Rome had its gladiators and the Coliseum. American states and local governments have taxpayer-funded NFL stadiums. Since 1992, you've been paying for the Rams stadium in St. Louis. Under legislation passed in 1991, Missouri taxpayers have paid $12 million per year to pay for construction of the Rams existing stadium. That obligation will continue until 2022.
When the state and local governments initially negotiated a 30-year lease with the Rams, it gave the team the right to end the lease if the dome was not in the top 25 percent of NFL stadiums. Because of an NFL building spree, the Edward Jones Dome is no longer a top tier facility. In 2012, Rams owner Stan Kroenke started negotiations with St. Louis officials to improve the dome, and dropped not-so-subtle hints that he was looking westward.
Late last year, it was disclosed that Kroenke bought a sizable chunk of land in southern California and was working on plans to build a stadium there. Around the same time, Gov. Nixon asked a two-man task force to develop a plan to keep the Rams in St. Louis. That plan was released on Jan. 9 and required up to $350 million in new public moneys to fund a new stadium. So far, Gov. Nixon's been mum on how that public financing might work.
On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee for General Administration met to take budget testimony from officials in Gov. Nixon's administration regarding public debt. I started the hearing with a $350 million question: does Gov. Nixon believe he has the legal authority to burden Missouri taxpayers with up to $350 million in new debt to finance a new stadium for the St. Louis Rams without any action of the General Assembly or a public vote?
Gov. Nixon's position is that he has legal authority, based on a 24-year-old statute to unilaterally saddle you with more than a quarter billion dollars in new debt for a brand-new stadium that our children's children would likely still be paying off 37 years from now.
Potential bond buyer beware: if the Nixon administration attempts to bind Missouri taxpayers with new debt without any legislative action, litigation challenging the bonds is quite likely. Any such bonds should be branded with an asterisk - *subject to litigation.
Forget the legalities for a minute though, and just consider the policy. If Gov. Nixon believes it's a wise investment of taxpayer money, he ought to present a plan to the General Assembly. A quarter billion dollars over 30 years is real money. It deserves a public hearing, and action should not be taken unless Gov. Nixon can gain the support of the people's elected representatives and senators in the General Assembly.
I'm highly skeptical of any stadium-funding proposal. On a philosophical level, stadium financing is not an appropriate role for government. This is not Rome. The NFL is a private business run by billionaires. Where we have it, welfare ought to be limited to those who are poor and deserving, not doled out to the wealthy or indolent.
As for return-on-investment, every economic study I've ever seen shows that these "investments" rarely, if ever, pay off for local governments. Ironically, if you consider income tax revenue from St. Louis Rams employees and visiting NFL players, a deal for the Rams may actually make more economic sense than the Boeing giveaway. But regardless of my opinion or the precise ROI calculations, at the very least, taxpayers deserve a greater say in what happens next.
General Assembly rejects politician pay increases
On Thursday, the Senate approved my resolution formally rejecting the proposed politician pay increase proposed by the Citizen's Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials. To do so, they had to overcome opposition from two Democratic senators who threatened a filibuster. Much credit goes to Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, who handled the resolution, and to Sens. Mike Kehoe, Jeannie Riddle, and Kurt Schaefer of Mid-Missouri.
In the Senate, filibusters kill more bills than actual votes. When the resolution came back up for debate Thursday, Sen. Schaaf noted there was opposition and announced he had a motion to shut off debate on his desk that any senator could sign. I wasn't there, but it's been reported to me that Sen. Kehoe immediately marched over to Sen. Schaaf's desk to sign the motion.
It wasn't much later that the Senate formally voted to reject the politician pay raises. I'm pleased that the Senate did the right thing. Keeping legislator pay modest helps ensure a citizen government, and there is no case to be made for increasing legislator salaries when they're already sixteenth highest in the nation while our state employees are the worst-paid.
Ethics bills moving
On Monday, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will hear seven ethics bills, including four of my own. In addition, I expect that the Senate will move quickly on a broad ethics bill sponsored by Sen. Ron Richard. These are just the latest in a series of action that have begun to improve the ethics climate in the Capitol. When we adopted our rules, we put an end to "issues" committee which were often used so legislators could eat for free without being individually reported. On Wednesday, Speaker John Diehl appropriately banned off-site committee meetings during session. It's my hope that these are just the first in several changes on the way.
Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, represents Missouri's 60th District.
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