IT'S TIME FOR THE LEGISLATURE TO GET MOVING ON THE ISSUES

The character of this year's session of the 86th Missouri General Assembly may have been set by AIDS hecklers who repeatedly interrupted Gov. John Ashcroft's state of the state a fortnight ago. The small, pathetic-looking band of Act-Up protesters really had no agenda except to interrupt a major speech of Missouri's chief executive and call attention to a disturbing social/health problem that thus far has no solution. The protesters themselves offered no real answers to the crisis they were highlighting, and when their frantic admonitions of "Act-Up/Right AIDS" were finished, they offered no resistance as they were ejected from the legislative galleries.

There are some disturbing corollaries between the agenda of the protesters and the full plate of issues now facing the 197 legislators in the Missouri Capitol. While the state assembly faces a multitude of problems, thus far it seems to lack a clear and comprehensive plan of action. For example, some have suggested one of the first orders of business is to write and approve a revised School Foundation plan, and while we would agree changes are needed in the present formula, the overriding need of elementary and secondary school districts is financial relief. If there are no funds, the most equitable distribution in the world will not meet the primary requirements of local schools.

A health issue even more extensive than AIDS is the absence of comprehensive health care plan that will meet the immediate needs of hundreds of thousands of Missourians. Like AIDS, the state's health care dilemma only grows worse over the years, failing to provide solution through skillful political neglect. The specter of disaster for uninsured Missourians, like that for those testing HIV-positive, can only be momentarily mitigated. Gov. Ashcroft has proposed a statewide pool for employers not offering health insurance to employees and some additional families can be covered by expanding Medicaid, but neither of these meets the critical test of comprehensive health protection for the poor and uninsured.

One of the linchpins of Gov. Ashcroft's attempt to deal with two nagging problems in the state recession-drive unemployment and a deteriorating infrastructure is to increase Missouri's participation in the new Federal Transportation Act, thereby securing additional millions in matching U.S. funds to launch an immediate road construction and improvement program. But the state can't move quickly unless it has the money and the funds can't be secured unless the General Assembly quickly increases the gasoline tax. Like AIDS, there is no gain without pain, and increasing the user tax on gasoline in an election year can be hazardous to politicians' longevity. Despite the urgency sounded in Ashcroft's state of the state address, the legislature is moving slowly and cautiously, raising serious doubts whether it will move quickly and boldly enough to meet the worthwhile goals outlined.

The more that is known about AIDS, the more frightening its implications become. Likewise, the longer Missouri delays dealing definitely with a myriad of problems, the more imposing and more threatening they become. Inadequate general revenue is quietly at work eroding public services in scores of areas from dealing with a case overload of mentally retarded and developmentally disabled children to curtailment of social services to discontinuation of municipal water testing. This is only a smattering of the number of public services that have been curtailed or derailed while Missouri grapples with the problem of inadequate revenue in a period of deep recession.

We are worried less about the number of problems than we are with the current business-as-usual attitude in Jefferson City. No one there denies the state has serious, even emergency problems. To do otherwise would be to deny reality. But since the status quo is at risk by challenging these problems and offering meaningful (and politically dangerous) solutions, the mood is one of quiet discomfort. One is unable to find much sense of urgency in Jefferson City.

Rather the answer seems to be: We're doing the best we can with the little we have. We have good suggestions and lots of ideas and, given the time allotted us, we'll muddle through somehow. This explanation might be tolerable, even commendable, if all the state's services were working with some semblance of order and motion. They're not.

State services are being curtailed in almost every division and department in the state capitol. Systems are shut down in the departments of Social Services, Health, Corrections, Mental Health, Elementary and Secondary Education, Public Safety and Higher Education. State programs are more and more being provided on the basis of priority, which means more and more services are being eliminated to meet the demands of the budget curtailments and shortages.

It's hard to look at the future if you're busy covering your behind. The first instinct in politics is to do the latter and forget the former. For a classic illustration, watch proceedings in Missouri's Capitol in the weeks ahead.