58 percent of Missouri voters said they supported raising the minimum wage and requiring employers to offer paid sick leave when questioned last year.
The Republicans in charge of the state government rallied to reverse those measures shortly after that vote. Republican Governor Mike Kehoe signed a bill into law Thursday that eliminated the paid sick leave requirement and restricted the voter-approved minimum wage rise.
Republican leaders’ increasing annoyance with left-leaning organizations that utilize state ballot issues to go around conservative legislatures and present policy recommendations to voters is reflected in Missouri’s new law. Despite Republicans’ overwhelming victories in statewide elections, recent ballot questions in Missouri have legalized marijuana, extended Medicaid, and restored abortion rights—all policies that Democrats typically support.
In other Republican-led states that permit ballot questions, liberal organizations have adopted a similar strategy, prompting legislators in some states to attempt to make it more difficult to put questions on the ballot or to raise the bar for passing a ballot item. However, the battle over ballot measures escalated when Missouri Republicans decided to repeal a large portion of a measure that was supported by voters only months after it was passed.
During a discussion earlier this year, State Representative Mark Boyko, a Democrat from the St. Louis suburbs, stated that passing this law would be a disgrace to the democratic process.
Voters adopted reforms last year that required Missouri workers to take paid sick leave and increased the state minimum hourly pay to $15 in 2026, with future increases based on the Consumer Price Index.
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