This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 20, 2011 - St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay announced Tuesday afternoon that new language is being added to the state House-approved bill returning control of the city's police department to City Hall, in hopes of ending a Senate filibuster of the bill.

The language says local control would go into effect only after a collective bargaining agreement has been reached with the St. Louis Police Officers Association and Board of Police Commissioners. The two sides have been negotiating for more than a year.

The police group's business manager, former state Rep. Jeff Roorda, said in an interview that the deal is "a very conditional compromise'' that hinges on Senate approval of several key provisions.

Among them: keeping state oversight of police pensions and insurance, and stipulating financial penalities for city aldermen found guilty of interference in police affairs. The proposed penalty is now $1,000 a day, although the police would like to see even stiffer punishment, Roorda said.

As it stands, Roorda said, the agreed "meets all the desires of both sides."

Slay has acknowledged that the association's opposition has been the key reason the House bill -- known as HB71 -- has languished in the Senate. The police group's opposition has blocked similar mayoral efforts for decades, but this year was the first time that the Missouri House voted anyway in favor of local control.

Wrote Slay on his blog: "The legislation also includes a number of provisions to make a smoother transition from state control to local control. It is a compromise that gives taxpayers something we have long sought. And it gives officers a formal seat at the table."

Roorda and Slay said that City Hall and the police group began talks in early March and that they got more intense during the General Assembly's late March recess.

Roorda said one of the deal's biggest perks for the police association is Slay's support for the collective bargaining agreement.

Still, the deal would require support in a Republican-controlled state Senate where many of the leaders oppose collective bargaining for public employees and have been pressing for passage of bills to curb labor rights in the private sector as well. State Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, has made passage of a "right-to-work" bill a key objective this session.

But Slay said in an interview that he had assurances that the state Senate will take up the amended House bill, citing support from state Sen. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington.

While emphasizing that "there's never a guarantee,'' Slay said the agreement "should help'' ease some senators' concerns or outright opposition.

One of those Senate opponents has been state Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay. Lembke told the Beacon that he first would need to see the final version of the added language before deciding whether he would agree to end a filibuster.

But he did say the issue of local control is "moving in a direction to come up with a compromise that everybody can live with."

"Through this process, myself and other senators in this body are first concerned that police officers are protected," Lembke said. "We just want to make sure. And that's why we want to continue to meet and look at every aspect of the bill that we're being asked to pass here."

Much like Lembke, state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, said she has only seen a draft of the new proposal, and that she would reserve judgement on whether to drop her oppsoition until she has read the final version. Among other things, Chappelle-Nadal has expressed concerns that local control could threaten pensions and insurance benefits for police officers, their families and retirees.

Chappelle-Nadal said that senators who opposed local control would be meeting to closely examine the language in the compromise deal. She has maintained that at least 11 senators were prepared to filibuster.

"I'm also very happy that all sides are finally talking,'' she added, while emphasizing, "That's only the first step. ... The second and third step is this process here in the legislature and making sure that everything is thought out well, so that it can stand up in court. That's what our job is."

Slay said he has called Gov. Jay Nixon to discuss the matter. Nixon, a fellow Democrat, has been cool to the local-control idea. For more than 150 years, Missouri governors have controlled the St. Louis police department; the governor appoints four of the five members of the Police Board.

So far, Nixon has said nothing publicly about the compromise agreement.

UPDATE: As of late Wednesday, the full Senate had not taken up the compromise or the local-control bill. State Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis and a local-control advocate, said that it was unclear if the bill or the compromise would be considered by the Senate before it recesses for the Easter weekend.

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