Jefferson City. Mo. — State lawmakers get a salary and daily expense allowance, special license plates and free meals from lobbyists. They also get a little-known perk that might arouse the envy of some Missourians - free movies.
For more than a decade now, the United Motion Picture Assn. has been providing passes allowing lawmakers to walk into most theaters in the state and see almost any movie they want.
"I've used it frequently," Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, said Thursday. "I enjoy it."
That's exactly the kind of good will the theater group is seeking to build.
"It's always been a courtesy effort on the motion picture industry's behalf to stay on their good side," said Brad Bills, executive secretary of the association, which acts as a trade group for theaters in Missouri and Kansas.
Because the United Motion Picture Assn. doesn't send a lobbyist to Jefferson City, the passes don't have to be reported as lobbyist expenditures. For much the same reason, Kansas City-based Boulevard Brewing Co. didn't have to report to the Ethics Commission earlier this year when it distributed cases of beer in the Capitol.
Companies and organizations are not counted as lobbyists under Missouri law. Rather, a lobbyist must be a person who tries to influence a legislative action and is either paid for doing so or spends more than $50 a year on the effort.
The United Motion Picture Assn. didn't try to influence anything in the Missouri Capitol last year and hasn't tried to do so for quite some time, Bills said.
Nodler, a movie buff who studied film history in college, said that's one reason he has no qualms about taking advantage of the perk.
"I don't know anything about the organization that provides the passes," he said. "I've never had any contact or communication with them, I don't believe they lobby at all, and I can't imagine what their issues would be."
Nodler was using the movie pass July 22 in Joplin when he got into an argument with an aide for developmentally disabled adults at a matinee showing of the "Fantastic Four." Nodler and his brother walked out of the movie while complaining about the noise, which the aide took as an affront to her clients.
The movie passes are similar to ones given away in theater marketing campaigns. But they are good for a full year, can be used repeatedly and allow lawmakers to bring along a friend.
Bills estimates that the association represents 75 percent of the theaters in Missouri and Kansas.
The passes are signed by association president Daryl Smith, who operates about six traditional and drive-in theaters in the Kansas City area. Smith said he distributed them to lawmakers through local politicians.
Sen. Victor Callahan, D-Independence, distributed the passes to senators, but he said he could not recall how many of his colleagues picked them up. Callahan said he hasn't used the pass, partly because there are so many AMC theaters in his area and partly because it's "sometimes more of a hassle to use the pass than pay your $6 or $7."
Bills, whose group is a regional affiliate of the National Assn. of Theater Owners, said he doesn't think lawmakers use the passes very often.
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