House approves a statewide vote on legalizing concealed weapons. The governor's child health insurance plan clears the Senate. Lawmakers deadlock on the tax-cut bill. Welfare reform legislation dies in committee. Special legislative session called.
Legislature enters the final week with a major gap in the state's budget.
Tax cuts but little else clear the last day of the 1997 legislative session. Missouri lawmakers passaged a package of tax cuts on the last day of their 1997 legislative session, but filibusters blocked passage of a number of other major issues. Among the items that died with 6pm Friday adjournment were implementation of federal welfare reform, the governor's child insurance proram and closing a loophole in the law against teenage drunken driving. Lawmakers were able to take care of their own needs, however. One of the first items that cleared the legislature Friday was a resolution grabbing all space in the Capitol building except for the offices of governor and lieutenant governor.