Missouri lawmakers act to block home care worker wage hike

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri House voted Wednesday to block a state agency rule that would increase wages for home care attendants, sending the measure to Gov. Jay Nixon.

Lawmakers, including the Senate, which voted on the measure last month, want to stop a proposed rule from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services that would raise the pay for home care attendants from $7.65 an hour minimum to a range between $8.50 and $10.15. Those workers care for aging Missouri residents and others who can't care for themselves.

Home care workers are paid through the state's Medicaid program and often are employed by companies that contract with the state. Republicans' argument is that the department doesn't have the authority to raise pay for those workers and that a wage hike should be up to the Legislature.

"What the resolution has to do with is an absolutely extraordinary overreach of executive power," GOP House Speaker Todd Richardson said. He added it's "an overreach of executive power so broad, that if this Legislature fails to reject this rule, we might as well not exist."

Some Democrats counter that home care workers deserve a higher wage range to reward more qualified workers and reduce high turnover.

"What they're doing is harming low-income workers that are taking care of their mothers, their brothers, their sisters and their family members and loved ones that are ill and need care and help," said Rep. Gina Mitten, D-St. Louis.

Nixon's administration has said he supports a pay increase for the attendants and called for the rule change. He also could veto the measure, but it was passed by both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities.