(The Center Square) – Missouri voters will decide in November whether to allow sports wagering, increase the minimum wage and add abortion rights to the state constitution.
Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced certification of the three initiative petitions in a media release on Tuesday. Organizations gathering signatures submitted them in May for certification.
Amendment 2 would allow sports wagering and was supported by the state’s professional sports teams. Online sports betting, gambling boats, professional sports betting districts and mobile licenses for sports betting operators would be legal if voters approve by a simple majority. The ballot language states the ongoing annual cost to the state will be $5.2 million and initial license fee revenue will be $11.75 million.
“Because the proposal allows for deductions against sports gaming revenues, they estimate unknown tax revenue ranging from $0 to $28.9 million annually,” according to the published ballot language. “Local governments estimate unknown revenue.”
Amendment 3 will amend the Missouri Constitution to remove Missouri’s ban on abortion. It also would “allow abortion to be restricted or banned after fetal viability except to protect the life or health of the woman,” according to the ballot language.
Ashcroft and Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey attempted legal maneuvers to prevent signatures from being collected. Ashcroft continued to stand by his court-overruled ballot language as he ran for governor.
Missouri became the first state in the nation to ban abortion. A trigger law passed in 2019, House Bill 126 or the “Right to Life of the Unborn Child Act,” was enacted the same day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Dobbs case in 2022.
“The measure takes away the right from every person who loses a child or a loved one because of negligence during pregnancy, labor or delivery the freedom to sue for malpractice and obtain compensation,” Missouri Stands with Women posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, hours after Ashcroft certified the amendment.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the organization behind the Amendment 3 signature drive, disagreed with the claim by its opponents.
“It doesn’t impact previous malpractice laws that are in place,” Tori Schafer, director for policy and campaigns for the ACLU of Missouri, said in a press conference. “That statement is totally false. … Read the amendment for yourself.”
Proposition A would increase the minimum wage to $13.75 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2025. The wage would increase $1.25 per hour to reach $15 per hour in January 2027. After 2027, the minimum wage would be adjusted based on the consumer price index. Governmental entities, political subdivisions, school districts and education institutions would be exempt from the minimum wage increase.
Proposition A also would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
Two other amendments will appear on the November ballot.
Amendment 6, placed on the ballot by the legislature, will amend the Constitution to levy costs and fees to support salaries and benefits for current and former sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys and circuit attorneys. In 2021, a unanimous Missouri Supreme Court ruled a $3 surcharge on court fees funding the Missouri Sheriff’s Retirement System was unconstitutional.
Amendment 7, also placed on the ballot by the legislature, would make the Missouri Constitution consistent with state law by allowing only U.S. citizens to vote.
