In just over 24 hours, the Missouri Legislature will end their current session of the General Assembly in a contentious election year that was highlighted by approval of a balanced budget without a tax increase. It will be interesting come Friday night to hear both sides of the political spectrum claim victory. And at this point, I'm not sure if either side deserves much praise.
The GOP-dominated House and Senate are trying today and tomorrow to gather enough votes for an override of Gov. Bob Holden's veto of tort reform. The outcome remains in doubt at press time but I don't look for the votes to materialize.
What will mark this session more than any other single item is the number of long-time legislators who will retire this year because of term limits. The list of those retiring reads like a Who's Who of the Missouri Legislature. It will be interesting to see what new leaders surface next year because many of the familiar faces of the past decade will be gone.
I was an original supporter of term limits because I thought just as most others that it would bring fresh ideas to the process of government. But increasingly, I have grown to appreciate the downside of term limits. Some of the institutional memory of Jefferson City will be lost as well. And that may not bode well. Only time will tell.
The Holden administration will be hard-pressed to claim much success from the session. The laundry list of wishes that Holden outlined at the beginning of the legislative year went largely down in flames. His push to raise taxes in order to balance the budget fell flat. And yet the budget was balanced. Education funding actually increased and limited cuts were forced elsewhere in the state budget.
The issue that will dominate future sessions in Jefferson City will be Medicaid spending that now includes one million poor Missourians and eats up one-third of the state budget. Unfortunately the experienced lawmakers who know this issue inside and out will be gone. That spells a formidable challenge in the years ahead.