Session officially over

Jones, Dempsey finish legislative session's paperwork

The 2013 Missouri General Assembly officially ended Thursday.

Although the state Constitution says lawmakers can't take up any bills "after 6 p.m. on the first Friday following the second Monday in May," it leaves the next two weeks for the final versions of the "bills passed prior to 6 p.m." to be printed, formally recorded as being passed, then signed in open session by officers of both chambers before being sent to the governor.

Then, the Constitution says, "The general assembly shall adjourn at midnight on May thirtieth until the first Wednesday after the first Monday of January of the following year."

Lawmakers introduced more than 1,500 bills this year. Just over 180 made it to the governor's desk, although some of those were amended to include parts of other bills.

Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, noted the House and Senate staff members proofread the bills, but don't spend much time fact-checking them.

"I'd say it's largely the governor's staff, at this point" for that work, Dempsey said. "We do have Research and the Joint Committee on Research.

"And we try to do a good job of making sure that, if we've got an idea that's encapsulated in two bills, we do make sure that it's exactly the same - so that, if the governor signs both bills, we don't have a conflict."

Although Dempsey's and House Speaker Tim Jones' signatures serve as a notice that the bills cleared the Legislature, a 1956 state Supreme Court ruling said a leader can't block a bill from becoming law by refusing to sign it.

"With the social media that's in place today, I think there's a recognition that we, actually, sign the bills," Dempsey said Thursday.

Earlier this week, Dempsey and Jones, R-Eureka, held a "mock" signing of a couple of the bills at a southwest Missouri ceremony.

"We had had a meeting towards the end of session about getting out of Jeff City and doing a few "mock' bill signings, just to highlight key policies that we had worked on," Dempsey said Thursday.

"(Jones) started his "Speaker's Tour,' and I thought I would, at least, run down and join him one day."

Gov. Jay Nixon - and some of his predecessors - have staged similar ceremonies where a bill already "officially" signed into law has been signed at a ceremony in front of an audience in some part of the state away from the Capitol.

But, while the speaker and Senate president pro tem are required to do their signings in the Capitol, the governor is not.

Nixon has until the end of June to decide what to do with the budget bills lawmakers passed, since the state's business year begins July 1.

He has until mid-July to sign or veto the other bills lawmakers endorsed during the last weeks of the legislative session.