Engler, Tilley take over unprecedented leadership situation

By PAULA BARR
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 3:06 PM CST

State legislators will start the first regular session of the 95th General Assembly at noon on Wednesday, beginning with the swearing in of legislators.

Rep. Linda Fischer, D-Bonne Terre will start her first year as a legislator, and has been selected by the “freshman class” of legislators as their vice president. Also on Wednesday, Rep. Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, and Sen. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, will officially step into their roles as House and Senate majority floor leaders. Each will determine which bills are discussed on his respective floor. Engler also will have the authority to end a filibuster.

Tilley returns to the position, which he held last year. This is Engler’s first term in this leadership role.

The unprecedented leadership situation — the leaders represent overlapping districts, including Farmington — will be good for all legislators, Tilley predicted.

“I think you’re going to see a situation where the House and Senate communicate better,” he said. “Kevin and I have had a personal friendship even before we went into politics, so that is going to help.”

Bipartisan communication and cooperation will be important during this session. While Republicans continue to be the majority in the legislature, Democrats will hold the seats of the governor and all executive branch leadership except that of the lieutenant governor.

Nixon will be inaugurated on Monday at the State Capitol in Jefferson City, becoming the state’s 55th governor.

The House

One of Tilley’s duties is to submit for passage a proposed list of rules that govern how the House will operate during the next two years. The rules will be voted on during the opening session. Committees to address corrections, education, agriculture and a variety of other issues will be assigned late Wednesday or early Thursday, Tilley estimated.

One major issue the House will have to address is the Fiscal Year 2010 budget, which is due on the governor’s desk by May 8.

“With the slowing economy, it looks like it could be a tough FY 2010, which starts in July,” Tilley said. “The governor made a lot of promises in his campaign that we can’t fund. I’ll be interested to see where the money will come from.”

He believes that when times get tough, the state needs to “tighten its belt” just as families must. That doesn’t mean doing nothing until the economy improves, however.

“There are a lot of things we can’t control, because the national economy is downturned,” Tilley said. “But, we can make Missouri as competitive as possible to keep companies here, and to encourage companies that want to move here. That’s going to be one of the pillars of discussion.”

A second issue the House is going to address is energy independence, Tilley said.

 “We need to become an energy exporting state,” he said. “We’ll probably look at the possibility of another nuclear plant in Callaway County.

A third priority is finding ways to make health care affordable and accessible to everyone in the state, he added.

In their positions as majority floor leader, Tilley and Engler are not likely to sponsor bills. However, Fischer already has co-sponsored two pre-filed bills - HB131, which prohibits certain sexual offenders from being present in or loitering within 1,000 yards of a state park, and HB133, which modifies the requirements for minimum service of sentence for felony offenses.

“I have been working on co-sponsoring some law enforcement bills, and I plan to meet with Rep. Belinda Harris about an eminent domain bill,” Fischer said. “I also am researching some concerns that constituents have brought me, such as increasing the penalties for littering.”

On Wednesday, Fischer hopes to find out what committees she will join. She has asked to be on the public safety and corrections committee, educational appropriations, transportation and economic development, and the commission that governs state parks.

Fischer has met with Mark Shelton of Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to discuss the Hedgeapple crossover on U.S. 67 and the north and south bridges on the outer road.

“We want to move those three projects forward,” she explained. “Citizen input will be important.”

Fischer plans to hold a public meeting soon to discuss the projects. She invites citizens with concerns or interest in any legislation to call her.

Senate

Engler believes the session will start slowly in the Senate.

“Every time you start a new session, you have to establish the rules, which I’m in charge of,” he said. “We have to decide what committees there will be and how they will be made up.”

Other rules would establish the manner in which bills may be submitted, as well as other rules senators must follow when speaking on the floor.

New this year is a series of seminars scheduled in January to educate senators about issues they most likely will discuss during the session.

“We will have about 10 seminars in the first couple of weeks on higher education, health care reform, Medicaid and other issues,” he explained. “Before we get into the committees, we’re going to bring experts in for open forums. “

Sen. President Pro Tem Charlie Shields is scheduling the seminars, many of which are still being developed, he added.

Engler said the first month will focus on the budget for the next fiscal year (2010).

“We’re down about eight percent from where we should be, and that translates into hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. “We all expect revenues to pick up, but if they continue to spiral downward, (state departments) will have to cut 15-20 percent.”

State departments will be asked to come up with contingency plans to identify where they will cut if needed. Those plans will be based on departmental responses to mandated cuts of 10 percent, 15 percent and 25 percent.

Engler hopes that the surplus from last year will help reduce the need for cuts.

“I think it’s only prudent that people plan ahead for different revenues,” he added.

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