When the Supreme Court ruled last week that Indiana’s Voter ID bill was constitutional, House communications director Barry Bennett predicted that a “bucket-load” of bills on Voter ID would be proposed next year.

Republicans didn’t wait that long. A proposal by Sedalia Republican Stanley Cox made its way through the House Rules Committee this morning. Cox’s bill, HJR48, would amend the Missouri constitution to require voters to provide photo identification when they vote.

Missouri lawmakers passed a similar measure two years ago but it was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. Missouri’s issue is not identical to Indiana’s, so the U.S. Supreme Court ruling might not mean that Missouri’s proposal would pass constitutional muster.

Cox said the high court’s ruling, though, had an effect on getting his bill through committee. It had languished with no action since February. “I don’t think it would have been voted out of the committee if not for last week’s decision,” Cox said.

During the hearing, Democrat John Patrick Burnett of Kansas City and House Majority Floor Leader Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, negotiated that the bill would come to the floor with timed debate. That is a procedure that happens often on controversial bills so that the minority party has an opportunity to be heard. Both sides will have an hour and 15 minutes to make their case, though with motions and other techniques, the time will likely be much longer.

The committee agreed to the timed debate and passed the bill out of committee 4-2.