JEFFERSON CITY • After the Major League Soccer commissioner announced an immediate search for a stadium site in St. Louis, state senators are bracing themselves for a governor-led plan that circumvents them.

Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has done it before. A state official said last year that a state law passed 20 years ago allowed the Nixon administration to issue bonds without legislative approval for a new NFL stadium to keep the Rams in St. Louis. The Rams have since left the city.

But this time, lawmakers hope to be ready.

"It's important that every year we put language in (the budget) to preclude" Nixon from acting without them, said Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.