It takes a lot of work and patience to kill a Village Law.

Rep. Jay Wasson (R-Nixa), who worked behind-the-scenes during the last week of the legislative session to guide the Village Law repeal through the House, gives credit to the other chamber for the success.

"Senate leadership giving us an opportunity for that filibuster to go awhile was a big key," Wasson tells reporters.

It was a big key for a number of reasons, with perhaps the biggest being that it signaled Senate leadership would call the bluff of House Speaker Rod Jetton (R-Marble Hill). Jetton had worked strenuously to keep the repeal from passing. In allowing the filibuster to occur on Thursday, Senate leadership demonstrated its willingness to block other legislation until the Village Law repeal was decided.

Another key came earlier in the last week. Various maneuvers kept the bill carrying the bill from being solely about the repeal. SB 765 came out of the House with language strengthening a county’s ability to enforce regulations on strip joints when representatives found it too difficult to vote against that amendment and return the bill to its original intent.

That led to a contentious House Republican Caucus meeting in which opponents of the law released pent up emotions about Jetton’s role in getting the law passed last year and his strenuous efforts to block the repeal.

Wasson worried about fallout.

"There were some moments where I felt like, ‘Are we tearing the caucus apart?’," Wasson says he also worried about whether his efforts would block other legislation, "You always concern yourself with that."

Wasson served on the conference committee of Senators and Representatives that handled the House version of the bill. The committee removed the strip club language, returned the bill to its original form and sent it back to the Senate.

In the end, Wasson credits steady pressure applied by opponents of the law with breaking a logjam that threatened the entire session. Once the House approved the repeal on the last day of the session, the floodgates opened for major legislation to win approval. 

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (1:15 MP3)

It appears the controversial "village law" will stay on the books.

The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to repeal the measure, controversial both for its content and for the method used to get it through the legislature last year. That vote, likely, won’t mean much, because an amendment stayed on the bill that threatens its passage in the Senate.

Rep. Jay Wasson (R-Nixa) led the charge in the House to repeal the law. During lengthy House debate on HCS SCS SB 765 , Wasson made a motion to divide the question. He sought to separate the section repealing the village law from other amendments. Wasson got the vote he wanted on the repeal of the village law, but failed to defeat another measure, despite help from that measure’s sponsor.

Rep. Ed Emery (R-Lamar) was ready to sacrifice his amendment to increase regulations of strip joints so that the village law could be killed.

"A ‘yes’ vote here is a lose all the way around, I’m afraid," Emery told colleagues during House floor debate.

Emery explained that a senator had told both he and Wasson that he would filibuster the bill if it contained the strip club language. With two days left in the session, the mere threat of a filibuster can be fatal.

Despite Emery’s call to defeat his own measure, too many lawmakers found it too hard to vote against strip club regulations. That portion passed and remains on the bill.

Wasson of Nixa says that likely kills the legislation, "It’s not 100% dead. I would say it’s awfully close. It’s say it’s on a respirator right now."

Sen. Jack Goodman (R-Mt. Vernon), the original sponsor of the village law repeal, now has been handed a bill he didn’t want with two days left in the session to salvage something.

"I’m not ready to say ‘die’ yet," Goodman said, adding that he will attempt to move the bill through the process.

The village law has caused an unusual split in the House Republican caucus. The village law allows a single landowner to form a village to get around county regulations. Several House Republicans have complained that the measure was slipped into a much larger bill in the waning days of last year’s session without full disclosure to the entire House. A few Republicans have accused House Speaker Rod Jetton (R-Marble Hill) of maneuvering the measure to passage as a political favor for campaign donor Robert Plaster, a Lebanon businessman who had been frustrated by Stone County officials who had blocked his development efforts at Table Rock Lake. 

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)