SB 597 - Under this act, The Missouri-St. Louis Metropolitan Airport Authority is given the responsibility for the operation of the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport beginning on January 1, 2015. The City of St. Louis shall continue to own the airport (Section 305.510). The authority shall honor all bonds, debts and employee pension plans of the former airport authority (Section 305.510). The act changes the manner in which members of the authority are appointed. Current law requires the Governor to appoint four members; St. Louis City to appoint three members; St. Louis County to appoint three members; and the counties of Jefferson, Franklin, and St. Charles to appoint one member each, for a total of 13 members. Under the terms of this act, the mayor of St. Louis City, the county executive of St. Louis County, the county executive of St. Charles County and the county commissions of Jefferson and Franklin Counties shall each appoint one member of the authority for each 130,000 residents in the city or county according to the latest decennial census. In no event shall any appointing authority for a city or county appoint a majority of the members of the authority. The first, third, and fifth members initially appointed by an appointing authority shall be appointed for a term of four years. The second, fourth, and sixth initial members shall be appointed for a term of two years. Appointments subsequent to the initial appointments shall be for a term of four years. Each member shall be subject to removal by the appointing authority (Section 305.515). This act also states that the City of St. Louis may continue taxing businesses conducting activities within the St. Louis Metropolitan Airport (Section 92.045). Any profit from the operation of the airport shall continue to be received by the City of St. Louis (Section 305.510). This act requires the authority and the city of St. Louis to enter into negotiations regarding certain employee issues beginning April 1, 2015 (Section 305.572). This act is similar to HB 1244 (2004), SB 564 (2003), SCS/SB 1062 (2002) and SB 469 (2001). This act has an effective date of January 1, 2015. STEPHEN WITTE