The Missouri Senate won’t be resuming debate yet on legislation that would undo most of Proposition A, the voter-approved law that mandates paid sick leave and raises the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour next year. Senate President Pro-tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, said in a Facebook post that they will return to the issue “in the next couple of weeks.”
Senate Democrats blocked a vote on the bill last Wednesday. Minority Floor Leader Doug Beck, D-St. Louis County, and at least one Republican senator were negotiating a compromise late Wednesday night when he said O’Laughlin “pulled the rug out from under them.”
“I was there since last week, putting my heart and soul in this and then it was all pulled away,” Beck said. “It was like it was predestined to be blown up. It was like it was predestined to fail.”
Beck told reporters that he and State Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, were continuing talks when O’Laughlin shut down debate at 1:00 a.m. Thursday.
“We were negotiating (in) good faith, and we were very, very close,” Beck said. “We were so close, and we were given a 10-minute warning that we needed to be done. That is not as long as it takes. One a.m. is not as long as it takes because somebody got tired. Those people weren’t even in the negotiations.”
In a Facebook post, O’Laughlin called Prop A a “business and job killer,” and that Senate Republicans are united on that position. She also said the Senate will return to the issue in the next couple of weeks.
Mandatory paid sick leave is set to begin May 1.
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