Missouri voters will decide Nov. 5 whether to raise the minimum wage and require employers to provide paid sick leave.
If passed, Proposition A, a citizen-initiated ballot measure, would raise the minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2025, to $13.75 per hour from the current $12.30. The minimum wage would increase by $1.25 per hour each year until 2026 for a total of $15 per hour.
Beginning in 2027, the minimum wage would be adjusted based on changes to the Consumer Price Index.
The current minimum wage in Missouri was set by the passage of Proposition B in 2018.
In addition, Proposition A would require employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, for a maximum of five days a year for small businesses (those with fewer than 15 employees) and seven days a year for larger businesses.
According to the Missouri Secretary of State website, state governmental entities estimate one-time costs for implementing the proposal to be between $0 and $53,000. Ongoing costs could range from $0 to at least $256,000 by 2027. State and local tax revenue would change by an unknown amount.
Several organizations favor the ballot measure, including campaign sponsor Missourians for Healthy Families & Family Wages, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, League of Women Voters, Missouri Nurses Association and Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action.
“Proposition A will help tens of thousands of Missouri parents and their children by providing needed time off from work and gradually increasing the minimum wage over three years,” according to the Missourians for Healthy Families & Family Wages website.
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe (R), who is running for governor in November, opposes the measure.
“When we change minimum wage standards, we actually affect those we’re trying to help the most,” Kehoe said at a recent Missouri Press Association candidate forum. “Minimum wages will cause prices to rise on the most basic of products. It also leaves a void for the youngest of people who want to start at an entry-level job. You take those jobs away from them.”
The official ballot language reads:
“Do you want to amend Missouri law to:
■ increase minimum wage January 1, 2025, to $13.75 per hour, increasing $1.25 per hour each year until 2026, when the minimum wage would be $15.00 per hour;
■ adjust minimum wage based on changes in the Consumer Price Index each January beginning in 2027;
■ require all employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked;
■ allow the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to provide oversight and enforcement; and
■ exempt governmental entities, political subdivisions, school districts and education institutions?
State governmental entities estimate one-time costs ranging from $0 to $53,000, and ongoing costs ranging from $0 to at least $256,000 per year by 2027. State and local government tax revenue could change by an unknown annual amount depending on business decisions.”