Legislators evaluate Senate session

Local legislators said this year's session brought some disappointments.

By James Patrick Schmidt

Published June 6, 2007

After the close of the Missouri General Assembly, local legislators left Jefferson City with varying opinions on the impact of the last session. The biggest issues are healthcare and the sale of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.

Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia

Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, said he was disappointed with the overall performance of the Senate this session.

"In general, the senator feels that the senate leadership and the governor had the wrong priorities for this session," Graham's spokesman Ted Farnen said.

Farnen said the greatest disappointment for Graham was when Senate leadership decided to cut off debate on the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.

"That is supposed to be what makes the Senate different from the House - not having limits on debate," Farnen said. "When you cut off debate for political reasons like this was done and you don't get to discuss all the portions of the bill that in Sen. Graham's mind had a lot of problems, that changes what the Senate is all about."

Another disappointment for the senator was the handling of Medicaid legislation.

"You'd have to question the priorities of the leadership and Gov. (Matt) Blunt," Farnen said. "Their bill that was supposed to deal with Medicaid did not put any of the people who were cut off (in 2005) back on health insurance. The governor said that the Medicaid bill was a priority, but it didn't help the people who needed it most."

Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia

Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, who is the House minority leader, was also disappointed with the efforts of the General Assembly this session, especially in the realm of higher education.

"(This session has gone) not very well for taxpayers and for students," Harris said. "This was an inadequate session for the University of Missouri and the governor's persistence in wanting to bankrupt MOHELA."

But Harris said there were several positive steps taken to promote the needs of college students in relation to tuition and the intellectual diversity bill.

"We've at least raised the profile of making tuition tax deductible," he said. "And we have thus far been able to rally students from different philosophical backgrounds in opposition to the so-called intellectual diversity bill. The student's outspoken criticism of that bill has been very positive."

Harris hopes to continue working on restoring healthcare to those removed by the cuts made in 2005 next session.

Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia

One Columbia legislator said he was pleased with the work of the General Assembly this session.

"On a scale of one to 10, it was probably a seven or eight," Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, said. "I mean, it didn't go as well as the one two years ago when I think we accomplished an unimaginable amount of legislation, but we did pass tax relief for the elderly this session, and we passed a medical care bill: Missouri Health Net. I think it's a good first step to fixing the state's healthcare system."

Robb, who is vice chairman of the Budget Committee, was also pleased with the budget, especially in relation to education.

"I think if you look at the budget we passed, we were able to put a lot more money into higher education and a lot more money into K-12 education," he said.

But one part of the session Robb was not pleased with was the outcome of the MOHELA legislation.

"I'm obviously very disappointed about that," he said. "I really liked the governor's program last year. After all the smoke had cleared, I thought the final program was the best group of projects that the state could fund. We lost a couple of those going through the process this year, including the health sciences center here in Columbia."

Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia

Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, said she was also disappointed with several key issues dealt with by the General Assembly this session.

"I had some major disappointments this session, mostly over healthcare and MOHELA," she said. "On the healthcare front, I really felt like we should do First Things First, (an initiative to restore healthcare to the Missourians cut in 2005), and restore the cuts that were so devastating to so many of Missouri's low-income working families. I think the major failure of the MOHELA plan was that was ill-conceived to start with and in the end didn't deliver on any of the promises for innovative research."

Baker said she thought the research mission the Missouri was impacted negatively by the failures of the MOHELA plan. Baker said there were some laws passed this session that will be beneficial to the state.

"We got a safe at-home provision put into law that provides that victims of domestic violence are able to have a confidential address," she said. "I think that was a very positive thing. Also, I worked hard on some provisions for (Missouri) Telehealth (Network) to be put into the budget and there will be more Telehealth access in more areas."

Next session, there are several issues Baker said she would like to see the General Assembly address.

"As the president of the Democratic Women's Caucus, we had an agenda of ideas that we were promoting that never got addressed," she said. "One of those is childcare subsidy. Missouri is ranked 50th in the nation, and I would like to see that addressed. I think that family values cry out for us to assist families to provide for their families. If we can assist with childcare, then a person is more likely to be able to provide for their children."

Baker said she would like to revisit healthcare and to support an online driver's education course and cell phone restrictions for teens while driving.