(St. Louis Public Radio) – The Missouri Supreme Court is weighing two cases, one from St. Louis and the other from Kansas City, seeking to allow higher minimum wages in each place.
At issue is a law enacted during last year’s veto session that bars cities from enacting a minimum wage that’s higher than that set by the federal or state government. House Bill 722 was passed in response to both cities seeking higher minimum wages, along with Columbia’s efforts to ban plastic grocery bags.
Attorney Taylor Fields argued against the new law when the high court heard the case from Kansas City.
“House Bill 722 is in violation of Article Three, section 23, because it contains multiple subjects, in violation of the Hammerschmidt rule,” Fields said. That rule comes from a 1994 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that said the state constitution requires each piece of legislation should be focued on one subject.
The other subject referred to is the provision that bars cities and counties from banning or taxing plastic grocery bags.
After the law was passed, Kansas City’s election board removed a proposed minimum wage hike from a local ballot.
In St. Louis, a circuit judge struck down the city’s $11-an-hour minimum wage ordinance. Attorney Jane Dueker defended the new law.
“I actually think the legislature is the appropriate party that does decide (the minimum wage), and they have expressly said this is a statewide general policy,” Dueker said. “If cities are allowed, I mean, we could have, I don’t know, 4,000 different minimum wages.”
She continued, “I think there’s a very good reason for that, because you would have so many conflicting minimum wages; you have local governmental bodies that overlap each other.”
Attorney John Rehmann II disagreed. Speaking for the city, he argued that St. Louis’ minimum wage ordinance should not have been tossed out.
“The General Assembly stated that local minimum wage laws shall not be pre-empted if they are in effect by Aug. 28, 2015,” he said. “They recognized the power of local cities and municipalities to pass local minimum wage ordinances at least until Aug. 28, 2015.”
Meanwhile, nearly 100 people demonstrated outside the state Supreme Court building in Jefferson City shortly after arguments for both lawsuits wrapped up. The group Jobs With Justice is calling on Missouri lawmakers to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The high court took no action on either case Thursday.
Republished with permission of St. Louis Public Radio: http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/challenges-minimum-wage-restrictions-missouri-supreme-court
