RAINY-DAY FUND, BINGO ISSUES ARE ON BALLOT

Some voters will be surprised when they see a couple of amendments to the Missouri Constitution on Tuesday's ballot. Both have received short shrift in the news media this election season.

That's understandable with proposed Amendment No. 2, which shortens the time someone must be associated with an organization before that person is eligible to help run a bingo game. Right now, the requirement is two years. The amendment would shorten that to six months. That probably would help some groups who conduct bingo games, but wouldn't have much affect on the rest of us at all.

Proposed Amendment No. 1 deserves our attention, however. It sets up a rainy-day fund that the legislature could tap if a two-thirds majority agrees there is a true emergency.

The reserve fund total couldn't be more than 10 percent of general revenue.

Fiscally conservative Missourians can appreciate saving for a rainy day, maybe even more when they realize it takes about $46.6 million a day to run our government in the manner to which we've become accustomed.