MISSOURI WATCH: CLASSROOMS AND CLOAKROOMS

The start of a brand new session of the Missouri General Assembly is not unlike the beginning of school every fall. There is an air of anticipation and expectation when students show up for the first day of school, and there is a bit of the same atmosphere when 34 members of the Missouri Senate and 163 members of the Missouri House of Representatives arrive for the opening sessions of the state legislature.

Just as school has its experienced and first-time-ever students, so, too, does the General Assembly, and just as classrooms have their own curricula, so, too, does our state legislature. For some students, it's old hat, and they evidence an air of been-here-done-that, designed mostly to impress the newcomers. Believe me when I say, the veteran lawmakers take considerable joy in watching freshmen as they learn, sometimes the hard way, the essential details of lawmaking.

Shucks, there are even bells and signals in our Capitol not unlike those found in local schools.

When this year's General Assembly began its opening ceremonies the other day, I was reminded of numerous legislators that over the years have made vast contributions to this state and its citizens. Some have been gone a long time, while others have gone on to other pursuits, but almost all of the newest departees have left with a visible trace of nostalgia even before they packed their memorabilia and headed back to their home districts. A couple of lawmakers have even admitted they began regretting the decision not to return before their terms ended.

Perhaps if the public recognized the almost hidden elements of serving in the legislative branch of government in our state, they would better understand the legislature itself and why, to outsiders, it so often appears to be filled with self-serving nincompoops who regularly lose their sensibilities approving ludicrous bills that later seem illogical and foolish.

Although some legislators are considered to be arrogant in the exercise of power, this seeming air of disdain to the public is misleading and, often totally false. Seldom recognized by a skeptical public is the requirement forced on every legislator to learn as much as possible about as many as 1,000 to 1,200 subjects, for this is how many pieces of business come before the General Assembly in any 5-month session.

Granted, some legislators do not have a working knowledge of every bill that is presented to them, but a vast majority of members in both chambers have a better-than-average grasp of pending legislation, and what is more remarkable, a much larger number than is imagined have very accurate information on the most critical bills on the calendar.

Often overlooked is the most important and most time consuming job of an elected legislator: informing himself or herself about bills that they will soon have to consider and render judgment on. A few lawmakers read every bill that is introduced, even those they accurately assign to the dead bill file. More importantly, a much larger number of lawmakers have a good idea of measures that do have a shot at being passed and ones that will be debated on the House or Senate floor.

Just keeping track of pending legislation is no small order. A bill that originally read "shall" may have been amended, either by its author or by a member of the oversight committee, to read "may." Just one word changes the context of a proposed law, and lawmakers who are uninformed about even the smallest change in the wording expose themselves to ridicule from colleagues and disgust from constituents.

If simply boning up on 1,200 bills were all that is involved in a legislative curriculum, the job would be easier than it seems to most of the voters back home. But as every freshman legislator quickly learns, there is a great deal more than speed reading and self improvement. Nearly 50 percent of a lawmaker's time in Jefferson City is spent in committee meetings, where numerous bills are discussed, an often large number of witnesses offer testimony and where possible amendments are introduced and then studied some more. Committee work is especially important on highly technical bills, and the trick is not to master the technicalities as much as anticipate the effects of proposed legislation once it becomes law. Some seemingly reasonable legislation has a potential of becoming pejorative once it enters the statute books. Even the least astute lawmakers recognize the inherent dangers involved in enthusiastically voting for measures which are later scorned, either because of hidden problem areas or court decisions.

These words do not imply legislative infallibility. No one, including members of the General Assembly, makes that claim. What is regrettable is that the public has a jaundiced, and often inaccurate, view of lawmakers and the job they must perform. Perhaps some of it can be traced to media cynicism, an illness to which many of us who report on Capitol business suffer from time to time. Some are even afflicted with a terminal virus, consciously or unconsciously never according legislators any benefit of any doubt. I hope I am not considered a victim of this myopia, for I have long felt a fondness for the institution and a friendship with many of its members. I have been watching this branch of government since I was 10 years old and have never felt anything but the highest respect for those who sometimes seem to wander the marble corridors of the Capitol in search of just one friendly face.

The public is ill served by a press that continually reflects the negativity of some reporters and writers, not that these folks are always wrong but that they seldom, if ever, report the positive contributions of nearly 200 Missourians, most of whom work harder than anyone knows in the performance of tasks that are much more difficult than anyone recognizes.

The best way to learn about government is to take a lawmaker to lunch. The hard part is convincing him the meal isn't laced with arsenic.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.