It was a sadly fitting going-away present from Missouri鈥檚 so-called representatives in the General Assembly: The state Senate鈥檚 ruling Republicans on Wednesday used a rare parliamentary power play to threaten residents鈥 newly enshrined reproductive rights and paid sick leave benefits. And they did it in direct defiance of what the state鈥檚 voters clearly decreed just six months ago.
As a result of legislators鈥 all-too-familiar contempt for those voters, the state鈥檚 recently approved constitutional right to abortion services will be put back on the ballot and at risk 鈥 with ballot language so deliberately deceptive that it鈥檚 astonishing these cynical pols can look each other in the eye.
They also sent Gov. Mike Kehoe a bill that not only rolls back sick leave and minimum wage provisions the voters just approved in November, but also nixes a provision that voters approved almost 10 years ago tying future minimum wage hikes to inflation.
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Even residents who agree with lawmakers鈥 goals on these issues should be outraged at the democracy-trashing way in which it was done. Legislators should hear that outrage everywhere they go this summer. And Kehoe should get an earful from the overwhelming majority of voters who approved the sick leave and minimum wage protections he is now being asked to sign away.
Missourians frequently resort to ballot measures to change state policy for the simple reason that the Legislature鈥檚 extremist Republican supermajority refuses to heed public opinion on many core issues. On topics including labor rights, Medicaid expansion, political reform and more, voters have had to step around their own elected lawmakers again and again and use the referendum to get anything done.
With depressing frequency, those lawmakers then arrogantly reverse (or try to) what the voters have decided. But even against that grimy history, what Senate Republicans did on Wednesday, just two days before Friday鈥檚 scheduled adjournment of their regular session, was just plain shameless.
After spending much of the session in negotiations with Democrats 鈥 whose only tool as the superminority party is the filibuster 鈥 Senate Republicans used a parliamentary trigger that hasn鈥檛 been used in several years to shut down debate and ram through the measure putting reproductive rights back on the ballot. Then they used the same trigger to pass the sick leave and minimum wage rollbacks.
If Kehoe signs those rollbacks, he will be telling almost 58% of Missouri鈥檚 voters from last November that their votes meant nothing. That was how wide the margin of victory was for Proposition A, which mandates sick leave benefits for employees and gradually raises the state鈥檚 minimum wage.
To say the legislation would return Missouri to its previous status of weak labor rights isn鈥檛 even the whole story: The measure actually reverses labor rights that were already in place before Prop A passed. In addition to nixing the sick leave requirement, the new measure scuttles a 2007 law 鈥 again, a referendum passed by the voters 鈥 that required annual cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage, tied to inflation.
How exactly did legislative Republicans conclude that the message from voters who increased labor rights for Missouri workers is that they want even the rights that previously existed to be weakened? It鈥檚 a question they should all be asked every time they show their faces in public. And it鈥檚 a question Kehoe should publicly address if he intends to put his signature on this slap in the face to almost six out of every 10 Missouri voters.
As outrageous as the labor rollback legislation is, at least it describes in plain language what it does. That same cannot remotely be said of the anti-abortion-rights referendum that the Legislature has sent back to the ballot, probably next fall.
As we have explained in this space before, the wording that will face voters doesn鈥檛 specify that a 鈥測es鈥 vote means Missouri鈥檚 newly restored right to abortion services will be reversed, outlawing it once again except in cases of rape or incest.
In fact, a casual reading of the language could easily be interpreted as strengthening reproductive rights. As if that deception isn鈥檛 enough, the language also outlaws transgender medical treatment for minors, which is, A. irrelevant to reproductive rights, and, B. already illegal in Missouri. Ballot candy, anyone?
As legislators remain in Jefferson City through Friday, their office phone should be jammed with constituents letting them know they aren鈥檛 as stupid as those legislators think they are regarding the abortion rights referendum.
And Kehoe should get the message loud and clear that signing away labor rights the voters approved in November would be an utter betrayal of the democratic process that put him in office during that same election.
Missouri House and Senate member contact information is available at hous senahoe鈥檚 office can be contacted at gove at (573) 751-3222.
