JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Lawmakers sealed the 2008 session with their solutions to illegal immigration, high property taxes and lax land incorporation rules.

A Northwest Missouri representative also managed to fit microchipping humans into the mix.

Missing from that list was Insure Missouri, however. Gov. Matt Blunt early this year touted his plan to insure more than 200,000 Missourians who have poor access to health care.

But negotiations between a handler of the legislation, Rep. Dr. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, and state hospital officials went awry this spring and the issue never came to a final vote.

Mr. Blunt this week threatened a special session if legislators didn’t reach agreements on efforts to curb illegal immigration and property tax hikes. No warning came on Insure Missouri, though.

Dr. Schaaf partially blamed Mr. Blunt’s lame-duck status. Mr. Blunt announced this winter he wouldn’t seek re-election to a second term.

“I think he would have been a lot more willing to push this,” Dr. Schaaf said. “I haven’t heard from the governor’s office in weeks.”

Mr. Blunt insisted to reporters Friday that his decision not to run again had little effect on the session, as key priorities still will land on his desk. Democrats thought otherwise.

“He didn’t provide any leadership ... so the Republicans fought amongst themselves,” House Minority Floor Leader Paul LeVota, D-Independence, said.

Most progress on bills stalled in the Senate on Thursday over opposition to the repeal of a 2007 law that gave greater leeway to property owners wanting to incorporate their land. Compromise came around 4 a.m. Friday, though, opening the door to movement on other legislation between the House and Senate.

The chambers sent a laundry list of items aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration to Mr. Blunt’s desk to be signed into law.

The bill prohibits the state from issuing driver’s licenses to those who can’t provide proof of legal presence. Those individuals wouldn’t be eligible for public benefits, under the bill. And the legislation slaps employers with penalties if they’re found to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

Some Democrats opposed the bill, contending it was too harsh, but Rep. Ed Wildberger, D-St. Joseph, ultimately supported it.

Mr. Wildberger, who has called for penalties against state contractors and subcontractors who hire illegal workers, was selected to help negotiate specifics.

The penalties — some charge employers $50 a day for violations — weren’t as strong as he would’ve preferred, but they were better than none at all, he said. The bill also requires contractors and subcontractors who work on state projects to attend a 10-hour Occupational Safety and Health instruction and safety program, a provision Mr. Wildberger fought to keep.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” he said, vowing to return to the issue in 2009. “This was something to appease the citizens.”

A legislative priority for Republicans saw success Friday when the Legislature finally passed a bill that requires all taxing jurisdictions to roll back rates in reassessment years.

The assembly also passed HB 1883, which dealt with a slew of employment practices. One of the most talked-about provisions came from an amendment that Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, authored. His language criminalizes the act of employers making employees yield to the implanting of microchip technology into their skin. If signed into law, it becomes a Class A misdemeanor.

Asked if microchipping humans had grown into a problem in Missouri, Mr. Guest said “no,” but that concerning videos he’d seen on YouTube inspired the amendment.

Disappointment came later Friday for Mr. Guest when the Senate failed to consider legislation that would’ve stopped the state of Missouri from participating in national driver’s license requirements, known as Real ID. The King City Republican leads a nationwide coalition against the effort.

The House also overlooked a bill from Senate Majority Floor Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph. Representatives backed legislation from Mr. Shields that repealed campaign contribution limits, but his proposed quality rating system for child care centers never came up for a vote.

This is the second year in which the Senate has passed the rating system, but the effort died in the House.

A session-long attempt to rename part of the North Belt Highway after a Buchanan County deputy who died in a traffic accident last summer has been sent to the governor’s desk, though.

The Senate voted to designate the Belt/U.S. Highway 169, from Gene Field Road to Missouri Highway 6/Frederick Boulevard, as Deputy Charles M. Cook Memorial Highway.

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