JEFFERSON CITY, MO Having returned to the Capitol following a brief spring recess marking the relative mid-point of the year's regular legislative session, Sen. John Cauthorn successfully advanced two important measures of his through the Senate.

Senate Bill 534 adds definitions for protective oversight and voluntary leave to the Omnibus Nursing Home Act.

"These definitions help close loopholes in an otherwise strong senior care protection package," Cauthorn said. "Like with any type of reform measure, you have to start with a good base and then monitor it for any needed additions, and that's what I've done here by incorporating this language."

Senate Bill 668 expands participation eligibility in a tax credit program for operators of "New Generation" cooperatives that process traditional Ag products into new, alternative products such as Ethanol and Biodiesel. Cauthorn's bill reduces the number of employees such operations must have in order to receive the incentive tax credits from 100 to 60.

"Agriculture has been a bedrock for Missouri commerce since day one and I want to do everything in my power to help today's producers and processors stay in business and stay competitive," Cauthorn said. "With new technology comes new opportunity and in agriculture we have to grab hold of the opportunity when it presents itself."

Both of these bills are awaiting action from the House of Representatives. Passage in both legislative chambers would allow Cauthorn's legislation to become law.

Senators gave first-round approval to a measure placing an automatic end date for all new state programs. Senate Bill 544 would have each newly enacted program undergo a legislative review in its fourth year and expire after no later than its sixth year. At that point, a program could then be re-authorized for a period of up to 12 additional years or permanently shelved.

"I really like the concept of this legislation and I think there are enough support in the Legislature to make it happen," said Cauthorn, who co-sponsored the legislation and chairs the Senate's Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee that sent the bill to the full Senate. "This is a way to make sure that programs that once served a purpose don't erode into wasteful pockets of bureaucratic ineffectively."

Senators also gave initial approval to a measure designed to enhance accountability within the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). Among several provisions, SB 481 enables the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight to hire a director to perform specific investigations, reviews and audits within the Department of Transportation. The joint committee's director would issue detailed summaries of complaints received by MoDOT on a quarterly basis, as well as a detailed annual assessment of the department's past achievements, current status and future objectives.

Cauthorn added that the measure also prohibits members of the Highways and Transportation Commission, who are appointed by the governor, from engaging in election campaigning and campaign fundraising.

Senators also considered a bill blocking unemployment benefits for employees suspended or discharged after failing or refusing to take a test for controlled substances. Senate Bill 2 would deem a positive test result for controlled substances or alcohol as misconduct connected with work, rendering a claimant ineligible for benefits.

"This is something that just makes plain common sense to me," Cauthorn said. "It's fair, too. Employees can still become eligible if they participate in a state-approved drug or alcohol treatment program and employers must post their controlled substance and alcohol workplace policies."

Of the 699 Senate bills introduced this year, 166 (as of this writing) have been reported out of their respective committees as "consent" bills, which typically travel through the legislative process more quickly than non-consent bills. Earning consent status requires that all members of the committee evaluating the measure deem the bill non-controversial. Once sent to the full Senate, consent bills cannot, with limited exception, be substantively amended or otherwise altered a process that typically adds time to the passage of non-consent proposals.

Senators this week gave final approval to a number of consent bills including Senate Bill 438, which, if passed in the House, would designate a portion of U.S. Highway 60 as the "Korean War Veterans' Memorial Freeway."

"By session's end, the vast majority of all approved House and Senate legislation will be consent bills," Cauthorn said. "Some will be like the highway naming bill and most will make small, little-noticed corrections, additions or revisions to existing law."

Earlier in this year's session, Senators developed an appropriations package designed to cover an estimated $300 million deficit in the current budget that has since been signed in to law. Senators now have until May 9 to adopt a budget covering an estimated $1 billion gap for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

In January, the governor proposed a budget relying on legislative and voter approval of some $700 million in new taxes. In March, the Senate received the House's version of the 2004 budget featuring untraditional, "lump-sum" departmental appropriations. As in General Assemblies past, members of the Missouri Senate are now considering the various past and current proposals while working to develop a final draft of a balanced state budget.

During initial committee work sessions, Cauthorn said that some Senators indicated an interest in returning to the more detailed program-by-program budget style and showing two versions: one without new revenue and balanced by cuts only; and one with about $300 million in new revenue added into the equation, making for less severe cuts.

"I'm not convinced we need to go looking for any new revenue at this point, but I know it's a very real possibility," Cauthorn said. "The key is to first look at the budget with a microscope to see how we can cut any and all unnecessary expenses on a line-by-line basis. In order to save a million, you've got to start by saving one."

Cauthorn this week also had the pleasure of meeting with a number of young people during the Missouri Farm Bureau's Youth Leadership Day.

"These kids are ready, willing and able to take the leadership reins of Missouri agribusiness," Cauthorn said. "Taking a look at the next generation of farm leaders makes me feel good about the directions that Show-Me State Ag production and processing are going in."