New Ballot Initiative Aims to Raise Missouri's Minimum Wage to $12
So what if the state legislature struck down the city's minimum wage increase? A new effort aims to take those elected officials right out of the equation.
A group called Raise Up Missouri announced this morning that it would be gathering signatures to put a new ballot initiative before voters in November 2018. If the effort is successful, it won't just restore the $10 minimum wage approved by St. Louis' Board of Aldermen — it would significantly up the ante, with a $12 minimum wage across the entire state.
Now, before you start counting your extra money, a few caveats worth noting:
The raises would come in increments, beginning with an increase to $8.60 in 2019 and increasing 85 cents every year after that. We wouldn't get back to $10/hour until 2021 — and until 2023 to get to $12/hour.
Beyond that, of course, the entire initiative is dependent on the group collecting enough signatures to withstand any challengers (which is never as easy as it sounds — just ask medical marijuana advocates) and then persuading voters to say yes. They'll have to get more than 100,000 signatures from a broad swath of the state, earning a certain threshold of signatures from six of Missouri's eight congressional districts.
Read more: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/08/08/new-ballot-initiative-aims-to-raise-missouris-minimum-wage-to-12