JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Legislature closed with a balanced budget and a plan to revamp the economy, but it cut short strings on higher education and hazardous fertilizer that still dangled when the gavel fell last week.

In addition to legislation that would have expanded state health care to 35,000 Missourians, lawmakers did not adopt a controversial income tax cut or a measure to opt more businesses out of paying minimum wages.

“I’m happier about the stuff we didn’t pass,” Rep. Ed Wildberger, D-St. Joseph, said, referring to the latter two proposals when asked of the Legislature’s high points in 2009.

But missing from lawmakers’ list of accomplishments are several key measures that could have directly affected Northwest Missouri, and several from local lawmakers that went nowhere after drawing a lot of attention.

A Democratic effort to fund capital improvements on college campuses gained an endorsement in the House this spring, but died from fierce opposition in the Senate. While the Legislature would have had the final say on the ultimate projects, an $800 million bonding proposal that would have gone before voters could have reaped the $27 million expansion of a performing arts building at Missouri Western State University and a $19.7 million building project at Northwest Missouri State University.

Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, said he believed enough support didn’t exist, given existing budget issues and revenue declines.

The bill came up for debate the second-to-last week of the session, but Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, and others blocked it from a vote. He and a group of filibusterers stood ready to stall the bill if it came up again. Mr. Crowell and a different group of opponents also were prepared to hold up any debate on a bill Mr. Shields has pushed to no avail for at least three consecutive years to implement a quality rating system for child-care centers in the state.

But some bills’ fates aren’t sealed so dramatically.

Inaction kills more legislation than public opposition or failing votes. Such was the case for Rep. Martin Rucker’s attempt at adding more state scrutiny and testing to agricultural materials that end up as fertilizer on Missouri farms. Allegations in a lawsuit against St. Joseph’s Prime Tanning — now known as National Beef — prompted the move to give testing authority to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. An outbreak of brain tumors in Cameron could be linked to sludge that St. Joseph Prime Tanning gave to farmers as free fertilizer, under the suit.

The St. Joseph Democrat added the DNR language onto an environmental protection bill in the session’s final week, but negotiations between the House and Senate didn’t finish in time.

Two contentious items from Rep. Dr. Rob Schaaf, a St. Joseph Republican, received the thumbs-up in committees, but never made it to the House floor for debate.

One that came in response to the January “octo-mom” controversy would have limited the number of embryos that Missouri physicians could implant into a woman. It received an up-vote from Dr. Schaaf’s own health care transformation committee.

A House transportation committee in late April backed a resolution from Dr. Schaaf that called on Congress to repeal a federal mandate for communities to upgrade sewer systems to prevent river overflows. Improvements to St. Joseph’s system will cost roughly $450 million.

But in both cases, a necessary House rules committee never considered the legislation, which wiped out chances of going to the full House.

Just reaching a committee can prove a feat in and of itself for some bills whose sponsors know that a positive outcome is slim. Mr. Wildberger predicted his bill to limit pre-paid cell phone buys wouldn’t make it to the governor’s desk — and he was right. He suggested that the names and driver’s license information of anyone who buys six or more be entered into a database, which the Missouri State Highway Patrol would be able to access.

The registry may have been what trumped the effort to curb the use of hard-to-track disposable cell phones among criminals. Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, chairman of a House personal privacy committee, opposed the notion.

Another bill related to pregnancy that prompted statewide buzz from Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, didn’t undergo any action other than its initial hearing. Mr. Lager wanted the state to allow criminal prosecution of mothers who knowingly take illegal drugs during pregnancy. Both pro-life and pro-choice activists spoke out against the bill, saying it would serve as a form of abortion coercion. Gov. Jay Nixon is reviewing bills that did make it to his desk and await his signature to transform into law. But many political insiders anticipate he will call a special session for issues the Legislature didn’t address.

Alyson E. Raletz can be reached at alysonraletz@npgco.com.