Tilley, Hodges, Crowell preparing legislative agendas for coming year

~ State Sen. Jason Crowell said his legislative priority this year is to get funding for an autism treatment and diagnostic center in Cape Girardeau

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Life moves faster now for Rep. Steve Tilley, R-Perryville.

Elected last year to be the floor leader for Republicans in the Missouri House, Tilley didn't have time to sit down for even a brief moment Thursday morning as he went from a meeting of the House Rules Committee to a Republican caucus and on to the floor for a session that he knew would be cut short by an ice storm raging outside the Capitol.

Speaking about his experiences so far, Tilley said it has been hectic but worth the effort to win the post. "It has been a great experience so far," he said. "The 106th District has a strong voice."

But the downside is that as majority floor leader, Tilley must regulate the flow of work in the chamber and sometimes disappoint the other Republicans who elected him to the job. "As majority leader, you can say yes a lot, but sometimes you have to say no and say no to the people who elected you."

Pecking order

And while Tilley is busy in the spotlight at the top of the pecking order, with an office on the third floor near the House chamber and two assistants, Rep. Steve Hodges of East Prairie must deal with being at the bottom. As a freshman Democrat, part of the House minority, he is crammed into a tiny office on the first floor. The suite has two other member offices and desks for three secretaries.

For all three members, there is less space than Tilley has for himself and two assistants.

But Hodges, far from complaining, is making plans. He recently was appointed as a member of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, which steers the party's effort to regain the majority Democrats lost in 2002. The key, he said, will be teamwork and recruiting candidates who can appeal to voters in the rural districts the party lost to the GOP as term limits sent senior lawmakers to the sidelines.

Hodges, after a quiet first year, has filed four bills, including one he is pushing that would require doctors performing abortions to obtain ultrasound images of the fetus and expand what must be covered by the doctor with the woman seeking the abortion as part of informed consent.

The new requirements would include a discussion of the risks of the abortion, the availability of pregnancy counseling and a discussion of the laws requiring fathers to pay child support.

The informed consent and ultrasound would have to be obtained 24 hours before the abortion is performed.

And while Hodges would like to have his name on the bill, he understands that under the Republican majority, that is unlikely.

Other measures

The best he can hope for, as a legislative achievement with his name attached, is to pass consent bills sought by constituents. And even that can be tricky, Hodges noted, pointing to a measure he introduced authorizing Charleston, Mo., to seek voter approval of a lodging tax to support tourism. At a committee hearing on the bill, one member objected to it being a consent measure, essentially killing the idea because Democrats rarely handle bills on the House floor.

"All it is is a response to my constituents," Hodges said.

Hodges has also filed bills to require insurance companies to cover the cost of fertility treatments as part of health plans and to designate a portion of Highway 80 in New Madrid County as the "Gene Curtis Memorial Highway." Both of those bills are responses to requests from constituents as well.

While Hodges has a modest agenda, state Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, is ambitiously pursuing 22 bills changing the Missouri statutes or constitution. Among the measures Crowell wants to pass are bills to exempt military retirement benefits from the state income tax and to modify the provision of the constitution barring laws that are retrospective in application when the law applies to sex offenders.

On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that registered sex offenders who were living within 1,000 feet of a school when the law barring them from such residences was passed do not have to move. If passed by lawmakers and approved by voters, Crowell's measure would overturn that ruling.

Funding cuts

But Crowell said his No. 1 legislative priority this year is not to pass a bill but to obtain funding for the operation of an autism treatment and diagnostic center in Cape Girardeau. Lawmakers approved $2 million for construction of the center last year, and Gov. Matt Blunt has included $480,000 for operations in the spending plan for the year beginning July 1.

But many items in Blunt's $23 billion budget are on the block because House Budget Committee chairman Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, wants to cut $200 million. Crowell said Icet assured him the autism funding will remain in the budget.

"Hopefully we can hold on to what the governor recommended," Crowell said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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