State legislators considering reform of state immigration laws will suggest new powers for the highway patrol. The special House Committee on Immigration Reform says highway patrol officers should become arms of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency…It would be the latest addition to the Patrol’s expanded duties—from drug and crime investigation to casino security and now immigration enforcement. The committee wants the Governor to enter an agreement with the federal government to extend those powers to troopers. State laws defining Patrol duties also would have to be changed. But committee member Ed Wildeberger of St. Joseph says the changes are needed because troopers are in awkward positions when they make a stop and find illegal immigrants. Wildeberger says there isn’t much the trooper can do. He recognizes a related problem that will have to be addressed—where to put the people caught under this program. County jails and state prisons alike already have crowding problems.
Sides in Minimum Wage Ballot Initiative Engage in All-Out Campaigning
Election Day is drawing closer and the sides in the minimum wage ballot initiative are doing what they can to get out their messages. Approval of Proposition B would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour and would tie future increases to the cost of living.
Gary Marble, President of Associated Industries of Missouri, is a spokesman for the Save Our State’s Jobs Coalition – which opposes the wage hike. He argues the minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage, adding there are very few minimum wage earners who are family bread winners.
Sara Howard with the Give Missourians A Raise Coalition rejects the claim that there are few bread winners earning the minimum wage. She says a good precentage of those making the minimum are responsible for families.
Marble says raising the wage to $6.50 would be something many businesses could accept, but he fears the part of the initiative that would index the wage in the future. Howard, on the other hand, says that while $6.50 is a good beginning, inflationary pressures must be taken into account. That, she says, is why the indexing is essential.
Missouri’s minimum wage is tied to the federal minimum wage, which has been $5.15 an hour since 1997.
Interview with Gary Marble
Audio
Interview with Sarah Howard
howard.mp3
Poll Shows Slim Majority Backs Stem Cell Research Amendment
A poll of voter opinion on the Stem Cell Research initiative finds a majority of Missourians surveyed would vote in favor of the proposal, but the majority is slim. The Research 2000 survey, conducted last week for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV TV, finds 51 percent of those polled either strongly favor or somewhat favor approval of Amendment 2, which would allow scientists in Missouri to engage in any kind of stem cell research allowed under federal law. 35 percent of those polled either somewhat oppose or strongly oppose passage of this proposal. 14 percent are undecided. The poll also asked voters their opinions of Proposition B – the Minimum Wage initiative; and Amendment 3 – the Tobacco Tax proposal. 63 percent of those surveyed favor passage of Proposition B, which would increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour and tie future increases to the cost of living. 29 percent oppose the idea, while 8 percent are unsure. On Amendment 3, 53 percent approve of raising Missouri’s cigarette and tobacco taxes, while 34 percent of those polled oppose it, and 13 percent are not sure.
Related web sites:
Post-Dispatch/KMOV Poll
Poll Shows Talent-McCaskill Even in Senate Race
With a little over a week to go before Election Day, a poll of voter preferences in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race indicates incumbent Republican Senator Jim Talent and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill are deadlocked. The Research 2000 poll, conducted last week for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and television station KMOV, finds 47 percent of those asked said they would vote for Talent if the election were held today. An equal percentage stated a preference for McCaskill. Two percent of those polled back Libertarian Party candidate Frank Gilmour. Progressive Party candidate Lydia Lewis has less than one percent support. Four percent said they were undecided. In the contest to succeed McCaskill as State Auditor, the poll finds 45 percent of those surveyed would support Democrat Susan Montee, while Republican Sandra Thomas gets the backing of 40 percent of those polled. Libertarian Party candidate Charles Baum has two percent support, while one percent expressed a preference for Progressive Party candidate Terry Bunker. 12 percent said they were undecided.
Related web sites:
Post-Dispatch/KMOV Poll
