Vote NO on Proposition A The Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages is Bad for Small Businesses

What will Proposition A Require?

Under the statutory change being proposed, Missouri’s minimum wage, currently $12.30 an hour, would go to $13.75 per hour on Jan. 1 and $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2026. The last time Missourians voted to increase the minimum wage was in November 2018, it received 62% of the statewide vote. This proposed minimum will lead to additional higher prices if implemented. Get ready for milk prices to be $10.00 for a gallon or $10.00 for a dozen eggs.

Who is Funding Proposition A?

Proposition A was pushed by a group called Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages. The campaign committee backing the minimum wage increase reported it raised $1.9 million in total donations of both cash and in-kind services.

A large portion of the funding is in-kind donations from the Missouri Jobs with Justice Action, a Soros-backed group. The Sixteen Thirty Fund is another major source of cash, giving $575,000 in 2023. The Fairness Project, another Washington, D.C.-based group that helps run liberal initiative campaigns, has contributed $250,000.

This proposed minimum wage increase applies to all businesses including non-profit and religious organizations. This will lead to higher childcare costs, and higher service costs to get your car repaired or your air conditioner repaired.

All government or “Public Employers” are exempt from this minimum wage increase.

This proposed minimum wage increase would also impact family-owned businesses. Under Proposition A, a person who employs a family member like their son or daughter would be required to pay this wage and this earned sick leave.

Under Proposition A if the federal government increases the minimum wage higher than Missouri’s minimum wage, then our minimum wage would be immediately raised to the federal rate without any transition period. This would require businesses to immediately lay off people or raise their prices.

Proposition A Will Create a Government Gestapo to Monitor Businesses

Additionally, Proposition A will allow municipalities to set up ordinances, rules, and regulations to “Investigate” businesses to make sure they comply with this proposed minimum wage and earn paid time off. This is creating a Gestapo against small businesses.

Proposition A Will Negatively Impact Low-Income and Rural Families

Proposition A will hurt low-income inner-city families and rural Missouri the hardest. We have seen in California the impact of the $20 minimum wage increase. It has led to job cuts, and in particular, full-time workers losing their health benefits due to having their hours cut.

A survey by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) outlines the negative results of California’s recent increase in the minimum wage. Here are some of the key findings of the report, a majority of restaurants have:

  • Already raised menu prices (98%)

  • Reduced hours (89%)

  • Have limited employee shift-pick-up or overtime opportunities (73%)

  • Reduced staff or consolidated positions (70%)

Negative Impact of Raising the Minimum Wage Causes Increase in Crime

Proposition A will increase property prime. According to the Journal of Economics Study “Using data from the 1998 – 2016 Uniform Crime Reports, we find that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage led to increases in property crime arrests for those between the ages of 16-to-24 of approximately 2 to 3 percent.”

Several studies have also reported a positive correlation between an increase in the minimum wage and property crime (such as burglary, larceny, and auto theft) committed by young adults, who are disproportionately impacted by an increase in the minimum wage.