By Marshall Griffin, St. Louis Public Radio
Jefferson City, Mo. – The Missouri Senate has passed a scaled-down version of the ethics bill passed last week by the House.
It no longer contains several items unrelated to this year's ethics debate, which included requiring voters to show a photo I.D. at the polls.
While House Speaker Pro-tem Bryan Pratt (R, Blue Springs) called the ethics bill they passed last week the most sweeping "in the universe," Senate President Pro-tem Charlie Shields (R, St. Joseph) jokingly called it a "black hole."
"But, we got in our DeLorean, and we grabbed the Flux Capacitor, and reversed time, and pulled this bill out of the black hole, so that it wouldn't disintegrate into many little pieces of matter, never to be seen again," Shields said while Senate members laughed.
The Senate sent the smaller ethics bill back to the House on a near-unanimous vote.
It would restrict committee-to-committee money transfers, require lawmakers to report donations of $500 or more within 48 hours if received during legislative sessions, and allow the Missouri Ethics Commission to launch its own investigations.
House members have until 6:00 p.m. to pass it.