#MOLeg: Right To Work For Less gets stopped in Missouri House

Today, there is great news for Missourians and union members alike (and not-so-good news for folks like Dana Loesch, Peter Kinder, Rex Sinquefield, Grover Norquist, ALEC, and the Koch Brothers): The right to work for less bill HB1770 has been quashed, as although the bill passed the House on majority vote 78-68-2 but fell short of the 82 votes threshold, thus rendering the bill dead and off the ballot this year.

The Missouri Times' Collin Reischman:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Today the house failed to get the 82 votes required for final passage of the controversial “Right-to-Work” legislation. The bill was perfected today in the House by a vote of 78-68, lacking a majority of the full house and marking a blow for Right-to-Work proponents.

Speaker Tim Jones has made the issue a top priority during his tenure as speaker.  While early approval of bills only requires a majority of members present, the bill will need 82 votes — a majority of the entire chamber — to advance to the Senate where Senate leaders have been remarkably unenthusiastic about its passage.

[...]
Thursday is typically a day for final approval of House bills, but without 82 votes the measure will not leave the body. Opponents of the legislation say the lack of a clear consensus from House Republicans shows that the bill is misguided. Supporters counter that work isn’t finished on the legislation for this session and can be third read at any time until the legislature must adjourn on May 16.

Fox2now.com:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The 78-68 roll call Wednesday by which the Missouri House gave first-round approval to legislation that would prohibit labor contracts from requiring that all employees pay union fees as a condition of employment, regardless of whether workers are union members.
Voting “yes” were 78 Republicans.
Voting “no” were 19 Republicans and 49 Democrats.
Not voting were 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

Progress Missouri:

Extremists failed to achieve the 82 votes required to advance the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) so-called ‘right to work’ legislation out of the Missouri House today, falling short with only 78 votes in support. Speaker Tim Jones and Majority Floor Leader John Diehl, both local ALEC leaders, were defeated by an impressive bipartisan alliance of Representatives who stood up to Washington, DC corporate front groups driving the attacks.

“Today’s defeat of ALEC’s so-called ‘right to work’ legislation demonstrates that Missourians on both sides of the aisle realize that attacking workers on behalf of Wall Street extremists is wrong for Missouri. This is a good day,” said Sean Soendker Nicholson, Executive Director of Progress Missouri. “We urge members of the General Assembly to reject anti-worker legislation and instead focus on building an economy that works for all Missourians.”

Roll Call Image: