KEY ISSUES AWAIT LEGISLATIVE ACTION AFTER FIRST 6 WEEKS

Missouri lawmakers are six weeks into the annual legislative session that began last month and will adjourn in mid-May. After a slow start, especially in a House chamber roiled by the brouhaha over the election of Speaker Bob Griffin, some progress on key issues is apparent.

-- Juvenile code: A rewrite of Missouri's juvenile code (Senate Bill 40) has passed the Senate and will be considered by a House committee this week. Given the fact that Missouri's juvenile code dates from the 1950s and is wholly inadequate in handling today's explosion of juvenile crime, action here is essential. Gov. Mel Carnahan and both House and Senate leaders have made this a priority since last fall. They must not fail in efforts to achieve final passage.

-- Workers' compensation: Reform is a vital matter for Missouri's business climate. One national study indicates Missouri has the highest degree of lawyer involvement in workers' compensation cases of any state. Senate Bill 32 is a bipartisan reform effort that passed out of the Senate Labor Committee last week on a 5-4 vote. (The companion bill is House Bill 495.) The danger here is a repeat of last year, when the committee unanimously approved a similar bill, but committee chairman William "Lacey" Clay, D-St. Louis, delayed so long in turning the bill in that timely action by the full Senate was impossible. Business leaders should write or call Sen. Clay's office to urge him to turn the bill in immediately so that it can receive the timely consideration that this subject demands.

-- Tax limitation: The public is watching closely to see whether lawmakers can meet the challenge of writing a tax limitation amendment that will accomplish what the people want. In overwhelming numbers, Missourians want the right to vote on major tax increases. The tax limit proposal backed by Gov. Carnahan and the Missouri Farm Bureau fails this test, and the version approved by a Senate committee is even weaker. Both tie the trigger for a public vote to a percentage of state revenue, rather than the simpler means of an absolute dollar amount. Making the trigger for a public vote a percentage of total state revenue is a recipe for years of continued litigation over the definition of exactly what constitutes revenue. The people don't want more lawsuits. They want simple, effective tax limitation, and if lawmakers don't give it to them, this session won't have been a success. An initiative petition effort will follow.

-- School choice: Something needs to be done to open public education to some measure of competition, and support has previously been voiced for Senate Joint Resolutions 16 and 17, which would enact parental choice in education. Hearings are scheduled this week on these measures. Quietly, another measure has already received committee approval. Senate Bill 333, sponsored by Sen. John Schneider, D-Florissant, would permit a deduction of up to $2,000 for parents of high school students to attend private or parochial schools. The Ways and Means Committee approved this bill by a vote of 7-3 and sent it on to the full Senate for consideration. Critics of the education voucher approach of SJR 17 have frequently stated that a either tax credit or deduction is "less threatening" to public schools. Lawmakers should give careful consideration to Sen. Schneider's proposal, as it appears to actually have a fighting chance of passage.

Successful action on these measures would make this year's session of the General Assembly far superior to most. Lawmakers, take heed.