A Cape Girardeau state senator said he will play a pivotal role in any tax-reform effort in the Legislature this year.

State Sen. Wayne Wallingford chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

In that role, Wallingford said he can decide which bills to hear or vote on in committee.

�A lot of people say, �Wayne, you chair the most powerful committee in the Senate.� I like to say I chair probably the most influential committee in the Senate,� the Republican senator said.

The Ways and Means Committee deals with taxes and fiscal issues.

Wallingford also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. As a result, Wallingford said he is in a �unique position� when it comes to crafting the new state budget.

�That really puts my fingerprint on a lot of things that are going to happen across the state when it comes to our $27-plus-billion budget and the things that we can fund and the things that we will have to put aside for a while,� he said.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens has called for tax cuts for businesses and individuals.

�I�ve got my marching orders and I am going to make it happen,� Wallingford said.

Crafting such policy will be ironed out in the Ways and Means Committee, he said.

As committee chairman, Wallingford said he can choose to table a bill and never bring it up for a hearing or hear a bill but never bring it up for a vote. He added he also can substitute �my own version� of a bill.

Wallingford said he will be busy this Legislative session, which began earlier this month.

�I don�t have time to blink, really,� he said.

One comprehensive bill already before the Ways and Means Committee calls for 1.2 percent tax cut on personal income and 4-cent-per-gallon increase in the fuel tax.

Wallingford, who is in his first year as Ways and Means chairman, said he plans to be in close contact with the governor during the legislative process.

The senator said he doesn�t want to waste the committee�s time or that of the full Senate on bills Greitens won�t sign.

�I want a bill that he is going to sign when it hits his desk,� Wallingford said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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