Sports betting, minimum wage and abortion access questions approved for Missouri November ballot

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Three more questions will go before Missouri voters in November: should the state legalize sports betting? Should the state allow abortions? Should the state raise the minimum wage and require paid sick leave?

All three questions were added through initiative petition, a process in which a Missouri resident can gather enough signatures to add a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot. The Secretary of State’s Office released its certificates of authenticity Tuesday, approving the three questions for the November ballot.

One petition did not make the cut: the Osage River Boat gambling petition that aimed to open up the state for an additional casino license. The Secretary of State’s office, along with local election authorities, said the question did not meet the signature requirements to get on the ballot.

Raising the minimum wage & requiring paid sick time

The full question on the ballot will be:

“Do you want to amend Missouri law to:

• increase minimum wage January 1, 2025 to $13.50 per hour, increasing $0.75 per hour each year until 2027, when the minimum wage would be $15.00 per hour;
• adjust minimum wage based on changes in the Consumer Price Index each January beginning in 2028;
• require all employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked;
• allow the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to provide oversight and enforcement;
• exempt governmental entities, political subdivisions, school districts and education institutions; and
• allow collective bargaining agreements to waive these requirements?”

There is an expected financial impact to the state government of between $0 and $256,000 a year until 2027. The impact on local governments is unknown.

The minimum wage has been increased through initiative petitions in Missouri before. The petition filer, Richard von Glahn, said the addition of paid sick days increased the amount of support this petition got from past petitions.

“When they are sick or their child is sick, they literally have to choose between missing a paycheck and taking care of them,” von Glahn said.

Now that it’s on the ballot, von Glahn said the work is only just beginning.

“Our volunteers will be knocking on doors, communicating with voters, doing voter forums, just working through our coalition to make sure that everyone knows that this is on the ballot,” von Glahn said.

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Restoring abortion access in Missouri

“Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:

• establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid;
• remove Missouri’s ban on abortion;
• allow regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient;
• require the government not to discriminate, in government programs, funding, and other activities, against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care; and
• allow abortion to be restricted or banned after Fetal Viability except to protect the life or health of the woman?”

There was a legal battle over the economic impact statement for this petition. The lawsuit claiming implementing the new measures would cost the state billion was eventually withdrawn. Many local governments estimate no financial impact, but there’s an estimated $51,000 in reduced revenue to local governments per year.

“We want to see the reproductive freedom measure on the November ballot since we know a majority of Missourians oppose the current abortion ban that doesn’t have any exceptions, even for rape or incest,” said Marilyn McLeod, president of the League of Women Voters, when signatures were first turned in for the petition.

Missouri was one of the first states to implement a total abortion ban following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

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Legalizing sports betting

“Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:

• allow the Missouri Gaming Commission to regulate licensed sports wagering including online sports betting, gambling boats, professional sports betting districts and mobile licenses to sports betting operators;
• restrict sports betting to individuals physically located in the state and over the age of 21;
• allow license fees prescribed by the Commission and a 10% wagering tax on revenues received to be appropriated for education after expenses incurred by the Commission and required funding of the Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund; and
• allow for the general assembly to enact laws consistent with this amendment?”

All of Missouri’s neighbors have legalized sports betting, but infighting in the Missouri legislature led to bills on sports betting stalling year after year. This year, professional sports teams took it into their own hands to file an initiative petition to legalize sports betting. Missouri’s professional sports teams formed a coalition called Winning for Missouri Education.

An estimated cost for implementing a sports betting law would be a one-time cost of $660,000 and annual costs of about $5.2 million. Tax revenue the state would gain from legal sports betting is estimated to be between $0 and $28.9 million yearly.

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