JEFFERSON CITY - One day after Senate Democrats seized control of the chamber and voted to abruptly adjourn, Republicans retaliated by shutting down debate on the lawsuit liability bill and voting to send it to the governor.
Senate Republicans moved to pass what's known as "the previous question," a rarely invoked rule that immediately ends debate on an issue. Senate traditions have frowned upon using the procedure, and Senate researchers said it had been successfully employed for just five bills in the last 35 years.
But Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, said in an interview that Democrats had "thrown away the protections of Senate traditions," by their actions Wednesday, and that not invoking the "previous question" rule was "also a tradition."
"You live by the rules, or you die by the rules," Nodler said.
Senate Republicans wasted no time in pushing to immediately shut down debate on lawsuit liability limits, saying they now consider themselves "unencumbered" by the tradition of allowing individual Senators the chance to filibuster.
But Democratic Floor Leader Ken Jacob, D-Columbia, who had orchestrated the move to adjourn the previous day, tried to use a host of procedural rules to delay the action for more than two hours. At one point, Jacob attempted to offer a massive amendment to the legislation and move that the entire document be read aloud in the chamber.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, who presided over Thursday's Senate action, initially refused to recognize the Republicans'"previous question" motions, and appeared ready to break Senate rules by allowing Jacob's entire amendment be read aloud instead.
Both Democratic and Republican senators shot up to object, using the words "chaos" and "darkness" to describe what would happen if the Senate did not follow its own rules.
"I don't support (the motion), I'm not going to vote for it, but I think he has the right to make it," said Sen. Jim Mathewson, D-Sedalia.
Senators stood to fight for recognition and staffers ran to huddle around Maxwell, pouring over books of procedure for the Missouri and the U.S. Senate. The procedural fight continued, and for nearly an hour it was unclear whether the Missouri Senate was headed toward a constitutional crisis.
"We're on the borderline of having chaos out here!" Mathewson said. "Please, please, this is the Senate...we need to resolve this issue."
Finally, Maxwell ruled the Democratic Floor Leader's actions out of order, and said he had made a mistake in recognizing Jacob. He allowed the "previous question" motion to be heard, leaving a stunned Jacob to ask him "Where's my motion?"
"I had recognized you out of order," Maxwell responded.
From there, Senate Republicans quickly moved to end debate on the lawsuit limits bill, and voted 21-13 to approve it.
The dust began to settle, and one by one several senators stood up to tell their colleagues they were disappointed by the trashing of Senate traditions they had seen in the last two days.
"When I look at what has happened in this body, I find a great disappointment," said Sen. Mary Bland, D-Jackson County.
Sen. Sarah Steelman, R-Rolla, said the Senate's use of the "previous question" to silence debate went against "the reason we have rules that are inconvenient...to force compromise."
"This a sad day for the state Senate," said Rep. Sarah Steelman, R-Rolla. "I think we're all going to look bad."
The lawsuit limits measure now goes to Gov. Bob Holden for his consideration.
Holden has already said he will veto the legislation to place strict caps on punitive damages and restrict the venue where victims could file lawsuits. The bill caps malpractice claims at a permanent $400,000 and malpractice at emergency rooms at $200,000.
With the measure sent to him this early, the Republicans will have the chance to override that veto before the session ends on May 14.
"We wanted to have an answer from the governor, and it's better to have it while we're up here," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau.
But with the chances of the General Assembly overriding Holden's veto on lawsuit limits unlikely, Democrats criticized the Republicans for having ulterior motives in wanting the measure to fail now, rather than in the fall.
"It shows their agenda on this issue is driven by fund raising (to defeat Holden)," Jacob said. He said he believed the Republicans wanted to "send a bill to the governor that he cannot sign, and then trash him for it."
Kinder denied Republicans were trying to turn lawsuit limits into a political football.
"That is not part of our calculation," he said.
In other Senate action Thursday, senators began work on their $18.8 billion budget proposal. The Senate wants to spend nearly $5 billion more on Medicaid than the House, and has pressed for increased spending for higher education. The House and Senate budgets need to be reconciled in a conference committee and sent to Gov. Holden by May 7.