House advances plan for smaller Missouri state worker raises

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri state workers would soon be guaranteed a minimum of $12 to $15 an hour under a plan advanced Wednesday in the state House.

The emergency spending plan, given an initial vote of approval in the GOP-led chamber, includes $92 million to increase state worker pay through the end of June. It needs another House vote to move to the Republican-led Senate.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson had asked lawmakers to give his administration the leeway to pay state employees a minimum of $15 an hour to help agencies struggling to provide basic government services.

But House lawmakers pared funding back to give workers a minimum of $12 an hour or a 5.5% raise, whichever is higher. State employees who provide health care or other services directly to the public would still be given a minimum of $15 an hour under the House plan.

"If we want to have a functional government that can serve the needs of our people, we have to pay for it," St. Louis Democratic Rep. Peter Merideth said.

Republican lawmakers warned that hiking state pay too much could create competition with the private sector. Other GOP House members raised concerns about committing to higher pay without knowing whether the state can continue to fund those salaries in the future.

"We have to look at the possibility of having to pull more money out of paychecks, out of investment, out of retirement income, (and) out of corporate income," said Republican Rep. Doug Richey of Excelsior Springs. "We have to pull that money out because it has to be captured in order for us to pay perpetually into the future for the price tag of state government."

The House plan also budgets about $2 billion in federal funding for K-12 schools struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. Most of that money is slated to go directly to Missouri public schools, but Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith is pushing for $75 million to be doled out in grants of a maximum of $1,500 per family to reimburse extra education expenses related to the pandemic.

The grants would first be available to families that bring in at most 185% of the federal poverty level, or roughly $43,000 a year for a family of three.

Smith pitched the plan as a way for low-income families to help their children with tutoring and other programs to make up for learning delays caused by the pandemic.

"A tremendous consequence of the pandemic has been learning loss," Smith said. "So this would help hopefully catch some kids up across the state and provide relief for those families."

House Democrats were skeptical, questioning whether the money would be better spent on services such as after-school programming and raising concerns the money would be doled out through a third-party vendor instead of the state education department.

The emergency budget plan also includes more money for the state's Medicaid health care after voters in 2020 expanded eligibility for the program.