Kansas City, Missouri, $15 per hour Minimum Wage Initiative Measure (November 2015)

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This measure was not put on an election ballot

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A measure to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020 was not on the ballot for Kansas City voters in Jackson County, Missouri, on November 3, 2015.

The measure, which is known by supporters as the "$15 per hour Livable Wage Ordinance" was not put on the ballot for the originally targeted election scheduled for August 4, 2015, because petitioners agreed to wait until the city voted on its own minimum wage increase. Petitioners hoped the city would institute a minimum wage closer to the $15 per hour rate supported by initiative proponents. Unsatisfied with the city council's proposal, petitioners filed the paperwork to put their initiative on the November 2015 ballot.

State legislators, however, passed House Bill 722 in May 2015, which prohibited any local government from enforcing a minimum wage higher than the state-set minimum wage. Gov. Jay Nixon (D) vetoed the bill, but the legislature overturned the governor's veto. Following the overturn of the governor's veto, the Kansas City Attorney Bill Geary requested a court-ordered injunction to prevent the initiative from going before voters.

In July, 2015, the city council voted to increase the city's minimum wage incrementally to $13 per hour by 2020. The first minimum wage hike was scheduled for August 24, 2015. The first increase was set to lift the city's minimum wage to $8.50 per hour. The state-set minimum wage was $7.65 per hour, as of the beginning of 2015.

On July 30, 2015, the proponents of this $15 per hour initiative moved forward with a demand to the city clerk to put the initiative on the ballot for the next city election. The initiative was designed to increase the city's minimum wage to $10.10 in 2015. Under the measure, the minimum wage would then increase in phases to $15 per hour by September 2020.

Support

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Kansas City (SCLC-GKC) was backing this initiative.

The Kansas City Jobs with Justice group also supported this initiative.

AFSCKC, "An Edifice Which Produces Beggars Needs Restructuring," January 29, 2015

Group logo

Arguments in favor

Supporters argued that workers cannot survive on less than $15 per hour and that the government and voters should feel morally compelled to help the poor by increasing the minimum wage. Supporters also argued that a higher minimum wage would boost the economy, rather than harming it, since the purchasing power of a larger percentage of residents would be greater.

Judy Ancel, a representative of Jobs with Justice, said, "If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation since the late 1960s it would be something like $24 an hour and so it's fallen way behind."

Rev. Dr. Vernon Percy Howard Jr., President of SCLC-GKC, argued that it is the moral obligation of the government, business owners and the voters to provide a living wage to workers. He also insisted that the interests of businesses, the economy and low-wage workers do not have to conflict and that the living wage initiative would allow for a thriving economy while also bringing low-wage workers out of poverty.

Below is an excerpt from the resolution by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City to put its $15 per hour minimum wage initiative on the ballot:

“	Whereas, though the $13.00 per hour Minimum Wage ordinance passed by the Mayor and City Council on July 16th, 2015, was commendable; it remains insufficient and inadequate to lift the working poor out of poverty... Whereas, the recent Referendum efforts by those who oppose the $13.00 per hour Minimum Wage Ordinance greatly jeopardizes its ultimate fruition for the working poor... Whereas, the Federal and Missouri State legislative bodies respectively, have failed to adopt or pass policy and law which halts and repairs the extreme and growing economic inequities that exist between the working poor and the very rich... Whereas, since the 1970's the markets and economy of the United States have failed to produce fair and just wages for the most vulnerable and weak of our society, as low wage workers have helped to create higher productivity, yet they have received a smaller, diminishing share of the nation's wealth... Whereas, SCLC must apprehend the window of opportunity made available to us by the providence of God to advocate for the working poor whose concerns have historically gone under-represented, whose plight and peril have gone largely unattended, and whose cries have gone painfully unheard... Whereas, in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth, visionary prophet and champion of the oppressed according to Luke 4, commissions us to follow His path of proclaiming and being Good News to the poor... Whereas, the SCLC-GKC, blown by the wind of the Spirit, formally re-birthed the Poor Peoples Campaign of Kansas City in January 2014 as envisioned by our founding Seer, Dr. King, until he met with an assassins bullet... Whereas, the dreamer was killed but the dream lives, and thus the Dreamer also...! Whereas, the Urban League, Urban Summit, Freedom Incorporated, Baptist Ministers Union, National Black United Front, American Friends Services Committee, Human Dignity and Economic Justice Coalition, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, MORE2, and countless other communities of faith, clergy, workers, grassroots organizations, elected officials, and business leaders/owners, join us in solidarity and commitment to this struggle... Be it resolved and may it be known, it is with great prayers, humility, and conviction I write to you to announce that SCLC-GKC, its board of directors chaired by Attorney Wesley Fields, Esq., along with the Living Wage Petitioners, and our Civil Rights and grassroots coalition, will be taking formal action, as is our right under the City Charter by virtue of sufficient certified signatures obtained, to place our $15.00 per hour Living Wage Ordinance on the ballot for vote by the citizens of Kansas City, MO, in the upcoming November 2015 election.	”
—SCLC-GKC

Opposition

Opponents said the measure might jeopardize the city's economic health. Critics pointed to the $302 million Hyatt convention center and hotel proposed for construction in the city as a project that might get canceled under a higher minimum wage. Kansas City Council Member Ed Ford said, "The economics of the convention hotel did not anticipate this type of increase that they would be required to pay their workers and therefore may not work. The development team is concerned."

Nick Salvio, who owns Em Chamas Brazilian Restaurant, expressed worry about the impacts of the measure as well. Salvio said, "If $15 an hour passes, it would be devastating." He said he was considering the possibility of moving his restaurant outside the city limits to avoid the wage increases.

City ordinance and veto referendum

See also: Kansas City, Missouri, Minimum Wage Increase Veto Referendum (November 2015)

Some opponents of an increase in the minimum wage for Kansas City opposed both this initiative and the more modest ordinance approved by the city council. After the city's ordinance was approved on July 16, 2015, a coalition of business owners and advocates started a veto referendum petition. They needed to collect 2,578 valid signatures by August 24, 2015, to qualify the referendum for the city's election on November 3, 2015. In general, many signatures collected by petitioners are invalid because they are from non-residents and residents that are not registered or qualified to vote or the petition sheet is not filled out correctly. Thus, the petitioners needed to collect more than the minimum required threshold of signatures.

Background

MIT living wage study

According to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the following table represents a living wage for residents of Kansas City, with comparisons to what would be a poverty wage and the state-set minimum wage as of the beginning of 2015:

Credit to Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

For more details about the methodology behind this study, click here.

House Bill 722 and conflict state law

Missouri Revised Statutes Section 67.1571.1 reads, "No municipality as defined in section 1, paragraph 2, subsection (9) shall establish, mandate or otherwise require a minimum wage that exceeds the state minimum wage." Some critics of local minimum wage increases pointed to this passage to argue that any city minimum wage ordinance would likely face a lawsuit from the state. Supporters of local minimum wage increases, however, pointed to a court case that threw this provision of Missouri law into doubt. The Kansas City attorney declined to provide an opinion on the legality of the city council's ordinance raising the city's minimum wage to $13 per hour. Council Member Ed Ford said the issue would likely end up being decided in court.

Complicating the issue and ultimately preventing this issue from going before voters, in May 2015, the Missouri State Legislature approved House Bill 722, which had provisions prohibiting cities and other local governments from imposing minimum wages higher than the state or federal minimum wages. Gov. Jay Nixon (D) vetoed the bill on July 10, 2015. In mid-September, however, proponents of the bill in the state legislature gathered enough support to overturn the governor's veto. Following the overturn of the veto, Kansas City Attorney Bill Geary took steps to remove the referendum concerning the city council's minimum wage increase from the ballot and have the city council's minimum wage hike rescinded. Citing conflict with the bill, Geary also requested a court-ordered injunction to prevent the initiative seeking a $15 per hour minimum wage from going before voters. Geary said, “If minimum-wage workers in Kansas City are to receive an increase in their $7.65 per hour wages, they must look to their employers, the Missouri General Assembly or a statewide initiative petition.”

Council Member Ford, an opponent of the measure, claimed that Missouri law prohibits cities and other local governments from increasing the minimum wage above the state-set minimum, making the proposed city measure illegal. Ford claimed that passing the measure would probably spur legal action from the state against the city.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing local ballot measures in Missouri

In May 2015, petitioners submitted enough valid signatures to qualify this initiative for the ballot. According to the city charter, they needed signatures from registered voters equal to 5 percent of the total votes cast for all the candidates for the office of mayor in the last regular mayoral election. For this initiative, the number of valid signatures required was 1,709. After the signatures were verified and the petition was certified, the group waited to submit its official demand to the city clerk to have the initiative put on the ballot. Petitioners said they would wait to see if the city council passed a high enough minimum wage. On July 16, 2015, the city council approved a minimum wage ordinance targeting $13 per hour by 2020. The group behind this initiative said this wage was not high enough and also expressed concern over the efforts to qualify a veto referendum against the city's minimum wage ordinance for the ballot. On July 30, 2015, the proponents of this $15 per hour initiative moved forward with a demand to the city clerk to put the initiative on the ballot for the next city election.

Related measures

1. City of Tacoma $15 per Hour Minimum Wage Measure, Initiative No. 1 (November 2015) a
2. City of El Paso Fire Department Wage Raise Policy Charter Amendment, Proposition 2 (May 2015) a
3. Portland, Maine, Minimum Wage Increase Initiative, Question 1 (November 2015) d
4. Kansas City, Missouri, Minimum Wage Increase Veto Referendum (November 2015) 
5. City of Tacoma $12 per Hour Minimum Wage Alternative Measure, Initiative No. 1B (November 2015) a

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Kansas City $15 minimum wage initiative. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Kansas City, Missouri, $15 per hour Minimum Wage Initiative Measure (November 2015) - Google News

See also

• Local wages and pay on the ballot
• Jackson County, Missouri ballot measures
• November 3, 2015 ballot measures in Missouri
• Kansas City, Missouri municipal elections, 2015

External links

Suggest a link

• Kansas City Board of Elections website
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Kansas City website