CORONER MEASURE GETS NOD

JEFFERSON CITY -- A bill that would allow Cape Girardeau County to retain a county coroner instead of hiring a medical examiner when it becomes first class next year won legislative approval Wednesday and awaits the governor's signature.

The measure, Senate Bill 806, allows the county to be exempt from a state law that requires all first-class counties to hire a medical examiner to determine causes and manners of deaths when a doctor isn't present. A medical examiner costs more than $100,000 a year while a coroner is paid about $20,000.

"It is a cost-saving measure that county commissioners told me was their highest priority," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, "and it gives Cape Girardeau the flexibility it needs as it moves to first-class county status."

Kinder said the Gov. Mel Carnahan is expected to sign the measure into law.

John Carpenter, the county coroner, said he has testified at committee hearings and contacted lawmakers in hopes of gaining support for the proposal.

"After all of the trips I've made to Jefferson City, I'm delighted it passed," he said. "This will be a benefit to the people of our county."

The bill already had won approval in the Missouri Senate and the House gave final passage to it Wednesday afternoon.