Everything you need to know about ranked-choice voting in one spot. Click to learn more!

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

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Not on Ballot
Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot
This measure was not put
on an election ballot


Voting on
Minimum Wage
Wages and pay.jpg
Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Not on ballot

A veto referendum against the city council's $13 per hour minimum wage ordinance was not on the ballot for Kansas City voters in Jackson County, Missouri, on November 3, 2015.

On July 16, 2015, the city council voted to increase the city's minimum wage incrementally to $13 per hour by 2020, with the minimum wage adjusted annually after 2020 according to the percentage of increase or decrease in the Consumer Price Index. 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 ordinance set the minimum hourly rate for tipped workers at half the state-set minimum wage, which was $7.65 per hour at the beginning of 2015. If the tips received by the worker did not increase his or her salary to the minimum demanded by the ordinance, employers would be required to supplement the tipped worker's pay.[1][2]

A coalition of business owners and activists rallying around the proclaimed goal of economic health collected signatures for a veto referendum against the city's ordinance that would give voters a chance to overturn the law at the city's election on November 3, 2015. State legislators, however, passed House Bill 722, 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City Attorney Bill Geary took steps to remove this issue from the ballot and have the city council's minimum wage hike rescinded.[3][4][5][6]

The ballot language for this referendum would have had the following two options for voters: "For the ordinance" and "Against the ordinance", where "ordinance" referred to the targeted city minimum wage. Thus, a vote "for the ordinance" would have been a vote to retain the city's minimum wage ordinance, and a vote "against the ordinance" would have been to repeal the minimum wage ordinance.

Text of measure

Full text

The full text of the ordinance that this referendum is about is available here.

Support

Note: Those who support the city's minimum wage ordinance and oppose this veto referendum effort to rescind it are referred to as "supporters" in this article.

Supporters

A group called Jobs with Justice supported the city council's efforts to raise the minimum wage and oppose this veto referendum effort to rescind the law.[7]

Arguments in favor

Jobs with Justice argued, “We all know the voters support raising the wage, and the mayor and City Council knew their constituents supported a strong move towards a living wage when they voted 12-1 for the ordinance earlier this month. This [referendum] is an attempt to disrupt and delay implementation of the ordinance that was passed fair and square, and we are going to fight this abuse of the referendum process at every turn.”[1]

Opposition

Note: Those who oppose the city's minimum wage ordinance and support this veto referendum effort to rescind it are referred to as "opponents" in this article.

Opponents

A group called Missourians for Fair Wages opposed the city's minimum wage ordinance and backed this veto referendum effort, hoping voters would reject the ordinance.

Arguments against

Speaking of the city's ordinance, David Jackson, a representative of Missourians for Fair Wages, said, “We feel it is an experiment that is too risky." Jackson claimed that the city acted to hastily and that the minimum wage increase could harm the city's economy.[3]

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."[2]

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:[8]

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 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.[9][10]

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.”[10][11][12][5][6]

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing local ballot measures in Missouri

The city council approved the minimum wage ordinance targeted by this veto referendum on July 16, 2015. The group needed to collect 3,417 valid signatures by August 24, 2015, to qualify the referendum for the ballot, with a 10-day window following to collect supplemental signatures. 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 signatures than the minimum required threshold. On August 21, 2015, petitioners submitted more than 6,000 signatures. On August 28, 2015, the Kansas City Election Board notified petitioners that they had collected more than enough valid signatures to suspend the targeted ordinance and put it before voters in November 2015.[13][14][15][16]

The referendum process

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in largest Missouri cities

The Kansas City Charter requires signatures from registered city voters equal to 10 percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for the office of mayor in the last mayoral election. The charter requires that signatures be submitted within 40 days of the approval of the targeted ordinance.[13]

Related measures

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

Recent news

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

Kansas City, Missouri, Minimum Wage Increase Veto Referendum (November 2015) - Google News

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Kansas City Star, "Petitions filed to challenge KC’s new minimum wage law," July 28, 2015
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 KSHB, "Could minimum wage increase put Kansas City's new Hyatt convention hotel in jeopardy?" May 20, 2015
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Kansas City Star, "Restaurant and business group files petition challenging Kansas City’s new minimum wage law," July 28, 2015
  4. ↑ Kansas City Government, "Minimum Wage Ordinance," accessed July 31, 2015
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Kansas City Star, "Kansas City takes steps to remove $15 minimum wage initiative from ballot," September 17, 2015
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Kansas City Star, "Kansas City attorney declares local minimum wage hike dead," September 17, 2015
  7. ↑ Missouri Jobs with Justice, "Kansas City," accessed July 31, 2015
  8. ↑ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Living Wage Calculator," accessed August 18, 2015
  9. ↑ Missouri General Assembly, "Missouri Revised Statutes Section 67.1571.1," accessed August 18, 2015
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kansas City Business Journal, "Three key questions about KC's minimum wage proposal," July 13, 2015
  11. ↑ Office of Missouri Governor, "Gov. Nixon vetoes bill taking away local control from Missouri communities," July 10, 2015
  12. ↑ Open States, "House Bill 277 (2015)," accessed August 18, 2015
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Municode, "Kansas City Charter, Article VII," accessed August 3, 2015
  14. ↑ Kansas City Clerk, "Cumulative Election Results, June 23, 2015," accessed August 3, 2015
  15. ↑ The Kansas City Star, "Opponents of Kansas City’s minimum wage increase submit signatures for referendum," August 21, 2015
  16. ↑ The Kansas City Star, "Opposition group collects enough signatures to put KC minimum wage increase on the ballot," August 28, 2015
v • e
Local ballot measures in Missouri
Counties
Adair • Andrew • Atchison • Audrain • Barry • Barton • Bates • Benton • Bollinger • Boone • Buchanan • Butler • Caldwell • Callaway • Camden • Cape Girardeau • Carroll • Carter • Cass • Cedar • Chariton • Christian • Clark • Clay • Clinton • Cole • Cooper • Crawford • Dade • Dallas • Daviess • DeKalb • Dent • Douglas • Dunklin • Franklin • Gasconade • Gentry • Greene • Grundy • Harrison • Henry • Hickory • Holt • Howard • Howell • Iron • Jackson • Jasper • Jefferson • Johnson • Knox • Laclede • Lafayette • Lawrence • Lewis • Lincoln • Linn • Livingston • Macon • Madison • Maries • Marion • McDonald • Mercer • Miller • Mississippi • Moniteau • Monroe • Montgomery • Morgan • New Madrid • Newton • Nodaway • Oregon • Osage • Ozark • Pemiscot • Perry • Pettis • Phelps • Pike • Platte • Polk • Pulaski • Putnam • Ralls • Randolph • Ray • Reynolds • Ripley • Saline • Schuyler • Scotland • Scott • Shannon • Shelby • St. Charles • St. Clair • St. Francois • St. Louis City • St. Louis County • St. Genevieve • Stoddard • Stone • Sullivan • Taney • Texas • Vernon • Warren • Washington • Wayne • Webster • Worth • Wright
Flag of Missouri.png
By date
Flag of Missouri
v • e
State of Missouri
Jefferson City (capital)
Elections

What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures

Government

Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy

Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Kansas_City,_Missouri,_Minimum_Wage_Increase_Veto_Referendum_(November_2015)&oldid=8462915"