JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri’s legislative session ends May 16, and Republican senators are vowing to curtail two measures voters approved last fall: a constitutional amendment on abortion rights and a law requiring paid sick leave and minimum wage increases.
Aside from passing the budget, Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, said efforts to repeal or replace those measures will take priority over other bills.
“Those are the two big things that are still coming,” she told reporters Thursday. “That’s our goal, you know: We support life, we support moms, we support businesses, we support economic growth, we support jobs.”
Proposition A went into effect Thursday, requiring qualifying businesses to give employees one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. It also raised the minimum wage to $13.75 in January, with future increases adjusted to inflation.
One measure, which has been blocked by Senate Democrats so far, would remove the paid sick leave provision and end future inflation-adjusted minimum wage increases. Democrats have filibustered twice to keep House Bill 567 from advancing through the Senate.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Doug Beck, D-St. Louis County, said he is in “good faith” negotiations with Republicans on the issue but doesn’t know what to expect.
Those conversations haven’t happened yet around efforts to repeal Amendment 3, Missouri’s abortion rights constitutional amendment, Beck said.
Amendment 3 legalized abortion in Missouri up to the point of viability after more than two years of a near-total ban. It also nullified a number of regulations that apply to abortion clinics, including a mandatory 72-hour waiting period and the requirement that physicians who perform abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
Because Amendment 3 changed the state’s constitution — unlike Proposition A, which changed only state law — it would require a statewide vote to repeal.
House Joint Resolution 73 has emerged from a pool of contenders as the measure Republicans hope will persuade voters to repeal Amendment 3. It passed the Senate’s Families, Seniors and Health Committee on Wednesday.
The resolution would reinstate the abortion ban with exceptions for fetal anomalies, medical emergencies and for rape and incest survivors who seek an abortion prior to 12 weeks of gestation. The ballot language voters would see does not explicitly say the amended constitutional language would ban abortion.
Instead, voters would be asked, “Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
- Guarantee access to care for medical emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages;
- Ensure women’s safety during abortions;
- Ensure parental consent for minors;
- Allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest;
- Require physicians to provide medically accurate information; and
- Protect children from gender transition?"
However, the resolution would clear the way for the state’s near-total abortion ban to go back into effect.
Republican lawmakers could bypass filibustering and force a vote on the measures with a rarely used procedure called “previous question,” or PQ.
“We do not use the PQ except in rare instances,” O’Laughlin said in an email April 21 regarding HB 567. “Having said that, it is not off the table.”
