Missouri’s Republican-controlled House falls short of overriding veto to enact
The Republican-controlled Missouri House of Representatives fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the Democratic governor’s veto of the “right-to-work” bill. Nixon vetoed 18 bills this year and lawmakers need a two-thirds majority vote in each chamber – 109 in the House and 23 in the Senate – to override him.
The measure has pitted Republicans against their Democratic colleagues, the governor, unions and some within their own party. The yea vote was four more than the regular session vote, which constitutes a few representatives that switched their votes. That same tactic likely would be needed for a Senate override vote. “When you do that, people lose their jobs”. They shared that the manufacturers viewed the lack of right-to-work as a “deal breaker, but not a deal maker”. The House still must vote on the measure.
House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, says that a final decision on whether to bring up House Bill 116 could be decided right before the noon start.
The defeat marked the only bill so far today that the House has failed to override.
The employment bills were the prime focus of Missouri’s annual veto session, which drew hundreds of union members and business leaders to the Capitol to see whether Republicans are able to succeed in their long-sought attempt to make Missouri the 26th right-to-work state.
“Missouri is competing with right-to-work states on nearly all sides. This issue is not going to go away”. Supporters argued that right to work would have enticed businesses to relocate there.
“Standing up for worker freedom is a fundamental right and because of that this isn’t the end of right-to-work for our great state”.
“This is an attack on workers”, Karla May, D-St.Louis, said in opposition to right-to-work during the House floor debate.
“I thank the members of the General Assembly – both Democrats and Republicans – who sent a clear message to the nation that Missouri will stand by its workers and oppose attempts by outside special interests to cut wages and weaken the middle-class”.
The outcome was a victory for Nixon and state labor groups who had fought bitterly to sustain the veto.
Unions have been at the forefront of opposing right-to-work in Missouri. Consequently the measure died and did not move on to the Missouri Senate. But Republican legislative leaders and business groups were trying to rally support. Six of its eight bordering states have passed it, and Wisconsin, Indiana and even Michigan – the headquarters of the United Auto Workers – recently did too. Their name is misleading.
Presently, exactly half of the states in the union have right-to-work laws. But they are growing in number and intensity. However, workers typically only have the unions’ word on what the collective bargaining costs are and often find getting dues refunded hard and time-consuming.
“In Missouri, lawmakers said enough is enough”.