NEW VIDEO: Demolition project to make way for new CoxHealth clinic – KOLR – OzarksFirst.com

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Democrats are saying Republicans are dragging their feet in raising state workers' wages to $15 an hour.

Missouri employs more than 50,000 state workers and they are among the lowest-paid in the nation. The governor has given lawmakers a deadline of Feb. 1 to give employees a cost-of-living adjustment, but the legislation seems to be at a standstill.

During his State of the State address last week, Gov. Mike Parson called the economy "strong" thanks to Missouri's response to the pandemic.

"With a historic budget surplus and federal dollars coming into our state, we want to build on our past momentum to capture even greater opportunities for the future of Missourians," Parson said Wednesday. "We took a commonsense approach to the pandemic, never shut our businesses down, and have always had a conservative and balanced budget."

That $5.4 emergency supplemental budget includes a proposal to pass a 5.5% cost-of-living adjustment and $15 an hour minimum pay. Those increases are expected to cost $91 million this year and $218 next year.

"We just got to get competitive and really got to fill some of these jobs out there," Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, said. "Up my way, we have the Cameron Veterans Home that's only half capacity because they can only half-staff. There is a need to fill those jobs."

Two weeks ago, the House Budget Committee heard the legislation, which started to get the ball rolling on passing the increase, but since then, silence.

"I suspect there is some Republicans in-fighting over supporting it," said Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis.

"We might actually have to fight to defend the governor's proposal, a usual position for us to be in."

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NEW VIDEO: Demolition project to make way for new CoxHealth clinic - KOLR - OzarksFirst.com