Missouri
Missouri business groups weigh challenge to voter-approved minimum wage hike, sick leave • Missouri Independent
A coalition of Missouri business advocacy groups says it is exploring multiple avenues to challenge the implementation of Proposition A — a measure that Missouri voters passed on Tuesday that will raise the state’s minimum wage and guarantee sick leave for some workers.
The measure passed with 58% of the vote and had the support of various unions and workers’ advocacy groups, social justice and civil rights organizations, over 500 state business owners and others.
The minimum wage will increase to $13.75 in January and then $15 in 2026. The paid sick leave provisions go into effect next May.
Hoping to block implementation of the changes is a coalition of business advocacy groups — Associated Industries of Missouri, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Missouri Grocers Association, the Missouri Restaurant Association, the Missouri Retailers Association and the National Federation of Independent Business.
The coalition is “explor[ing] all available options, including possible legal action,” according to a statement released Wednesday.
“We are deeply disappointed by the passage of Proposition A,” the groups wrote, adding that the measure will increase costs for consumers and employers as well as “poses a legal risk for all employers,” by providing a cause of action for employees to sue.
The focus of concern among these business advocacy groups has been with the sick leave portion of the proposition, arguing it constrains business owner’s freedom to make their own decisions and opens them up to liability if they don’t follow the requirements.
Ray McCarty, CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri, said in an interview with The Independent that groups are exploring a lawsuit to challenge the law on the basis that it doesn’t meet the state constitution’s single-subject requirement, because benefits and wages are distinct issues. They are also looking into advocating for legislative changes when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.
“We’ll look at the legal challenge first,” McCarty said. “If we’re not successful with that, or we’re not able to get that off the ground, or we don’t believe that we have that high chance of success, then yes, we will be looking at bills to try to mitigate some of the problems that we see with it.”
Supporters of the measure, including Richard Von Glahn, campaign manager for Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages, say efforts to overturn or weaken it are unlikely to succeed. Von Glahn said wages and benefits are part of overall compensation, so fall under the single-subject requirement. He added there were several opportunities for the group to voice an opinion with concerns about the language earlier, and they didn’t.
“They waged a campaign to try to convince voters to reject this. They lost,” Von Glahn said. “And so the idea of a lawsuit now kind of feels a little frivolous to me, and is a waste of time and resources. They would be better off making sure that they are educating their community and businesses about the requirements of the law, and helping for smooth implementation.”
Because the measure changes state law but not the constitution, the legislature could modify or overturn it without returning for a new vote of the people.
In 2018, after the state passed a minimum wage increase, some business interest groups advocated unsuccessfully for lawmakers to change pieces of it, Von Glahn said, “and that might happen again.”
“If I’m a politician, I know I have a limited amount of time in Jefferson City. There’s a limited amount of bills that can be heard and voted on,” he said. “Overturning the will of Missouri voters should not be high on the list.”
McCarty said the wide margin of passage could make it challenging to convince legislators to tweak the law.
“For 58 to 42, that’s very difficult for any legislator, even experienced ones who have been around a long time, it’s very difficult for them to go against the will of the people, and we understand that,” he said. “Some legislators may look at this and go, we don’t want to goof with it at all because the percentage was so high in support of it.”
Business leaders “have good reasons why we would want to change it,” McCarty said. But while they could try to move a bill through the legislature, he said they’d prefer to “head it off at the pass and just do away with it” through litigation.
A predicted victory
Prop A’s victory didn’t come as a surprise to most: It follows a trend of progressive initiative petition campaigns finding success in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democrat for statewide office since 2018
Paid sick leave measures also passed in Alaska and Nebraska, bringing the number of states with such laws to 18.
The details of the law are similar to those in states that have already adopted policies to expand access to paid sick leave. Employees can begin accruing and using sick time on May 1, 2025, earning one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to five days per year for small businesses (those with fewer than 15 employees) and seven days per year for larger businesses. Certain workers are exempt, and are listed in the full text of the law, including those employed on a “casual basis” for babysitting, workers employed in a private residence who work occasionally for six or fewer hours, and those who work in retail or service in a business that annually makes less than $500,000 in annual gross volume sales.
Von Glahn said that while canvassing, workers found common ground in their identity with other workers — regardless of party affiliation — who also have the experience of needing to leave work to pick their sick children up from school.
“And immediately what I get is people nodding their heads, ‘yeah, I have that too,’ and saying, it doesn’t make sense that some workers get punished for having to do that. “
Alejandro Gallardo, a restaurant prep cook in Columbia who canvassed with the campaign, said people he spoke to were surprised to hear about “what it’s really like in the restaurant industry,” and some were surprised to hear the minimum wage isn’t already $15.
Coworkers come into work sick “all the time,” he said, in his experience in the restaurant industry. One coworker who had the stomach flu, he remembers, came into work, saying “my stomach tells me I need to stay home, but my wallet tells me I need to come to work.”
Gallardo will qualify for sick leave for the first time in his career come May. He’ll no longer have to choose between going without pay or coming into work sick, calling it a “huge improvement for a lot of workers in the state.”
The ballot measure will make sick leave guaranteed for 728,000 workers who currently lack it statewide, or over 1 in 3 Missouri workers, according to an analysis from the progressive nonprofit the Missouri Budget Project.
The minimum wage increase is slated to affect over 562,000 workers in the state, according to the Missouri Budget Project, or nearly one in every four workers.
“This is a vital part of the community that’s not being treated the way it should be treated,” Gallardo said. And I think this proposition will go a long way to fix that.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
Missouri
Here’s what Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said about Missouri football before Saturday game
It’s Big Eight week in the SEC.
Missouri football, for the first time in 13 years, faces Oklahoma this upcoming Saturday on Faurot Field for a matchup between the reunited conference foes.
Mizzou (6-2, 2-2 SEC) was ranked as the No. 24 team in the College Football Playoff committee’s first top 25 of the season Tuesday. The Tigers have their work cut out to keep or improve on that position, with starting quarterback Brady Cook’s availability up in the air.
Oklahoma (5-4, 1-4) has had a difficult first year in the conference, recently firing offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and turning back to once-benched quarterback Jackson Arnold. The Sooners are still a win short of securing bowl eligibility.
Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium is expected to be sold out and has been for quite some time.
Here’s what Oklahoma coach Brett Venables and some of the Sooners’ players told reporters in Norman ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Missouri:
On Missouri football transfers Theo Wease, Cayden Green
There’s been some movement between Mizzou and Oklahoma in recent seasons. Wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. and Cayden Green both have transferred to Missouri in the past couple of seasons. Ex-MU wideout J.J. Hester went to play in Norman after spending 2020-21 in Columbia.
Wease moved on after four seasons, 1,044 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns with Oklahoma to join Missouri before the 2023 campaign, and has since caught 86 passes for 1,164 yards and seven scores.
“Our offensive staff at the time didn’t feel like he was — and Theo probably felt the same — he wasn’t a major part of what we were doing,” Venables said. “And he’s looking for an opportunity, and he was nothing but great. He was a really good leader, did everything that we asked of him, and what a great example of what opportunity and development looks like. He’s kept his head down and just worked. Had a fantastic year last year; is having a great year this year.”
Green was a starting offensive lineman as a true freshman for OU last season before making the move back to his home state, where he is now Mizzou’s starting left guard.
That sparked a bit of online controversy, as some fans in Norman took issue with Green’s move.
But within the OU staff? Not so much.
“I think Cayden went in there and was a starter — he was a starter for us. We’re not surprised if he has success. Cayden’s a fantastic player, freshman all-American,” Venables said. “And that’s the world that we live in now. Players are free to come and go as they please and look for what’s best for them, and there ain’t no time for bitterness and things like that. You’ve got to move on and adjust and pivot and get better.”
On recruiting battles
Given the regional proximity of the schools, there have been some battles for top-ranked recruits in recent years.
Missouri freshman and five-star defensive end Williams Nwaneri come to mind, as his recruitment was closely followed by folks in Norman. Luther Burden III was committed to OU at one point, too. Oklahoma won a transfer portal battle for TCU defensive tackle Damonic Williams and recently landed five-star Mizzou target Michael Fasusi.
Venables was asked by a reporter if the rivalry with Missouri is “getting a little spicy.”
“They’re a program that’s going to recruit well in their own backyard. It’s not spicy for me,” Venables said. “Recruiting is incredibly competitive. Winning is incredibly hard, and we’re programs that certainly there’s a familiarity. … Spicy maybe for the media or the fans, but staff-wise it (isn’t).”
On Missouri defense
While defensive coordinator at Clemson, Venables coached Mizzou safety Joseph Charleston and “spent time in the living room” of Toriano Pride Jr. while recruiting the cornerback out of East St. Louis to Death Valley.
Oklahoma has struggled at times on offense this season and has turned to Joe Jon Finley to call the plays. The Sooners briefly benched Arnold at QB and played Michael Hawkins Jr., but they have returned to their Week 1 starter in recent games.
Arnold may benefit from the possible return of wide receivers Deion Burks and Jalil Farooq this weekend, although that is still in doubt as they rehab from injuries and were listed as questionable on OU’s Wednesday availability report.
Oklahoma currently is the No. 112-ranked team in the country for total offense, and Arnold expects a challenge from Mizzou’s defense.
“I feel like when watching them on film, they play great as a group,” Arnold told reporters in Norman. “Dudes know where they’re going. They don’t bust hardly ever. Super competitive guys, fly around the ball and a big physical group.”
On Missouri QB Brady Cook
Cook has a supporter in Oklahoma’s head coach.
“I’m a big fan of his leadership and his toughness. The players, their program, they feed off of him. He’s got great juice and just — he’s fearless,” Venables said. “I don’t know his entire background, but he’s a winner. I think he brings out the best in the players around him, but he plays with emotion on his sleeve, and you can see the guts and the toughness.”
Cook’s status for the matchup is still up in the air, as he was listed as “questionable” on the Tigers’ Wednesday availability report.
Venables has been keeping up with Cook’s story, going into detail to praise his comeback at Auburn that saw him go to the hospital early in the game with a high-ankle sprain before returning to lead a fourth-quarter comeback, which the OU coach likened to wearing a “Superman cape.”
And Venables, at least midweek, is expecting Cook to fight through and play Saturday.
“He’ll find a way to show up,” he said. “I know he’s just got a couple of games left, and, you know, you don’t count that guy out. He’s a great player.”
STODDARD COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) – The Missouri State Highway Patrol is currently at the scene of a deadly crash in Stoddard County.
According to Sgt. Clark Parrott, troopers are responding to a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 25, north of Bloomfield.
He said one person died and the roadway is currently blocked.
This is a developing story and we are working to gather more details.
Copyright 2024 KFVS. All rights reserved.
Chiefs’ fans will likely be able to place wagers in Missouri by the NFL playoffs (Photo by Michael … [+]
After several tumultuous years of bitter defeats, proponents of legal sports betting in Missouri finally emerged victorious on Election Night.
On Tuesday night, voters in the Show Me State approved Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that aimed to legalize sports betting across the state. The initiative, which received the backing of the state’s professional sports franchises, passed by a narrow margin of 0.3%.
With approximately 2.9 million votes cast, the measure passed by less than 7,500 votes, according to unofficial results from the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.
Missouri becomes the 39th state nationwide to legalize sports betting, joining neighboring Kansas which launched sports wagering in September 2022.
Wagers On A Chiefs Three-Peat
While estimates for annual state tax revenue vary somewhat, legal sports betting could bring the state as much as $28.9 million in yearly revenue, according to a fiscal note that accompanied the proposal.
“Missouri has some of the best sports fans in the world and they showed up big for their favorite teams on Election Day,” said St. Louis Cardinals president Bill DeWitt in a statement.
In Missouri, new amendments can become law 30 days following a general election. The amendment directs the Missouri Gaming Commission to make sports betting available by the start of next month. Based on the timeline, however, the 30-day clock expires on Dec. 5. Since the historic PASPA decision in 2018, a number of states have struggled to fast-track sports betting following legalization.
If Missouri goes live on that date, bettors will have ample to time to wager on a Week 14 tilt between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers. The 8-0 Chiefs are slated to host their AFC West rivals in primetime on Sunday Night Football.
At the start of the regular season, BetMGM set odds of 13-1 for any team to go 17-0 in the regular season. At the midway point of the NFL season, the Chiefs are the only team in the league with an unblemished mark.
BetMGM could be one of nearly two dozen entities to be awarded a digital sports betting license.
Each of the state’s 13 casinos qualify for a license, as well as Missouri’s seven pro sports teams.
Altogether, the state can award up to 22 licenses on the digital side. The state projects initial license fee revenue of $11.75 million, according to the fiscal note.
Market Players
FanDuel and DraftKings, the putative leaders of the U.S. sports betting market, are both expected to submit bids for a license. The two industry heavyweights each contributed $20.1 million to Winning for Missouri Education, a political action committee that supported the passage of Amendment 2. A study produced for Winning for Missouri Education estimates that $21.8 billion will be wagered on Missouri’s legal market over the state’s first five years.
The amendment allows the state to collect a 10% tax on sports wagering revenue. The revenues will be appropriated for education purposes, including public schools and higher education, according to the constitutional amendment.
“Thanks to the efforts of bipartisan leaders and local professional sports teams, we’re very pleased to see that voters in Missouri agreed with the merits of what legalized, regulated, and taxed sports betting can deliver for education in the state. We look forward to our product being available to sports fans in the Show Me State in 2025,” a FanDuel spokesman wrote in a statement.
Griffin Finan, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at DraftKings, echoed the sentiments.
“We are thrilled that sports betting will create a vital new, permanent funding source for Missouri’s education system and ensure a brighter future for its students,” he wrote.
The proposal also enables operators to deduct a portion of sports betting taxes against revenues. The deduction is a boon for sportsbooks, as it allows operators to spend a larger portion of revenues on promotions. In high tax jurisdictions such as New York, operators find it more difficult to reinvest into their product.
In terms of bettor wagering habits, JMP Securities analyst Jordan Bender believes spend per adult will be in line with the U.S. average. As a result, Bender predicts that Missouri online gaming revenue will generate about $580 million annually at maturity.
Funding Issues
The tax rate has received some criticism from Missouri State Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Republican. A portion of tax revenue will be earmarked to a Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund, which includes research on problem gambling, additional treatment and recovery programs, and services related to compulsive gambling.
But the tax fees are comparatively low and not sufficient enough to combat a rise in problem gambling, Hoskins contends.
Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe became the governor elect on Tuesday with a decisive victory over Democratic nominee Crystal Quade. In the run-up to the election, both candidates favored the adoption of sports betting to provide the state with additional revenue.
The amendment enables the state’s pro sports team to open retail sportsbooks in the vicinity of their venues. There are also implications in the Chiefs’ bid for a new stadium. Kansas law allows the state to apportion sports betting revenue as an incentive for teams to relocate. However, Chiefs President Mark Donovan downplayed the tie-in, stating in August that he didn’t view the initiative as a tipping point one way or the other.
BetMGM also offered odds of 35-1 this summer for a team to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are in pursuit of their third straight Super Bowl, a feat that has never occurred in NFL history.
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