JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Senate on Thursday voted to reject a proposed pay increase for the state’s elected officials, including lawmakers, statewide officers and a number of state judges.
The 31-3 Senate vote on the House Resolution came after a contentious procedural showdown orchestrated by Sen. Rob Schaaf, a Republican of St. Joseph who opposed the increase.
Earlier in the week, Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat of St. Louis, vowed to filibuster the measure.
Chappelle-Nadal said the pay increase for legislators – up $4,000 a year from the current $35,900 – could help lure better candidate to run for office.
“When I walk out, there are two different worlds that we face. People who are not privileged, people who are not discriminated against and those who don’t have the free pass,” she said. “I want to make sure people who are like me still have access.”
The issue had been tabled. If legislators had gone home without voting, the pay increase recommended by a state commission would have gone into effect automatically on Sunday.
But when the Senate gaveled in on Thursday, Schaaf had a different plan, about which he said he had told nobody. He took the floor shortly after 10 a.m., and pulled out a timer and set it for an hour. He revealed a piece of paper and laid it on his desk.
Schaaf told other lawmakers that he had secretly drafted a rarely used motion in the Senate to move to “previous question,” which have forced an end to Chappelle-Nadal’s filibuster. Slowly, lawmakers started to sign it. The first was Sen. Ed Emery, a Republican of Lamar, followed by Democratic Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, then Republicans Mike Kehoe and Kurt Schaefer.
“It’s unprecedented to have a PQ come forward in the third week of session,” Schaaf said.
After huddling privately with lawmakers in a side room, Schaaf ultimately did not use the motion and Chappelle-Nadal agreed to let the issue come to a vote.
Lawmakers voted to reject the pay raise, mostly citing concerns about allowing their own pay raise to go into effect while leaving Missouri’s public employees as some of the lowest paid in the nation.
“I don’t want to be driving past that Highway patrolman or walking past that corrections worker or any other state worker and know that I didn’t do everything in my power to stop my self being advantaged over them,” Schaaf said. “They deserve this raise far more than we do.”
In November, a state commission recommended the pay raises for legislators, as well as an 8 percent increase for other statewide elected officials. The resolution passed the House 133-15.