The pressure was on to get particular bills passed, including ones on immigration and property tax. Both the senate and the house vowed to serve the best interests of Missourians.

Two bills had more prominence than others when it came to the decisions made, a bill dealing with illegal immigration and another to do with property tax. Lawmakers were warned that a special session would be required if the immigration bill was not passed. The immigration bill would add limits and requirements for illegal immigrants, the cities they live in and the employers who hire them.  For example, an employer who misclassifies their workers as "contractors" will be fined up to $50,000.

"If the federal government refused to act and they did, the state did it," said Rep. Bryan Pratt-R, Blue Springs. "And I can tell you we will have our officers verify immigration status, stop the payment of benefits to illegal immigrants, and stop employers from hiring illegal immigrants."

The Democrats and Republicans were on the same page with the immigration bill.

"There are five get-out-of jail free cards for an employer and the fines aren't even substantial enough to where we're really going to deal with the issue of employers," said Rep. Paul Levota-D, Independence. "And that's what we need to be dealing with from the state government."

The other hot-button item was a property tax relief bill. This bill protects property taxpayers from excessive increases after reassessment. It also extends tax breaks to low-income and middle-class seniors, as well as disabled homeowners.

"All we heard about over the last few years is that many folks were losing their houses because of the rising rate of property taxes," Pratt said. "We passed a very strong, comprehensive property tax bill in a bi-partisan way this session."

Both sides of the aisle have to depend on strong leadership, and it prevailed when dealing with this bill.

"One of the things I realize is that someone always has to be willing to take the leadership of making change," said Sen. Maida Coleman-D, St. Louis City. "And you have to be willing to get knocked up inside your head by all sides."

Members of the senate and the house said it was important to look past the politics and focus on what laws would benefit Missourians. The senate communications spokesman said twice as many bills were passed Friday than normal for the final day of the session.