SENATE FILIBUSTER STALLS VOTE ON SPEED LIMIT BILL

JEFFERSON CITY -- Efforts to send Gov. Mel Carnahan a bill increasing Missouri speed limits ran into a blockade Monday created by a state senator opposed to the bill.

Sen. Danny Staples had hoped to get his speed limit bill passed and sent to Carnahan, who said he is ready to sign it into law.

But within minutes of the chamber's start of business, Sen. Harold Caskey seized the floor and started talking. He began speaking at 4:25 p.m. and hinted that he would continue the filibuster until he gets his way.

Two hours after Caskey started, Senate Appropriations Chairman Mike Lybyer, D-Huggins, asked Caskey how long he would continue, but Caskey said he could not answer the question.

Lybyer canceled the Monday night meeting of his appropriations committee, which is reviewing Carnahan's proposed state budget. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee also canceled its hearing because of the filibuster.

"Why do you want to try to block a speed limits bill needed to save lives?" Staples, D-Eminence, asked Caskey.

"Is it needed?" Caskey replied. "This law will not save thousands of lives."

As Caskey talked, senators drifted in and out of the 34-member chamber, their ranks at times dwindling to as few as five. It takes 18 senators to do business, so the bell rang several times to summon adequate numbers.

The final version of the bill was worked out by House and Senate negotiators last week and was overwhelmingly passed by the House. That left it up to the Senate to dispatch it to the governor.

Under the bill, the speed limit would be 70 mph on rural sections of interstates and freeways; 65 mph on four-lane divided expressways in rural areas; 60 mph on two-lane numbered roads and up to 55 mph on two-lane lettered routes. The speed cap would be 60 mph on all state and federal roads in urban areas.

The bill lets the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department raise or lower speed limits for safety or design concerns.

Missouri's current speed limits of 55 mph on most roads and 65 mph on rural sections of interstates are holdovers from the 1974 federal caps that were repealed last fall.

If new speed limits are not enacted by early April, the limits automatically return to pre-1974 levels, which allowed speeds up to 70 mph on some two-lane roads.

Caskey, D-Butler, offered and withdrew various motions, including one requiring the House-Senate negotiators to set a limit of 70 mph on rural, divided four-lane expressways.

Last week, Caskey threatened to stall the compromise unless speeds were raised 70 mph on four-lane divided expressways -- specifically U.S. 71, which runs through his western Missouri district.

Caskey accused the Senate conferees of being "rubber stamps" for the House's viewpoint. He said the Senate negotiators went beyond the areas they were suppose to discuss. Caskey was the only Senate conferee who refused to endorse the compromise.

Senate Majority Leader J.B. "Jet" Banks at one point told Caskey that he was trying to substitute his will for that of the Senate.

"You are taking the bill from the conferees," said Banks, D-St. Louis. "I have a problem with you trying to take the bill from the conferees."

His voice rising, Caskey slapped his desk top and declared: "I'm trying to hold the Senate view. It's time we act like senators. Is that so wrong?"

Also Monday, the House gave first-round approval by voice vote to a bill forcing witnesses to testify, despite claims that it would violate their right against self-incrimination under the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If witnesses are ordered by a judge to speak, they would be immune from any penalties relating to the crime.

Prosecutors say the bill, which awaits a final House vote, would help get information from people who are reluctant to testify against friends, or are fearful of defendants who might seek revenge for unfavorable testimony.