This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Feb. 27, 2010 - State Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, said Saturday that the push to give St. Louis and Kansas City control of their police departments "has more momentum now than it ever has had" in the Missouri Legislature.
"My gut would say, in the Senate, it has the votes," Shields said during an interview while attending the state GOP's Lincoln Days festivities in St. Charles.
Still, the Senate leader said the local-control effort has, "at best, a 50-50 chance" of becoming law. Shields predicted that a handful of senators who oppose local control may filibuster such a bill.
Shields said he expected state Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis and an advocate of local control for St. Louis, to try to insert the proposal as an amendment onto a bill dealing with other police issues.
Shields added that he has yet to hear personally from the police-officers groups who are opposed to local control out of the belief that their city governments could be more political and push for more fiscal cuts than the state government that now calls the shots.
The governor names most of the members to the police boards that now run the Kansas City and St. Louis departments. And state legislators often wield some behind-the-scenes influence in police promotions.
Jefferson City is becoming more amenable to local control, Shields said, because of two factors:
- Recent controversies involving the police boards and the urban departments, such as the recent flap over a now-former St. Louis board member, restaurateur Vincent Bommarito, who used his influence to keep a nephew out of jail.
- The state's economic woes, which are making legislators more receptive to local governments' financial concerns. St. Louis, for example, needs to make close to $50 million in budget cuts for the coming fiscal year.
Mayor Francis Slay and his allies contend that city money could be saved under local control because the St. Louis police department now has some civilian operations that duplicate what City Hall also has.
On a state level, Shields predicted that more budget cuts are on the way -- and may force a huge overhaul of state government.
"The budget gets worse and worse, and our revenue estimates continue to decline," Shields said. "The situation is worse than it was in January."
Shield and state House Speaker Ron Richard, who also is at Lincoln Days, said in separate interviews that the state budget estimates for the coming fiscal year -- which begins July 1 -- are too rosy and will need to be revised downward.
Richard predicts that up to $950 million in additional trims may need to be made.
Shields said the situation looks bleak through 2013 and 2014, which he asserts may force state officials and legislators to consider more dramatic changes.
Shields, for example, is proposing that the Legislature change the state-employee pension system for new hires, so that it is no longer a defined benefit system as it is now.
He suggests that the state retirement system gradually shift to a "defined contribution" system, similar to corporate 401Ks, where employers put in a set contribution each year but are not on the hook for lifetime benefits. Such a change could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
The Legislature and Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat who is on good terms with Shields, also may need to look at combining some state departments and reducing their overall number, the Senate leader said. That could lead to huge layoffs of state workers.
Shields said he and the governor talk regularly. Nixon, he said, "has come to the realization that the budget numbers are not there and something really big has to change."
Shields observed that legislative term limits, which he's "no fan of'," may actually be a help as tough budget decisions are made in the next couple months.
Shields said that a huge bloc of the state Senate, including him, will be forced out because of term limits. The fact that all are leaving, and won't face another election or voters' anger, will make the tough budget decisions "easier to tackle," he added.
