Rep. Hunter prepares for final session in State House
Editor's note: This is part one of a two-part interview by Carthage Press staff writer John Hacker with State Rep. Steve Hunter.
Q. Reminisce a bit here. What have you enjoyed the most about being a legislator for Carthage and Jasper County?
A. "I guess to reminisce, to look when I came in in 2000, we didn't have the governorship, we didn't have the House, nor did we have the Senate. Over that period of time, first we took the Senate, then in 2002 we took the House, then in 2004 we took the Governorship. To be a part of all that was historic.
"I went from having I couldn't lay down in to having an office on the third floor overlooking the Missouri River across from the House Chamber. That was pretty thrilling in and of itself."
Q. There's a big difference between being the minority and being in the majority, isn't there?
A. "It's like the difference between night and day. When you're in the minority, it's almost impossible to get anything done of any significance, so you're basically there just fighting to survive. Being in the minority is not fun. It's just been historic, in the period of time that I've been able to serve as a state rep, in the legislature, to be involved in that and be a part of that.
"Then on top of that, in 2002, I was handed the chairmanship. For, I think it was 48 years that we had not held the House. Then when Catherine Hanaway (Speaker of the House at the time) initially put me on as chairman of Workforce Development and Workplace Safety, that's something that not everybody gets to do, to work with people and be right in the middle of a fight on legislation. Those things alone are deeply gratifying."
Q. This being your last year and you being the senior legislator from the area, is there anything you would like to accomplish that you haven't been able to do in the past seven years?
A. "I don't file bills just to make myself feel good. I've been given a chairmanship and as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most important as far as economic development in the state of Missouri, because if the business laws we pass aren't competitive with neighboring states, or other states, then we can't attract business, which means jobs, which means people get to feed their families.
"I just take it year by year, and I've got a few little things, myself, I've passed, but to name some bird the state bird isn't my gig. The second injury fund is bankrupt and we're going to try to deal with it. This is the second time for sure and possibly the third time it's gone bankrupt, and we're looking at major legislation to change that. We also have the challenge that the workers comp bill that we passed, which is bringing down rates for employers and has eliminated a lot of fraud and abuse in the system, is being challenged constitutionally at the Supreme Court level. If that law is tossed out by the judges, then we're going to have to try to do something this year, so I'm going to have my hands full."
Q. Looking back, what are your biggest accomplishment and your biggest disappointment in your years in the legislature?
A. "From a legislative standpoint, my biggest accomplishment was in 2005, passing the workers comp bill. The bill came over with Senator Loudin's name on it, but about 90 percent of that bill came out of the House, and I was directly involved in helping write that and craft that, my legislative team did that. It's a pretty monumental bill and it's actually going to bring rates down about 20 percent in the next two years. It's already brought them down five percent, and the insurance commission just came out and said the rates need be brought down another 15 percent.
"It's just the way we've passed it, claims are down 21 percent and most of those claims were not workplace claims. That's how much fraud and abuse was in the system. They were people getting hurt outside the workplace, involving drugs or alcohol, things that had been passed off for years as workplace injuries, well to me work comp says work comp, not leisure comp.
"I want to say probably one of my biggest disappointments, we had a bill that would set up a tax credit so that people could give money so kids in inner city districts in Kansas City and St. Louis could get scholarships to private schools. Their schools are completely broken and these kids are the ones that end up in prison and don't have a chance. We had the various organizations that have self-interests that want to stop and kill that legislation, although indirectly it affects every citizen because we all pay taxes for prisons. I don't know if people know this, but the eighth biggest school district in the state of Missouri is the state of Missouri penal institution. What does that tell you? Actually, they're more functional than the Kansas City or St. Louis school districts because you don't get out of there unless you get a GED. They are very efficient.
Carthage Press