New Paid Leave Laws Pass in Three States
New paid leave laws passed on Tuesday in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska Tuesday, adding new red state momentum to bipartisan efforts to pass a broader federal provision in the next Congress.
In Nebraska, the measure passed with almost 75% of the vote and would require employers with fewer than 20 employees to provide up to 40 hours (five days) of sick leave annually, and larger employers, with 20 or more employees, to provide up to 56 hours (seven days).
In Missouri, voters approved by a 58% to 42% margin a new law that would require businesses to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to five days per year for small businesses and seven days per year for larger businesses. Small businesses are those with fewer than 15 employees.
The Missouri initiative also would raise the minimum wage in the state, which is currently $12.30, to $13.75 next year and $15 in January 2026.
In Alaska, about 70% of voters approved Ballot Measure 1, which would provide three new protections for workers: an increase in the minimum wage, a mandate for paid sick leave and protection against employer-required attendance at political or religious meetings or events unrelated to job duties.
The measure would phase in the minimum wage increase from the current rate of $11.73 an hour to $15 an hour in mid-2027. It would require employers to grant an hour of sick paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with a cap of 40 hours for small companies and 56 for larger companies. And it would forbid employers from requiring workers to attend political or religious meetings unrelated to their job duties.
In California, a minimum wage hike proposition was narrowly trailing, 52% to 48%, with about 50$ of the vote in. The measure would immediately increase the minimum wage rate to $17 an hour, and then to $18 an hour on Jan. 1, 2025, for workplaces with 26 or more employees. For smaller employers, the rate would increase to $17 on Jan. 1, 2025, and then to $18 on Jan. 1, 2026.
In Arizona, voters resoundingly rejected a ballot proposition that would have amended the state Constitution to give businesses the right to pay tipped workers 25% less than the minimum wage. And in Massachusetts, voters rejected a proposal to gradually increase how much employers must pay workers who collect tips, like servers in restaurants. The measure failed by a 75% to 25% margin.
The state’s wage for tipped workers is now $6.75 an hour, while the minimum hourly wage for most other workers is $15. Under Question 5, employers would have been required to pay tipped workers $9.60 on Jan. 1, and match the state’s full minimum wage at the start of 2029.
In Kentucky, voters have rejected Amendment 2, a ballot measure that would have allowed state lawmakers to allocate public tax dollars to support private school education. The amendment failed by a 64% to 35% margin.