Legislature overrides Nixon to block home-care wage hike

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri lawmakers Tuesday voted to override Gov. Jay Nixon and block a wage hike for home-care attendants, who care for aging Missourians and others who can't care for themselves.

House members voted 119-36 to undo Nixon's action, which in effect stops a pay hike proposed through a Department of Health and Senior Services rule.

The agency rule would have raised the pay for home-care attendants from the current $7.65 an hour to a range between $8.50 and $10.15, but opponents in the Legislature argued the department didn't have the authority to make that change.

Home-care workers are paid through the state's Medicaid program and often are employed by companies that contract with the state.

Rep. Jay Barnes, a Jefferson City Republican who ushered the Senate measure through the House, said the proposed wage increase was an overreach by the executive branch and it's up to lawmakers to decide whether to increase pay for those workers.

"This is a challenge to the constitutional authority that each one of us has as elected representatives," Barnes said.

Nixon tried to thwart lawmakers through a February veto to allow the pay increase to take effect. Nixon and others who supported the rule change argued those workers deserve a raise.

Democratic Rep. Margo McNeil of Florissant called lawmakers' action "mean-spirited."

"We do a great disservice for the people in our own districts who are struggling to make ends meet as they are taking care of our loved ones," she said.