responsible for developing a nearby residential and business area dubbed the Ballpark Village.

An amendment Thursday by Rep. Richard Byrd, R-Kirkwood, increased the amount of the Ballpark Village that must be completed by 2011, when the Cardinals could start facing penalties for tardy development.

The Kansas City provision calls for $294 million in state aid over 30 years for the Truman Sports Complex. State money would be contingent on local voter approval of a one-eighth-cent sales tax for the stadiums and unspecified cultural projects.

The Savvis Center, home of the St. Louis Blues, would be allowed to keep up to $3 million of the state sales tax revenues generated at the facility, according to the amended bill.

The state would provide $18 million for an exposition center in Springfield and $32 million for a convention center and arena in Branson. Both of those projects would be funded over 23 years.

State money would not start flowing for any of the projects for several years. Supporters say the projects would generate more than enough new tax money to offset the state subsidies.

An amendment by Rep. Charles Quincy Troupe, D-St. Louis, could direct some of those new state revenues toward schools in the districts of the developments.

Another approved amendment would create an economic development fund with part of the projects' revenues, with the cash to be available to communities across the state. A similar provision had been deleted in the Senate.

Before the House committee amended the bill, Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. told committee members that the baseball team was displeased by some of the 22 Senate amendments attached to the bill.

"The bill has been modified to the benefit of the public bodies and the detriment of the St. Louis Cardinals," DeWitt said. But "we still support the bill moving forward."

The Cardinals have threatened to look outside downtown St. Louis for a new stadium location if the Legislature does not approve a funding bill this year.

Sponsoring Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said the bill is vital to preventing the Cardinals from moving to Illinois and to sustaining the Kansas City Royals.

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Stadium bill is SB1279 (Kinder).

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Missouri Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us