Tilley declares three-quarters of his legislative agenda achieved

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- It's good to be Speaker.

Rep. Steven Tilley, R-Perryville, Speaker of the House of Representatives, declared Thursday that 75 percent of his legislative agenda set forth in his opening day address to the House of Representatives, has been achieved in 42 legislative days -- eight days ahead of the schedule he set up.

By Tilley's accounting, the House of Representatives has lived within its means and balanced the state budget, passed legislation that will put Missourians back to work, dealt with legislation on government accountability, health care and education reform. Speaker declares victory, have a nice spring break everybody.

Tilley, of course, rules over a House surrounded by more than 100 of his Republican colleagues, an historically large number. And while it is true that many pieces of legislation passed by the House of Representatives in the first ten weeks of the legislative session have done so with at least some bi-partisan support, the Speaker has a handy little playing card in his hand, called "The Previous Question".

It's a parliamentary maneuver that shuts down debate on a topic and moves directly to a vote. The motion to invoke the previous question needs a majority vote of representatives to move forward. With House Republicans outnumbering House Democrats by almost 50 votes, there's never any question that the previous question will be passed if that's what Republican leadership wants. It moves legislation through the House at sometimes break-neck speed.

It's a part of the process in a chamber where a member's speaking time is limited to 15 minutes. During floor sessions, it is invoked several times a week, less during the early portions of the session, more during the latter.   

But on the other side of the Capitol, things have moved at a different pace. Intra-party feuding within the Senate GOP caucus have resulted in lengthy filibusters over several key agenda items. And although Senate leaders also have the Previous Question rule in their legislative toolbox, they are far less apt to use it.

"I think members are reluctant to do it as they look forward at the possibility that they may have some objection to some unnamed legislation where they may be standing up," said Senate Majority Floor Leader Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles.

Dempsey told reporters Thursday that the use of the Previous Question rule has not been considered at all this session -- even as a way to break a weeks-long filibuster by four conservative senators to block the extension of federal unemployment benefits. The four senators are protesting what they see as wasteful government spending by rejecting $81 million in federal money to finance unemployment benefits for 23,000 Missourians who've been on unemployment longer than 79 weeks. The House has already approved the extension and a majority of senators are expected to pass the bill if it ever comes to a floor vote.

A failure to pass the vote this week, means the senators will have just days when they get back to end the filibuster before payments lapse April 2. Senators will not reconvene until March 28, although there is a technical session March 25 so that their vacation does not technically exceed the constitutionally allotted 10 days.

In addition to unemployment, the first half of the senate's legislative session also witnessed a Republican-on-Republican filibuster of changes to workers compensation laws, with Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, saying the original language put business above workers. The bill ultimately passed days before spring break after senators brokered a compromise.

And in a surprise turn last week, Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, and other Republicans bucked their state and national party leadership by taking a procedural bill originally meant to move Missouri's presidential primary back a month on the election calendar and instead rewrote it to move the primary up to just a week after New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

Senate President Pro Tem Robert Mayer, R-Dexter, said he believes much of the division within his party stems from broader concerns over the state's overall budget picture. Missouri is expected to have a $500 million economic shortfall to contend with, and Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis, who has lead the unemployment filibuster, has alluded to possible filibusters on other budget related matters.

"I think overall that some of the unrest and unhappiness deals with not knowing just exactly how we are going to proceed on the state budget," Mayer said.

But Mayer and Dempsey were quick to note several substantial bills that did pass though, including a voter photo ID requirement, changes to workplace discrimination laws and the phase out of the state's corporate franchise tax.

There is no division noted in the Missouri House among Republicans, and only rare glimpses of contentious debate between parties. The first half of the legislative session in the usually raucous House of Representatives has been mostly quiet and civil, a fact acknowledged by both Tilley and Minority Leader Mike Talboy , D-Kansas City.

"Over the last couple of years, it has been a drastic improvement as far as the debate, people listening and what we've been able to accomplish so far," Talboy said.

"One of my top goals was to change the tenor and the tone of how things operate in Jefferson City," Tilley said. "To the credit of Mike Talboy, we can agree to disagree and do it in an agreeable way."

Tilley steps quietly around the issues the Senate is having, saying only that President Pro Tem Mayer and Majority Floor Leader Dempsey have "a difficult task" on their hands. In Thursday's post session press conference, Tilley repeatedly pointed out that he was not angry with the Senate, but he did bristle a bit when he was pushed about what he would say to workers who would be cut off from their unemployment compensation.

"If they ask me, I will tell them the House passed it in a broad, bi-partisan basis, so they might want to walk down the hall" to the state Senate," Tilley said.

Still, representatives anticipate the Senate taking the lead on at least a couple of key issues.

One Senate bill sure to hit the House floor is legislation to make changes in the Proposition B "puppy mill" language.

Earlier this week, Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones, R-Eureka, ran test votes on a couple of amendments to a House bill on the so-called "puppy mill fix" and found 120 votes in favor of the language that came straight from the Senate bill.

"It shows that there is an overwhelming majority of the Missouri House that cares about treating animals humanely in the state," Jones said. "There are legitimate issues with Proposition B that the Missouri House wants to address to make the proposition better."

When the Senate returns from spring break, it's expected to resume conversations on one of the most controversial bills of the session, the so-called "right-to-work" law that would prevent compulsory union membership in Missouri. The bill stalled on the Senate floor earlier this week after an hours-long debate observed by a large crowd of pro-union workers who oppose the bill.

Similar laws already exist in several other states, but the right-to-work legislation has run into stiff opposition from Senate Democrats who say the proposal would chip away at union effectiveness and lead to lower wages and poorer quality of life for Missouri workers. Republican supporters, though, keeping with this year's legislative theme, say it will help bring more jobs to the Show Me State by making Missouri more pro-business.

The Senate is also expected to take up the suddenly much more controversial Callaway II project. Early this month, the senate held a public hearing to discuss several different proposals that would allow a consortium of energy companies led by Ameren Missouri to increase utility rates by up to $45 million to fund the site permitting process for a second nuclear reactor in Missouri. But just two days after the hearing, a major earthquake in Tsunami off the coast of Japan triggered a still-ongoing catastrophe and partial meltdowns at a nuclear power plant in that nation, casting doubts over nuclear energy in the United States.

But for his part, Crowell, the author of one of the Callaway II bills, said his view on the matter is unchanged. He said the relative safety and licensing of nuclear power plants is up to the federal government and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He said the debate at the state level is concerned merely with consumer protection and how the project is financed.  The House is waiting on action from the Senate before it takes up Callaway II.

From the sound of House leadership Thursday, state representatives will be ready should the Callaway II proposal come from the Senate. Tilley noted that the House's version of the bill picked up just two "no" votes in a House committee vote, but Tilley wants to wait and see what comes out of the Senate.

The House will also not take up its own right-to-work bill. Tilley is known to not be a great fan of the legislation, although he says he has not made up his mind. There are several members of his own caucus that are known to have problems with the bill.

"I will say this: I have always said it is not a top priority of the House, but that doesn't mean its not a priority to many of our members," Tilley said. "If right-to-work leaves the Senate, I can tell you with 100 percent certainty, I will refer the bill (to a committee) and give it a chance to make it through the process."

For once, there seems to be some uncertainty in the House. Look for the Speaker to hang on to that previous question on right-to-work. Chances are, it will get its usual workout at the end of the session as time get tight, tempers get short, and bills become life and death.

It's good to be Speaker.