Would a shorter legislative session improve ethics among lawmakers?
Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon says yes. In his eight-point ethics reform proposal, one recommendation is to shorten the legislative session, which now spans from early January to mid-May.
Republican lawmakers believe shorter sessions will do little to improve ethics, but will result in some savings for the state.
The lawmakers' view is more realistic.
In support of a shorter session, Nixon said: "We stand the risk of losing one of the strengths of our state, having citizen-lawmakers serving a part-time job in which their expertise from back home is more relevant and important on the floor of the House and Senate."
We find no evidence, however, that shortening the session would produce some new breed of citizen-lawmakers or groundswell of homegrown common sense heretofore absent from the Capitol.
House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said: "I don't think any of the problems we have in this building happen because we're here 30 days longer and I don't think any of them will be solved if we're here 30 days shorter."
Although a shorter session may do little to enhance ethics, it would trim expenses, including the per diem for lawmakers while they're in session.
State Rep. Caleb Jones, R-Columbia, said: "Any time we spend less money coming down here to Jeff City, I'd be supportive of it." He added the caveat, "if we're able to take care of the people's business."
A local consideration is that although a shorter session might trim state expenses, it would hurt local businesses that thrive when the Legislature is in session.
Among the 50 states, legislative bodies vary in how they are constituted, number of members and duration of sessions. No state has developed an ideal model all other states are eager to follow.
The question of session length deserves to be determined based not on ethics or economics, but on how efficiently and effectively the legislature can - to borrow a phrase from Jones - take care of the people's business.
And that, ultimately, depends on the quality, including the ethics, of the legislators we elect.