by Ken Midkiff, Chapter Director
This past session of the General Assembly did have its moments when partisan differences were allegedly put aside in the interest of the public good. Of course, the leadership of the Missouri House and Senate define “public good” from their own political perspectives.
Ultimately, any and all decisions made in the State Capitol are political ones. From passage of re-districting for U.S. House of Representatives to failure of the Total Transportation Plan, partisan (some would say petty) politics were in the mix.
The defining moment in this legislative year was in January when the Republicans gained control of the Missouri Senate. Up to this point, things were cranking along at the usual pace, with the usual suspects sponsoring legislation that would advance through committees that they headed.
But, when the Minority Party became the Majority Party, everything was turned upside down. Those who had depended upon Democratic state Senators to carry their bills found that those bills were more or less headed for the trash heap. Republican state Senators replaced their Democratic counterparts as committee chairs, and all of a sudden the bills sponsored by Democrats were pushed aside.
While there was much fear and trepidation among Jefferson City insiders (primarily lobbyists) and game plans went by the wayside, in the end the moderate Republicans ruled the day. Despite all sorts of wild rumors about what would happen, when the dust settled after the gavels went down on May 18, the Capitol Building was still standing.
Akin to other groups, environmentalists had depended in the past upon the Democratic leadership to “take care” of our bills. After all, they were in charge. With, for once, admirable foresight we looked at the political climate and predicted a season of uncertainties. Consequently, we set aside two major pieces of legislation that we had developed for sponsorship and decided not to push any of our legislative projects.
This year, with one exception, was devoted to defense. With the assistance of the new Republican leadership, we were successful. The perennial anti-environmental bills, Department of Natural Resource rules can be ‘no stricter than federal’, Environmental Audit, Privilege, and Immunity (aka Dirty Secrets), and Takings, while introduced, never even made it out of committee.
There was one bill that we pushed for passage. That bill would have allowed citizens equal status with polluting industries by granting impacted persons the opportunity to administratively challenge wastewater discharge permits. The Senate Bill was rather hastily withdrawn by Senator Harold Caskey on the morning it was to be heard by the Commerce and Environment Committee, and the House Bill, sponsored by Representative Sam Berkowitz, was heard by the Energy and Environment Committee, but never brought up for a committee vote.
At the end of the session, in the last waning days, an amendment was placed on several bills that prohibits the Department of Natural Resources from placing water quality protections on dredge and fill permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Department of Transportation. This amendment was stuck on HB 924 (Total Transportation), HB 453 (a “Christmas Tree” of hodgepodge measures) and HB 501 (Water Bond issues). HBs 453 and 501 passed with the amendments intact, and we are now engaged in a campaign to secure the Governor’s veto of these messy and unnecessary bills.
Other than these skirmishes, it was a relatively placid session for environmental bills. The best that can be said: “Not much happened”. And that is usually good.