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After working through the night and into the morning hours, the Missouri Senate gave first round approval to the SMS Name Change Bill. The vote was 23 to 7. The vote came after University of Missouri President sent an email to the chief senate opponent, asking him to stand down. He did and allowed the name change bill to come to a vote. KSMU's Missy Shelton reports on the debate that senate staffers say is the longest in senate history.
The debate stretched into the morning hours'as Democratic Senator Tim Green noted.
Those faxes to the university presidents were designed to help broker a deal between the two institutions on the SMS name change.
But the debate continued on past those 3A-M faxes, with the filibuster stretching well past the twelve hour mark.
At times, the debate was less about the SMS name change and more about the governor's proposed budget cuts.
Though the Senate Democratic Caucus doesn't have a position on the name change, democratic senators filibustered the bill for hours.
They say they wanted to draw attention to cuts to Medicaid and other social services that Republican Governor Matt Blunt outlined in his State of the State Address.
Early during floor debate, Democratic Senator Rita Days raised concerns about dedicating time to the SMS name change.
But Senate President Pro Temp Mike Gibbons says the bills dealing with Medicaid funding and other major issues aren't ready for floor debate'unlike the SMS name change.
It wasn't until after 4AM that senators began discussing issues directly related to the name change proposal.
Democratic Senator Chuck Graham of Columbia says he opposes the name change because it will detract the University of Missouri, which is in his district.
But he says he's also concerned about the impact of the name change on other regional universities.
But the name change sponsor Springfield Republican Norma Champion says the ongoing effort to block the name change is hurting the University of Missouri because there's an increase in the number of name change supporters.
Some democrats talked about the need to debate better higher education funding rather than the SMS name change proposal.
The SMS name change likely will face a battle in the House'Last year, the House defeated a similar proposal.
