Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1983-06-16

              STATS lilT. RICAL SOCIETY
HITT 1 L08RY ST. SERV
j0 s j COLUMBIA, BO. 65211
75th Year No. 235 Good Morning! It's Thursday, June 16, 1983 2 Sections 16 Pages 25 Cents
Drunken driving bill in under the wire
By Dean Kahn
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY Missouri's
five- month- lo- ng legislative session
crawled to an end Wednesday night
Unlike other sessions when lawmak-ers
raced to cut deals on major bills
before their midnight adjournment,
there were few unsettled issues of
importance to smooth out this time.
One act of the last- da- y drama was
a rerun from last year's closing ses-sion.
Again, legislation to toughen
penalties against drunken drivers
took center stage.
Both the House and Senate earlier
had approved automatic revocation
of a driver's license after a drunken
driving arrest. But the two cham-bers
disagreed over appeal proce-dures
and the blood- alcoh- ol level
that would trigger suspension, and
reached agreement with eight min-utes
to spare.
The House version put the blood- alcoh- ol
content limit at .10 percent,
the level that triggers criminal pe-nalties
under current law.
The Senate set the limit for sus-pension
at .15 percent Supporters of
the Senate position argued that with-out
a guaranteed court review of the
drunken driving case, a higher limit
ought to be applied.
A House- Senat- e conference com-mittee
met several times during the
day and evening Wednesday in an ef-fort
to reach a compromise on that
and other differences. It wasn't until
late in the evening they settled on a
.13 percent compromise.
" It's utterly absurd they're even
considering .15 percent," said Marge
Charleville, president of the St.
Louis chapter of Remove Intoxi-cated
Drivers, Inc. " It makes a
mockery of everything we've done."
Immediately before final legis-lative
passage, Ms. Charleville said,
" We'd prefer the .10 but " under the
circumstance, we're satisfied with
the bill."
RID led last year's successful
campaign for tougher drunken driv-ing
penalties. That group, the Kan-sas
City chapter of Mothers Against
Drunk Drivers and the Missouri
Southern Baptist Convention joined
forces for even tougher legislation
this year.
The administrative suspension of a
driver's license for drunken driving
would not require a court conviction.
But criminal convictions for repeat
offenders would require a minimum
penalty of 48 hours in jail or 40 hours
of community service.
Other major issues decided on the
legislature's last day included:
Rights of landlords and tenants.
Measures dealing with the subject
have been before lawmakers the
past 11 years. Under the measure,
landlords would gain clear- cu- t pro-cedures
for obtaining legal
judgments against tenants who
leave town or damage residences.
Tenants may not be asked to pay
more than two months' rent as a se-curity
deposit and those deposits
must be returned within 45 days af-ter
a tenant vacates the premises.
v Hospital beds prohibition. A bill
prohibiting hospitals and nursing
homes from adding new beds to their
facilities for the next four years.
Proponents argued the bill would
stem rising Medicare costs caused in
part by the large number of vacant
beds in the state. Construction of bed
space that is at least 15 percent com-pleted
by next month would not be
affected.
Sales tax Increase. The legis-lature
voted to place on the
statewide ballot a proposed 110- ce- nt
sales tax increase for water and soil
conservation projects and state
parks.
Joint custody of children. The
legislature gave approval to a bill to
allow courts to award joint custody
of children in divorce cases. The
measure includes language encour-aging
judges to award joint custody
when in the best interest of the chil-dren,
but does not require it. Missou- -
n is the only state lacking a joint
custody law.
The legislative session began in
January with two issues dominating
lawmakers' attention the state's
dioxin contamination problems and
the continuing cash- shorta- ge prob-lem
facing state government. Law-makers
disposed of both topics al-though
with different verdicts
well before their last- wee- k rush.
Little was done to solve the state's
cash shortage although legislative
leaders and Gov. Christopher Bond
had pushed a number of measures to
ease cash- flo- w problems and raise
revenues without a tax increase.
Those legislative financial issues
included:
Tax acceleration. The largest fi-nancial
measure to be considered by
both chambers was a tax- accelerati- on
package. It would have raised
up to $ 58 million next year by accele-rating
the collection of sales tax
money and beefing up the revenue
department's authority to recoup un
paid taxes.
Although a late night compromise
version sailed through the House,
the bill was killed by a midnight fil-ibuster
in the Senate in retaliation
for the House's failure to pass a pay
increase for top state officials, in-cluding
legislators.
Earlier in the evening, a deal had
been in the works to trade Senate ap
proval of the tax package in return
for House approval of the pay bill.
which had been stalled in the House
Budget Committee. But committee
Chairman Marvin Proffer. D- Jack- s-on,
refused to call a committee
meeting to approve the pay increase
and send it to the full House.
Short- ter- m borrowing. The ad-ministration's
short- ter- m borrowing
proposal quickly was dubbed a " def-icit
spending" device for the gover-nor
to avoid budget cuts or tax in-creases.
In a major legislative
defeat for Bond, it was defeated by
See LEGISLATIVE, Page 8A
K. G. Dickson
Economist Alfred Kahn discussed various monetary systems during his speech Wednesday
Economist says deregulation is working
By Howard Hoffman
Mlssourlan staff writer
A former economic adviser to President Carter
says deregulation so far has been successful.
Alfred Kahn, who also served as chairman of
the Civil Aeronautics Board during the Carter ad-ministration,
says that to evaluate the effects of
deregulation it is important to determine the de-gree
to which a less controlled industry better
serves the public.
Kahn, an economics professor at Cornell Uni-versity,
spoke Wednesday to about 100 people at
the University School of Journalism as the final
speaker in a series of " Private Enterprise and the
Media" lectures.
The purpose of regulation is to protect the pub-lic,
Kahn said. When the public is better served
and still protected, deregulation is a success.
Kahn said deregulation frequently is considered
only in terms of its cost. People should not ask
what it costs, he said. They should ask how dereg-ulation
will benefit them.
" Nobody really believes in getting the govern
ment off our backs entirely," he said. " We need
government intervention to take care of public
health and safety."
When the public safety is at issue or when com-petition
is inefficient or impossible, Kahn said,
regulation is necessary and important. Some-times,
however, regulation does not protect the
public; it protects business profits.
The regulatory agency, he said, is responsible
for the financial well- bein- g of the industry it regu-lates.
Agency regulations allow profits but re-strict
competition, and without competition the in-dustry
has few incentives for improving service or
reducing costs. Consequently, the consumer pays
for a sometimes inefficient service, he said.
It is important to understand who or what regu-lations
are designed to protect when deciding to
deregulate, Kahn said.
Most of the regulatory legislation was written 45
years ago to help the country survive the Depres-sion.
Since then, there has been a radical change
in American attitudes, he said. People now are
less concerned with depression than inflation,
stagflation and recession.
The recent deregulation of the airline industry
has been 90 percent successful, Kahn said.
" The introduction of competition and the free-dom
to plan your routes as you pleased has great-ly
increased efficiency," he said. Most markets
are more competitive, which makes fares lower
without restricting service.
Kahn said, however, that the media have not
been as successful in reporting the success of de-regulation.
The media concentrated on the most dramatic
issues of airline deregulation, he said. Although
the effect on the major airlines and the rate wars
were covered well, he said, the most important is-sues
the effects on the industry generally and
on consumers mostly were ignored.
" We've got to be more discriminating and stop
pretending the world is made up only of good guys
and bad guys," Kahn said. Deregulation is impor-tant
to more than business or the government, and
the media should spend more time examining how
deregulation effects the quality of service, he
said.
Both sides declare victory
in ruling on Missouri's law
From our wire services
Officials on both sides of the Mis-souri
abortion law claimed at least a
partial victory in Wednesday's U. S.
Supreme Court decision upholding
three of four portions of the state's
regulations.
In three decisions Wednesday, the
court reaffirmed a woman's consti-tutional
right to obtain an abortion
and struck down an array of local
legislative restrictions on access to
abortions.
In the most sweeping of the deci-sions,
the court, by a 6-- 3 vote, de-clared
unconstitutional an Akron,
Ohio, ordinance that placed a num-ber
of obstacles in the path of access
to abortion. In the second decision,
while invalidating Missouri's second--
trimester hospitalization re-quirement
by the same 6-- 3 vote, the
court voted 5-- 4 to uphold three other
sections of that law. In the third de-cision,
the court affirmed the crimi-nal
conviction of a Virginia obstetri-cian
for performing a second- trimest- er
abortion in a clinic that
was not licensed for that purpose.
The decisions Wednesday were
hailed as major victories by all the
principal organizations advocating
free choice on abortion.
In its decision on Missouri's law,
the court upheld portions of the law
requiring:
v The presence of a second physi- -
See ABORTION. Page 8A
UMC deans prepare
for cots op to 57o
By Major Garrett
Mlssourlan statt writer
University Chancellor Barbara
Uehling Wednesday told campus
deans to anticipate budget cuts of as
much as 5 percent for the 1983- 8- 4
school year.
Citing a deficit of more than $ 1
million, Dr. Uehling said during a
meeting that reallocations were in-evitable
but some schools and col-leges
might be spared from the bud-get
ax.
Dr. Uehling was unavailable for
comment afterthe meeting.
Duane Stucky, vice chancellor for
administrative services and chief
budget officer, said the reallocations
are a result of a $ 3.5 million increase
in the costs of staff benefits, fuel
bills and curator scholarships.
" These inflationary costs have to
be covered," he said. " Today's
meeting was to determine their ( the
deans') flexibility, and how we
might go about reallocation."
Not all the schools and colleges
will face a 5 percent cut, Stucky
said. Reallocation precentages will
vary among colleges and schools.
Five percent was mentioned as the
maximum for any one college or
school, he said.
Stucky said Provost Ronald Bunn
will determine which schools and
colleges will face budget tightening.
But deans will do the actual budget
cutting.
Stucky said he must submit plans
for budget reductions to a University
central administration budget staff
today and will largely base his re-port
on Wednesday's discussions.
A proposed 5 percent tuition bur- char- ge
will not save the deans, he
said. President James Olson pro-posed
the surcharge last week, but
even if the University Board of Cura-tors
approve it, reallocation still
would be sought, Stucky said.
" The surcharge ( if approved)
would give us a slight cushion," he
said. " But we would opt for program
reallocation as a hedge against pos-sible
state withholding."
Because of state tax revenue defi-ciencies,
the University system has
endured withholdings totaling al-most
$ 25 million in the last three
years. Approximately $ 12 million
was cut from the University budget.
Olson has not yet decided whether
to ask the curators to approve the
surcharge at their meeting next
week in Kansas City, said Guy Hor- to- n,
director of University relations.
The General Assembly's decision
last week to tack an additional $ 1
million onto the system's budget
bringing the total to $ 167 million
means more budget deliberations
are necessary if the proposal can be
included in the budget proposal Ol-son
must submit to the curators,
Horton said.
John Applequist, president of the
Missouri Students Association, said
Wednesday he will form a coalition
of student leaders from all system
campuses to combat the proposal.
3 lawmakers pleased with first House session
By Diane Solov
State capital bureau
Boone County's freshman representa-tives
have held their own during their first
trek through the legislative labyrinth of
Missouri's General Assembly.
But none of the three Jim Pauley, Ken
Jacob and Chris Kelly has taken the
House by storm; none of the bills sponsored
by the three representatives made it to the
end of the maze to become law.
For freshman legislators to whom the
adage most commonly applied is that they
should be seen and not heard, falling short
of unabashed success is not unusual. And
with one notable exception, Boone County's
representatives have not strayed far from
this tradition.
Democrat Chris Kelly is that exception.
i
Besides landing some clout- carryin- g com-mittee
assignments and having occasional
successes at tacking on amendments to oth-er
legislators' bills, Kelly has become a vis-ible
and frequent speaker on the chamber
floor.
Says Kelly at the end of his first year :
" I've enjoyed it very much. It's been pro-ductive
and frustrating at the same time.' '
The measure that perhaps gained the
most attention for Kelly was the " Pac
Man" bill, which called for the establish-ment
of a sales tax on video games. Though
this measure died in committee, its intent
was in line with some of Kelly's major ob-jectives
as a legislator tax changes.
One of Kelly's clear successes appears to
be a bill that provides help for Ellis Fischel
State Cancer Hospital. The House bill he
sponsored did not make it into law, but a
similar Senate version was sent to the gov-ernor.
But Kelly prefers to gauge his successes
in terms other than those of the success of
the bills he sponsors.
Besides gaining ground on such issues as
an open container law that would make it il--'
legal to have an alcoholic beverage con-tainer
open while driving and '' making
some good progress" on funding for the
University, Kelly says he has learned some
lessons more basic to the legislative proc-ess.
" One important thing to learn is whether
you win or lose, you have to let it go," he
says. " Sometimes they're disagreeing with
you for reasons that are just as good as
yours."
Although Democrat Ken Jacob has main-tained
a low profile in the House, he says
that he, too, has learned a lot this year. " I
feel like I'm becoming a little more street-wise."
Though the one bill that Jacob sponsored
a measure that would have required cer-tain
drug offenders to enroll in drug educa-tion
programs died early in the session,
he thinks he has made significant contribu-tions
to issues of importance to himself and
the community.
For starters, he cites his committee work
on the elementary and secondary education
and the higher education budget, his efforts
on a bill that would give a voluntary contri-bution
option on tax forms for children's
services, and his work on a measure that
would encourage joint child custody set-tlements
in divorces.
Jacob also cites his efforts to oppose the
delayed- scho- ol bill that now is being consid-ered
by the governor. He says he sees the
measure as contrary to the interests of Co-lumbia.
But Jacob says he thinks his greatest ac-complishment
has been the development of
relationships with his colleagues.
" I've made a lot of good friends and I
don't think I've made any enemies.
It could be argued that Democrat Jim
Pauley of Ashland perhaps has the best leg-islative
record of the three he did not
sponsor any bills so he had none to be de-feated
or die slow deaths.
But then, Pauley says he never promised
his constituents that he would sponsor any-thing
anyway.