SURVEY: NO TAX FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS IN STATE

Cape Girardeau County voters would oppose a new tax to fund state transportation projects, two legislative surveys suggest.

The annual surveys were conducted by state Reps. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau and David Schwab of Jackson.

Kasten's district takes in most of Cape Girardeau. Schwab's district takes in the rest of the county.

The two Republicans are among many state lawmakers who mail an annual survey to voters to gauge their views.

In Schwab's 157th District, 925 households filled out the surveys. In Kasten's 158th District, 580 households responded. Many of the households had two respondents.

Sixty-eight percent of the respondents to Schwab's survey said they oppose the governor's proposal for a sales tax to fund state transportation projects. Fifty-five percent of the respondents to Kasten's survey said they wouldn't support additional funding.

Schwab said most of the constituents in his survey wanted the state to finish the projects on the 15-year highway plan before looking at mass transit and other transportation projects.

Kasten's constituents said the Missouri Department of Transportation should be independently audited as part of an effort to make the agency more financially accountable to the Legislature and the public.

The two lawmakers asked different questions in their surveys. But many dealt with the same issues.

Kasten's survey had 29 questions. Schwab's survey involved 21 questions.

Both lawmakers said the surveys showed the conservative views of the constituents in their districts.

"Overwhelmingly, they didn't want any more taxes, and they kind of want government out of their lives," said Kasten.

The vast majority of respondents in both surveys opposed legislation to expand the Medicaid program to provide health-care coverage for families with incomes of up to 300 percent above the poverty level.

Said Schwab, "That tells you that they do not want government involved in their lives and in their families."

Under the bill, Medicaid benefits for health care would be expanded to families with two children and an income of $48,000 a year, Schwab said.

Kasten said expanding the Medicaid program would make people more dependent on government programs.

She said the state shouldn't expand the program to provide coverage for families that can afford private insurance.

"I really would like to see us do some supporting of people who are trying to get off welfare and have limited funds," she said.

Both Kasten and Schwab said they take the time to read the responses to the surveys. Schwab said, "It really helps give you a feel of what people's concerns are."

People in the two districts differed on two issues.

A majority of respondents to Schwab's survey said courts should be required to award joint custody of children in most divorce cases.

Schwab said he wasn't surprised by that response. "I get an awful lot of calls mostly from fathers who are paying child support but don't get to see their children," he said.

But a majority of constituents who answered Kasten's survey opposed the idea of requiring joint custody. Kasten said 62 percent of respondents in her survey favored using mediation to resolve child-custody disputes.

Kasten has long supported the concept of mediation in such cases.

On another issue, 67 percent of respondents to her survey said Missouri should build new prisons to handle the growing prison population. But in Schwab's survey, constituents opposed such a move 47 percent to 42 percent. Eleven percent had no opinion.