Bills cover beer at the movies to cutting grass along roads

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- For sure, lawmakers will have plenty of weighty issues to tackle during their annual session that starts Wednesday -- the budget, security, transportation, education, economic development, to name a few.

Then, too, there are those less talked-about bills.

For example, there is the proposed prohibition of alcohol sales in movie theaters; the bill allowing contractors to mow grass along highways; or the proposed mandate that motorists switch to the passing lane when they see an emergency vehicle parked on the shoulder.

One bill would essentially fund a free $300 vacation for all Missouri families -- provided they went to Branson, the Lake of the Ozarks, Kansas City or St. Louis.

The sponsors of all these proposals are quite serious -- and their measures would affect Missourians' everyday lives.

Although the session has yet to begin, lawmakers have filed more than 600 bills. That is about one-third of what is expected.

Last year, lawmakers filed nearly 1,700 proposed laws and constitutional amendments, ultimately passing about 200 bills. It was considered a fairly successful year from the perspective of those who view quantity as a positive indicator.

Derailed at any point

To make it from proposition to a law's imposition, a bill must start in a committee that must send it to the chamber floor, where two votes are needed just to send the bill to a committee in the opposite chamber. Then that committee must send the bill to that chamber floor.

And if the version passed in the House is not the same as the one passed in the Senate, the bill often goes to a special committee to reconcile the differences. From there, final votes are needed in both chambers. And, of course, the governor must sign the measure.

Bills can become derailed at any point along the path.

So it is that Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, acknowledges that his free-vacation bill may have a tough time.

Luetkemeyer's proposal would grant up to $300 in state income tax credits to compensate Missourians for visiting tourist attractions such as state parks, musical theaters and miniature golf courses.

He views it as a way to boost Missouri's tourism industry, which was hurt by the recession and Sept. 11 attacks. Luetkemeyer would limit the perk to what he considers the top tourist destinations -- Branson, the Lake of the Ozarks area and Missouri's two biggest cities.

Truth be told, tourism might also get a boost if all movie theaters began selling alcohol.

Shocked that a St. Louis theater was advertising just that, Rep. Harold Selby decided to nip the potential trend with a bill outlawing the practice.

It should be noted that Selby, D-Cedar Hill, has a 15-year-old daughter. He knows from his own teen-age years that had beer been available in a movie theater, he probably would have been drinking it.

All it takes is one person age 21, then "the lights are out, so pass me the popcorn and beer," Selby said. Not to mention that alcohol often induces louder talking -- an annoyance, for sure, during a movie.

Enforcement problems

Selby's bill originated from a concerned citizen. In the case of Rep. Charles Shields, R-St. Joseph, concerned patrolmen suggested the law requiring motorists to move over a lane (if they can) to give parked emergency vehicles some room.

The lane change has long been a common courtesy, but apparently not one that is universally practiced.

In Sen. John Cauthorn's rural district, one recurring complaint is of the tall grass along roads. Not only is it unsightly, but it leads to more collisions with deer, because motorists cannot see the animals standing nearby, he said.

If the agency could hire private mowers, perhaps the job would get done quicker and at a cheaper cost, he said.