KINDER'S COMMENTARY: LEGISLATIVE PACE IS SLOW THIS YEAR

In the General Assembly, we are home on spring break this week before returning Monday for the last eight weeks of the legislative session that will end in mid-May. As the session has unfolded, with little floor action on major bills, I keep confronting senior members of both parties with a question. It is this: Can you recall any session with less timely action on major bills than this one? House or Senate, I haven't found a person yet who answers in the affirmative. This one's going slow, real slow.

Which certainly isn't all bad. The story is told of a now-departed Southwest Missouri legislator who served more than three decades. He would find himself at a coffee shop back home and invariably be asked, "Dick, you all gettin' much done up there this year?" The veteran lawmaker's response: "No, not this year. Not much is likely to pass." The response from his constituents would follow, something like this: "That's great. Keep up the good work."

Still, this session is remarkable for the fact that from the House and Senate leadership to the governor's office, it has been apparent from the start that they don't want much to pass. Considering that this is the leadership and the party and the governor that gave us Senate Bill 380 and nearly a half-billion dollars of higher taxes on working Missourians in their first session back in 1993, I suppose we should thank God for small favors.

By the way, no Missourian under the age of 65 has ever voted for a Republican majority in either the Missouri House or Senate, such has been the Democratic Party's vise-like grip on the Missouri Legislature. The Iron Curtain has fallen, the Soviet politburo is on history's ash heap and the GOP controls both houses in Washington, but Fidel Castro endures and Democrats maintain control on the third floor of your state capitol.

Let's take some issues. After a filibuster that took weeks, we passed a bill on speed limits that the governor signed yesterday. How about workers' compensation reform? My bill to redress this $1 billion cost item for Missouri business had a hearing but was voted down in committee on a straight party-line vote. Vague commitments from the chairman to move for a reconsideration of that vote have been unavailing. So much for the number one item for Missouri business and a jobs and competitiveness issue of the first magnitude.

How about telecommunications reform, another jobs and competitiveness issue where other states such as Illinois and Michigan are moving rapidly ahead of us? Committee action on a major reform bill took place the week we adjourned, but it is getting late for so complex a measure to be accorded the extended floor debate it will need. Concealed weapons for law-abiding Missourians who undergo background checks and have proven they can discharge this responsibility? My bill, which enjoys wide bipartisan support, was voted out of committee in timely fashion and will likely be taken up next week, but still, it's beginning to get late for action by both houses. Same with the abortion caregiver bill, a moderate and sensible measure passed last year by large majorities in both houses, only to be vetoed by Gov. Mel Carnahan. A time-consuming item in floor debate, it languishes on the senate calendar.

For the third year in a row, my bill to institute risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis in environmental rulemaking has passed out of committee by the lopsided, bipartisan vote of 7-1. And for the third year in a row the committee chairman, who is the one "No", exercises his prerogative in refusing to turn the bill in for floor consideration by the full senate.

My bill to declare it the public policy of our state that we don't recognize same-sex marriages won committee approval by a 5-1 vote, but don't look for it to receive the leadership nod for timely action by either the full House or Senate. By the way, we're likely only a court decision or two away from this exploding into one of ther hottest social issues of our time. Stay tuned for updates.

How about serious action, or even consideration, of a pilot program to test school choice, or parental freedom in education? Don't hold your breath as long as this crowd holds the whip hand. Before time runs out, I'm hopeful of action on my bill to require university instructors to speak intelligible English, but can offer no guarantees here either.

We'll likely pass a school safety bill that we should have passed in either of the last two years. A Republican colleague and close friend of mine has championed this two years running, before the governor signed on this time. Shame it took the homicides of two innocents in St. Louis schools to get the requisite attention to this deadly serious issue.

~Peter Kinder is the associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian and a state senator from Cape Girardeau.