How Missouri Democrats blocked vote to overhaul paid sick leave — for now
After Missouri Senate Democrats spent more than ten hours filibustering legislation that would overhaul a voter-approved paid sick leave law, the GOP-controlled Senate pulled the bill early Thursday morning.
The protracted filibuster blocked a vote on the measure — for now. While Republican senators adjourned for the weekend, the bill is expected to come up again as the end of the session draws near.
“Our entire caucus will stand up for the will of the people,” Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, a St. Louis-area Democrat, told reporters in response to a question from The Star. “That’s what we’re doing here. That’s why I’m super proud of all of our members that stood up yesterday and told the truth about what’s going on.”
The legislation, a top Republican priority this year, would strike down portions of Proposition A, a measure voters approved in November that requires most employers to provide paid sick time off to workers starting May 1. The law also raised the state’s minimum wage, which faces a legal challenge by the state’s largest business advocacy groups.
While the GOP-led legislation would not outright remove the minimum wage increase, which will rise to $15 an hour next year, it does repeal a section that allows future increases based on inflation.
The effort to strike down Proposition A illustrates a familiar trend in Missouri, a state controlled by Republicans where voters also pass ballot measures seen as progressive.
Republican lawmakers have in recent years sought to curtail direct democracy in the state in response to voters using the ballot box to raise the minimum wage, legalize abortion, expand Medicaid and legalize marijuana.
Proposition A received broad support and was backed by 57% of voters across the state in November. But opponents, which include business groups and Republican lawmakers, argue that the paid sick leave policy would hurt businesses if it were allowed to take effect next month.
The Missouri Supreme Court is currently weighing a legal challenge that would strike down the entire law. The court has not yet ruled on the election challenge, which argues that the proposal violated a requirement that ballot measures only deal with one subject.
Paid sick leave overhaul
After the House passed the plan to overhaul the measure last month, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, a staunch opponent of raising the minimum wage, appeared to throw his support behind the bill.
“The biggest piece that’s a problem with Proposition A are the benefits that go along with it,” Kehoe said. “I’ve heard from employers in Missouri, again, both large and very small, about the problems that that could produce.”
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one of the groups that sued to overturn the election results for Proposition A, is also backing the Republican bill.
In a statement shortly after the House passed the legislation, Kara Corches, the organization’s president and CEO, said the bill would “give employers the flexibility to tailor workplace policies to meet the needs of their workforce.”
But The Star recently spoke with Kaamilya Hobbs, a 33-year-old mom of three who received a pay raise due to Proposition A while working at an Arby’s in Kansas City. Hobbs said that while other employees need sick time off, only managers at her store currently receive paid leave.
“They just want to just take away everything that we’re working so hard to provide for our family and everything,” Hobbs previously said. “I’d really hate to see them win. We need this difference.”
Under the law, employers that make at least $500,000 a year in sales must provide at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. How much sick leave employers must provide depends on the number of employees the business has.
While Senate Democrats were able to block a vote on the measure, Democratic leaders were frustrated during a press conference Thursday morning. Beck told reporters that Democrats tried negotiating changes to the bill late into the night but those negotiations fell apart.
He said Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican, told Democrats that Republicans were done negotiating. Beck said O’Laughlin blindsided negotiators when she posted on Facebook “#NoToThisBusinessKiller. We are prepared to stay as long as it takes.”
Senate Republicans did not hold a press conference on Thursday. But O’Laughlin told The Star in a text message that Democrats were “trying to call people who were not in building and get their approval (on the negotiations). Eventually we said if no movement we’ll lay it over and we did.”
Beck said Democrats were talking with groups that represent workers.
