JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- With a majority of state representatives opposing a bill that would set aside state tax revenue for professional sports stadiums, House Speaker Rod Jetton said there probably isn't much point in scheduling the measure for chamber debate.

"You just don't bring things up on the floor if it's certainly not going to go," said Jetton, R-Marble Hill.

On Thursday, Jetton received a letter signed by 85 lawmakers urging him to stop the bill from moving forward. It takes 82 votes to pass a bill in the House. The letter penned by state Rep. Brad Lager, a Maryville Republican and House budget chairman, calls providing public money for stadiums in a year the legislature is cutting health care for the poor and other state programs "misguided and irresponsible."

Nine Southeast Missouri lawmakers signed the letter, including state Rep. Steven Tilley, R-Perryville.

"We've made a lot of tough decisions this year," Tilley said. "This to me, in good conscience, would not be the right thing to do."

State Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, said spending taxpayer money on profession sports facilities is never good public policy. Missouri's current budget problems make an already bad idea even worse, Cooper said.

The bill, which cleared the Senate last month on a 21-11 vote, eventually would earmark most of the proceeds from Missouri's athletes and entertainers tax for sports facilities, with the remainder going to support the arts and other cultural efforts. The tax is paid by out-of-state athletes and entertainers who perform in Missouri.

Under current law, all of that money is supposed to go for the arts. However, lawmakers are free to shift the revenue to pay for general state services. With the state's ongoing budget problems, the arts have not received the funding for several years.

The tax proceeds would gradually be shifted out of the state's general fund starting with the 2007 fiscal year. By FY 2009, all of the money -- estimated at $34 million -- would be set aside for stadiums and the arts.

Much of the stadium portion of the money would be used for improvements to the home stadiums of the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals. The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, has said taxpayer support of the facilities is vital to keep the teams in Kansas City and thwart potential moves across the border to Johnson County, Kan.

The Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau would get a small amount of money for sports marketing programs.

Jetton said the concept of using taxes paid by professional athletes is sound, although given the state's financial problems this may not be the time for it.

"If you're going to make millionaire athletes pay for improvement in stadiums, I think that is a good idea," Jetton said. "I'd rather have them pay for it than me and average people."

The bill is SB 269.

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