Two Mid-Missouri lawmakers took an active part in Wednesday's House debates on seven vetoed bills suggested for override votes.
Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, may have surprised some people when he moved for an override vote on House Bill 42, the school transfers bill he had been saying since last spring would not be called up for a vote.
"(Gov. Jay Nixon) came out with some statements that have been proven to be untrue," Wood told colleagues, "and several of the statements that have been made by some of the education organizations have been found to be untrue.
"So, I think it's only reasonable that we consider this bill and a veto override, because we need to get the information out that is correct on this bill."
Wood said Nixon had announced "a historic agreement amongst the school districts in St. Louis, with Normandy and Riverview Gardens," but district officials had testified at a committee hearing "that there is no written agreement. There are no tuition compromises amongst the 22 districts within their area."
And, he said, some school district superintendents had reported misinformation when contacting lawmakers about sustaining the governor's veto, including unfair complaints about charter schools being a "drain on the foundation formula because we were expanding the use of charters in the state of Missouri."
Several other lawmakers commented on the bill, including state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, who urged a veto override.
"I believe that every Missourian, every mother and father in this state, ought to have the ability to choose where their child goes to school," Barnes said. "And for people who are in the middle class and well-to-do, they have that freedom and ability."
But, Barnes added: "Poor people do not have that equal access to the education that the parents might want for their child.
"The transfer law has a lot of flaws - but one tremendous virtue that it has, is that it frees up doors for children in struggling school districts that otherwise are not open."
After about 30 minutes of discussion, Wood urged lawmakers to revisit the transfer issue next year - and withdrew his motion for an override vote.
The bill had passed the House last spring by only 84 votes - 25 short of the 109 votes needed to override the governor's veto.
During Wednesday's debates, Barnes also had urged colleagues to sustain Nixon's veto of a bill that made a number of changes to court operations around the state - including allowing several courts to impose extra fees on cases, to pay for courthouse repairs.
Supporters argued the fees only would affect people who used courthouse facilities.
But, Barnes argued, Missouri's Constitution requires the courts to "be open to every person," and "a long line" of U.S. Supreme Court cases state "you cannot condition the exercise of a constitutional right on the payment of a fee."
In spite of the argument that only courthouse-users would pay the fee, Barnes said, "Every single citizen of the state of Missouri uses and benefits from the county courthouses around our state - where our criminal laws are enforced and where (people) are able to go and have their cases heard in the civil justice system."
The House voted to override the bill, by a 111-44 margin.
But Nixon's veto was upheld in the Senate, which voted 20-12 in favor of an override - three votes short of the two-thirds margin needed.
Other veto session stories:
Right-to-work measure fails in GOP-controlled House
Legislators override veto on scholarship bill
Veto of jobless benefits bill overridden
Veto of laundry sales tax exemption overridden