ST. LOUIS—Business groups in Missouri have filed a petition with the state supreme court asking it to overturn the results of a constitutional ballot amendment that raises the state’s minimum wage and enshrines paid sick leave into law. Proposition A, passed by 57.57% will raise the minimum wage to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1 and to $15 per hour by 2026 when it will then be tied to inflation. Employers will need to begin providing paid sick leave starting in May.

Associated Industries of Missouri and other business organizations signaled soon after the election that they would challenge the vote, either through the courts or through legislative attempts in the General Assembly.

In the petition for review filed Friday, Associated Industries, the Missouri Grocers Association, the Missouri Restaurant Association, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Missouri Forest Product Association are suing Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, claiming that summary statement, written by the Secretary of State was “insufficient, misleading, prejudicial and unfair,” and the fiscal note summary, written by the Auditor, was unfair and insufficient.

It also claims the proposition violates the state constitution’s requirement restricting ballot questions to a single subject, and that exemptions built into the proposition violate the equal protection clause. 

“While Proposition A is bad policy and will have extreme and detrimental effects on Missouri’s businesses, that is not the basis of this action,” the plaintiffs said in their petition. “Instead, the election irregularities and the constitutional violations are so significant that the election results must be overturned and Proposition A must be declared invalid.”

"We stand by the process we have used for decades to produce fair and accurate fiscal notes and fiscal note summaries. We look forward to defending this process that allows our office to provide unbiased cost estimates that voters can trust," a spokesperson for Fitzpatrick told Spectrum News late Monday afternoon.

A spokesperson for Ashcroft said earlier in the day that the the ofice had received the lawsuit and was reviewing it. 

“These special interest groups could have raised their legal concerns at any other point in the process before the measure appeared on the ballot. The voters have overwhelmingly approved the measure,” Marilyn McLeod, president, League of Women Voters of Missouri said in a statement Monday. “We are appalled that judges will be asked to overturn the wishes of the Missouri electorate, but we are confident that they will see that wages and benefits are clearly part of the same subject on compensation and will reject this lawsuit.”

“These interest groups, and our elected leaders, would be better off educating businesses and workers on how to comply with the new law rather than engage in frivolous lawsuits that are a distraction to building an economy that works for everyone,” Missourians for Health Families and Fair Wages said.