Check out Missouri’s productive lawmakers in 2016 (yeah, we’re kidding)
Setting the right priorities and passing reasonable laws that affect 6 million Missourians has never been the strong point of the General Assembly.
Some things never change, as the just-concluded 2016 session clearly showed.
In their defense, lawmakers did avoid doing some absolutely stupid stuff.
They didn’t kill Kansas City’s 1 percent earnings tax.
They didn’t approve a discriminatory bill regarding same-sex marriage, which Kansas City area businesses forcefully opposed.
But the legislature did waste too much time on those and other pet projects. Too many unfortunately got through in the end.
Clinging to their guns
Lawmakers had one thing (guns) on their minds (guns) before Friday’s (guns) adjournment.
Hiking the state’s absurdly low gasoline tax to rebuild miles of crumbling roads!
Nah, just joking.
It was guns.
The assembly passed a “Stand Your Ground” law that does nothing but guarantee a fatal firearms-related tragedy in the future.
The members also absurdly approved a bill making it legal to carry a gun without a permit.
Gov. Jay Nixon should veto both ideas.
Show us your papers
The lawmakers proposed a voter ID constitutional change that would do nothing to prevent fraud at the polls, which studies have shown doesn’t exist anyway.
But the laws would make it harder for 200,000 people to exercise their constitutional rights to vote.
Meanwhile, taxpayers would be on the hook for millions of dollars to provide the required documents to people seeking to abide by the new rules.
Missourians have good reasons to reject voter ID when it’s on the ballot later this year.
Ethics, smethics
Missouri lawmakers patted themselves on the back for a new law that will ban them from taking lobbyist gigs for six whole months after leaving office.
What they didn’t do: Put a needed cap on campaign contributions to politicians, something every other sane state in the nation has done. This failure means St. Louis multimillionaire Rex Sinquefield and other rich guys and gals can continue to buy political favors in Jefferson City.
Members of the General Assembly also didn’t ban lobbyists gifts to themselves. But now we’re just dreaming.
Uber defies KC, and loses
Uber — the friendly, modern ride-for-hire company that’s turned into a bully around the nation — hired a dozen or so lobbyists in Jefferson City with one goal: Pass more lenient statewide rules to govern its industry.
That would have eliminated Kansas City’s tougher regulations, which Mayor Sly James and Uber officials had cobbled together after public spats in early 2015.
James was livid at the end-around in the Capitol, especially because the city had worked out a deal to pull in for a one-year checkup on the deal with Uber sometime in mid-2016.
With help from GOP Sen. Ryan Silvey of Kansas City, the statewide rules died.
Abortion in the spotlight
How’d we get this far without mentioning GOP Sen. Kurt Schaefer of Columbia?
The publicity hound is running for attorney general, so that meant he had to ratchet up unfair attacks on Planned Parenthood and put the pressure on University of Missouri officials to go along with endangering the right of women to legal abortions in mid-Missouri.
In the end, Schaefer’s witch hunt against a few Planned Parenthood officials fizzled out.
But he and the General Assembly did pass a budget that irresponsibly turns down $8 million in federal funds for Planned Parenthood.
Gas tax dies on side of road
Legislators failed to pass a measure that would have let voters decide whether to raise the state’s gasoline tax by almost 6 cents a gallon.
Trucking companies, gas station owners and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported the idea, which would have boosted Missouri’s 17-cent fuel tax.
But lawmakers were more concerned about their re-elections later this year — afraid of even putting a tax increase on the ballot — than they were about improving the sad state of Missouri’s roads.
Odds and ends
The legislature did not take a final vote on a bill that would have allowed Kansas City Public Schools to ask voters to approve a property tax to pay for universal preschool. It’s a worthwhile endeavor and needs to be pursued more.
Legislators properly backed off their threats to punish the University of Missouri system with deep budget cuts.
The General Assembly barely sustained a correct Nixon veto of a bill that would have placed more restrictions on public employee unions.
Finally, the best news: The lawmakers adjourned on time, at 6 p.m. Friday.
Who’ll be back for the 2017 session? Voters will decide that this fall. Here’s hoping they examine the records of their House and Senate members on key issues before casting those ballots.
This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Check out Missouri’s productive lawmakers in 2016 (yeah, we’re kidding)."