House shrinking suffers setback in Senate

The first effort in the state senate to eliminate more than one-fourth of the members of the legislature has been batted down. Senate leader Ed Quick of Liberty wants to cut the size of the Missouri House from 163 members to 105, and increase the Senate from 34 to 35–so there’s three representatives for each senator. He says it would save the state millions of dollars, and make the legislature more efficient. But opponents such as Mexico Senator Joe Maxwell say Quick’s plan would rob thousands of people of their voices in government. The first vote on Quick’s proposal has gone against him. But he promises he won’t give up on his idea…and will try again.