House Happenings for May 7th, 2008

As the General Assembly nears the end of regular session, the pace increases on consideration of bills. Most of the bills which are currently being heard in the House of Representatives originated in the Senate and are now ready for "Third Reading", and final passage by the House before going to the Governor. Some of these are bad bills (they really are); perhaps even most of them may be bad, from different perspectives. I vote in opposition to those bills when I can determine that serious problems will result from the new proposals. Sometimes I vote no, based on suspicions and years of experience seeing "unintended consequences" develop from hastily-handled legislation. I would probably exercise the "No vote", in even more cases, except I believe that one must limit opposition to appropriate battles. It could be difficult to maintain credibility among other members and have their necessary support regarding our issues if I oppose too many bills.
An example of one bill that appears to justify opposition is HCS SCS SB 1038, which would repeal limits of political campaign contributions. I realize that sometimes Missouri voters have made choices which might need future changes; however, changes, if necessary, perhaps belong in the hands of all voters, rather than the General Assembly. Missouri voters passed "Proposition A", in 1994, which set limits and individual donations to political candidates. That action, along with similar action establishing term limits for legislators, enabled "incumbents" and "non-incumbents" to have relatively even chances of being elected to Missouri’s General Assembly. Eventually, the balance of power shifted from one political party, which had enjoyed a majority for a long time, to the other, and now, guess what? The new rules aren’t satisfactory with the new majority. The current majority is very determined to remove donation limits because they are now in a more favorable position to benefit from unlimited donations. Removing limits protects the "incumbency" and now, to a lesser degree, we are also hearing rumors of adjusting, extending or even removing "term limits". Isn’t it funny how time slips away and history is destined to repeat itself.
Back to the campaign limits. The General Assembly passed HB 1900 in 2006 and for several months, donations were sometimes "huge". Several exceeded $100,000 and three to five thousand dollar donations were routine (at least for some members, excluding yours truly). The Missouri Supreme Court ruled HB 1900 unconstitutional on procedural grounds so HCS SCS SB 1038 is here for another round. Incidentally, it’s here in time to influence the general election of 2008, if enacted. Our government is not supposed to be "for sale" and it’s our own fault when we allow that to happen. Unfortunately, more and more voters are unduly influenced with overwhelming advertisements rather than obtaining factual information on which to base their decisions. I think the amount of money that is involved in our political process is a sin, and ought to be a crime. As far as I know, I’ll be voting "no" again when HCS SCS SB 1038 lights up "The Board".
Please share your thoughts during these last two weeks of session on legislative issues that are of importance to you. You can contact me at jim.whorton@house.mo.gov or 573-751-1649.