Wow, can you believe it's only two weeks until Christmas? It seems like the time is just flying by.
In just three weeks we will begin Session and brother do we ever have a lot of stuff waiting for us. I saw a three page list of bills dealing with the Ferguson situation. I read through the list and all but a couple of them were designed to restrict police officers. I realize that we're dealing with an emotional issue here, but do we really want to keep the law enforcement people from enforcing the laws?
I have to admit that I fully support the idea of police using lethal force when their life is endangered. During the time we have been dealing with Ferguson, at least a dozen police officers have lost their lives in circumstances similar to Officer Wilson's. Of course we have to expect law enforcement personnel to exercise restraint, but when their life is threatened, they only have seconds to react. I expect there will be many hours of discussion related to the three pages of new proposed laws but I would hope that common sense will prevail and most of them will not be added to current statutes.
The Governor got himself back in the news last week with the announcement of a study on creating a toll road out of Interstate 70. His plan is to use the money we spend to maintain I-70 to help out the rest of the states' roads and bridges. I've been on the transportation committee for four years and I think I've heard every possible solution for transportation discussed and debated over and over again.
Before placing the transportation sales tax on the August ballot there was extensive polling done to determine which solution appealed to voters the most. The sales tax polled at 64 percent, raising fuel taxes polled at 44 percent and toll roads finished dead last at under 30 percent. Creating a toll road means selling someone on the idea of financing the $3 billion dollar project. I can assure you that voters in our area are not too keen on the idea of a bond issue that puts the taxpayers on the hook for that amount of money.
That leaves private enterprise to sell the idea to. Any one who has that much loot to lend is sharp enough to figure out how to make it pay for itself. The estimated toll price I heard was about 50 cents a mile for trucks and a dime a mile for cars. Studies in other states have shown that drivers will find alternate routes to avoid paying tolls. This would almost certainly doom highways 50 and 36 to heavy truck traffic and that would cause them to undergo costly repairs. And what about all the Kansas City and St Louis commuters that use I-70 daily to get back and forth to work? Does the Governor really think they are going to vote for a toll?
I don't have any new ideas for a solution to our highway and bridge funding, but it's a sure bet that we can't take any money away from social programs or education. Probably sometime in the next couple of years we will see a proposal for a small increase in fuel tax coupled with a temporary sales tax offered to the voters. Ultimately, it will be your decision what to do to solve the problem and that's how it should work.
I've had occasion this past week to visit with several civic and law enforcement agencies around the district. This time of year many of them are involved in fund raising activities for Christmas baskets and gifts for the elderly and the needy among us. Once again I am amazed at southwest Missouri! These aren't the best economic times we've seen, but the donations continue to break all previous records. There are a lot of wonderful people around us that step up and help out when it's needed. Most of them don't even want recognition for what they've done. All I can say is thank you all for what you're doing! That is the epitome of keeping Christ in Christmas.
More next week, until then I am and remain in your service.
Bill Lant
417-437-8223
573-751-9801
General News on 12/18/2014