LEGISLATION, ELECTIONS: INTERESTING YEAR

This past week saw the return of lawmakers to Jefferson City for what is officially called the Second Regular Session of the 89th General Assembly. In even-numbered years such as this, lawmakers form up for their duties aware that biennial elections will be held this November. All 163 House members and half the 34 senators face the voters this fall. This fact, along with many others, will color much of the deliberations between now and the constitutionally mandated adjournment in the middle of May.

It is fashionable for many commentators to bemoan something they call "politics" as supposedly interfering with the conduct of the people's business, but these folks forget that this is how we do the people's business in a democracy. It isn't perfect, it can be messy and contentious at times, but it is preferable to other countries that rely on the barrels of guns to settle disputes. Winston Churchill's remark comes to mind: "Democracy," quipped that great leader, "is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried."

Evidence for Churchill's remark is daily on display in the Missouri Capitol. This is partly because of a close partisan divide in both houses of the Legislature: In the House, Democrats control with 85 seats to the Republicans' 76, with one independent. In the Senate, Democrats have 19 seats to 15 for the Republicans. (Thirty-six months ago, Democrats controlled the House by 95-68, and five years ago, they controlled the Senate by 21-13.) If just a handful of seats change hands this fall, then Republicans could control one or both houses for the first time since the early 1950s. Decades-long Democratic dominance is persistent: No voter under the age of 66 has ever voted in an election that sent a Republican majority to Jefferson City.

Missourians have former U.S. Rep. Mel Hancock to thank for one overriding fact of Show Me State governance: The tax limitation amendment spearheaded to voter passage by Hancock back in 1980. Thanks to Mel Carnahan's higher taxes, we are in the third consecutive year of breaking through that tax lid, triggering refunds to taxpayers. Before Carnahan, no Missouri governor had ever exceeded it.

So tax cuts are on the table, even some property tax relief. It is almost funny to watch as the folks who five years ago brought us higher property taxes -- without the vote of the people they promised -- now pose as the saviors of property taxpayers. And it is absurd that the State Tax Commission is jacking up agricultural property taxes by double digits at a time when we are sending out refund checks and preparing to pass a tax cut. The truth is that Missouri is awash in revenue and can afford much more than the piddling you-get-a-tax-credit-if-you-clean-your-room sort of tax relief proposed by Carnahan. It is up to lawmakers to deliver.

Lawmakers are pledged to "do something" about the scourge of methamphetamine plaguing our state, and the governor has a proposal. At least one Bootheel prosecutor -- a Democrat, by the way -- has said, though, that we don't need new laws, but rather better funding for front-line law enforcement battling this form of societal cancer. Look for something to pass anyway.

Prize for the biggest lead balloon of 1997 was the governor's push for higher taxes for transportation. All agree that there will be no such push in 1998, and in fact, one key Democrat has announced a proposal for stricter accountability on the Department of Transportation.

The governor has a proposal for shoveling more money at middle-class college students whose principal effect will be to fuel still more inflation in tuition. Lawmakers need to look long and hard at that one.

The year will likely see lawmakers revisit tough issues such as partial-birth abortion. Missourians will demand the ban that has already been passed in a score of other states, and will be watching and taking notes. Should be an interesting year.