Even skeptics on occasion can be hopeful.
That's how we would characterize our reaction to Ron Richard's top priority for the new legislative session. Richard, a Republican from Joplin, also holds the top position in the Senate as president pro tem.
Richard told the Globe that the Senate will be working on transportation bills that will generate funds for roads and bridges in Missouri.
We want to hope that the Legislature this session will either pass a modest gas tax increase as has been proposed or find a solution for the state's revenue shortfall before it loses its federal funding.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, Gov. Jay Nixon and Richard are all telling the Legislature that this must be the year.
Two proposals are being suggested. One being pitched by Rep. Bryan Spencer, R-Wentzville, is a dead-end in our view. He is sponsoring a measure that calls for counties to take over maintenance of all lettered highways in each county that are currently under state maintenance. That plan would be contingent on the passage of a constitutional amendment to increase road funding to counties. That proposal only transfers a problem to another government entity, and it hardly seems right to land that into the laps of county commissioners.
The proposal that makes the most sense is one that will raise the state gas tax by 1.5 cents per gallon and add 3.5 cents to the state tax on diesel fuel.
We'll find out this week how that proposal fairs when a hearing on the bill is held in the Senate. Local trucking companies say they are willing to accept the higher taxes if it means Missouri would actually have better roads and bridges.
We've heard this proposal before, and because 2016 is an election year for some legislators, we know there will be a reluctance to raise taxes - even if that means the people who use the roads will be the ones paying for the needed repairs.
There's nothing that says a bump in gas taxes is what has to be done. But the public does have a reasonable expectation that it will have safe roads and bridges.
That means that lawmakers must do something this session.
Sen. Doug Libla, a Republican from Poplar Bluff and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety, is the sponsor of the bill that would increase the gas tax. He tried to get a similar bill passed last session, but it never reached the floor for a vote.
"I have support on this one," Libla said. "We can't keep kicking the can down the road this year."
We hope Libla's bill is successful. Yet, past experience tells us we should be listening for that "clink, clink, clink" sound of the can as it rolls along the troubled roads of Missouri.