An attempt to roll back the minimum wage that was set by the voters in Prop B was defeated in the House this week. That has not stopped Rep. Stevenson, Judiciary Chair, from hiding a minimum wage repeal in the "omnibus Judiciary bill" but it is a good indicator of what will happen to that bill.

Our family celebrated Ingrid's birthday this week with a party for her Friday evening. Our recently married daughter, Nicki, shares the same birthday but she was celebrating at her new home in St Louis.

Three more weeks in the Legislative session. We adjourn May 16th at 6:00 P.M. not that I'm counting or anything.

Attempt by Republicans to repeal the minimum wage for tipped employees fails in House

House vote is 69-82 with all Democrats voting No on Minimum Wage cut

This week week we debated House Bill 1851 which would have cut the minimum wage from $3.325 to $2.13 for tipped employees - the base wage for such employees prior to Proposition B almost two years ago. When voters went to the polls on this issue 76% of voters approved the minimum wage raise. Now Republicans are trying again to roll it back.

This is the third major setback for the Republican majority in the past three weeks. On April 9 House Dems defeated school vouchers. Then on April 17 House Democrats led the defeat of House Joint Resolution 49 the destruction of the Missouri Non-partisan Court Plan. This type of defeat was unheard of in the House during the past six years and now three times in three weeks. A sign of thing to come I think.

The minimum wage for all employees is still $6.65 an hour as set by Proposition B and would not have been affected by the bill.

House Judiciary Committee votes out "Omnibus" bill on party line vote

Bill that normally carries routine court issues now has repeal of minimum wage hidden in it

Each year that I have served on the House Judiciary Committee, and as far back as institutional memory goes, there has been a bill proposed each year that carries routine issues for the Judiciary. It normally has such exotic things as tweaks on law library funds, court procedures, funding for the court system and such things that most reasonable people can agree upon and fall under such typical titles as "pertaining to the Court system." The procedure has always been that the committee would put the bill together late in the session and work in a bipartisan fashion to get it passed. The criteria for inclusion has always been that there has been no "serious" opposition to what is in the bill. In other words it does not require unanimous support as a Consent bill does but anything controversial has to stay out.

This year the bill has become a 400 page toxic waste dump that has the repeal of the Minimum Wage tucked inside. Two years ago the voters of Missouri raised the minimum wage and 76% of the voters approved it. Now Bryan Stevenson, the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, insists on putting this issue in the "Omnibus Judiciary Bill." I am the ranking Democrat on the Committee and I explained that the issue is so politically sensitive that even in the hyper-partisan Workforce Development Committee where I also serve the repeal is not taken up for a vote. I, and other Dems on the committee, argued that the issue will inevitably scuttle the bill but to no avail. So the bill was voted out of the committee with all Democrats voting No. There are lots of other problems in the bill but this one leads the list.

The bill goes next to the Rules Committee that controls what goes to the floor for debate. I am one of the three Democrat members of that Committee so I will get a chance to do some whistle blowing there but the real problem is that there are a long list of valid issues that will die with this bill. Will keep you posted on this one.

Ingrid celebrated a birthday this week with a party at the Happy Gillis Restaurant in Columbus Park as we discover long buried roots there

We celebrated Ingrid's birthday Friday evening with a small party at the Happy Gillis Restaurant. Our daughter Nicki shares the same birthday with Ingrid and this is the first year she has been married so she celebrated up in St Louis at her new home. But friends and family had a fun party for Ingrid at a new restaurant in the Columbus Park area. It is called Happy Gillis and is at 549 Gillis street.

My mother, Nadine, attended the party. She gave me some family history that I did not know. Mom was born in 1921 and in the years just before her birth her mother, my maternal grandmother, lived in the 400 block of Gillis. They moved before Mom was born up to the 500 block of Jackson. So our roots in Northeast go back over one hundred years. Interesting.

Anyway, the Happy Gillis at the corner of Gillis and Pacific is a great little restaurant with excellent food. Here is a link to a review in the Pitch newspaper.

Election campaigns approaching as same opponent files for two offices

Filing for the 2008 elections has closed. I am challenged, again, by the same young man who has run against me the past four years. The district is over 80% Democrat so the race will be decided in the August primary. I will keep you posted on the campaign activities as they come up. For now I am concentrating on finishing the legislative session but after that will devote more time to the campaign.

Will Royster, my neighbor is running for Eleventh Ward Democrat Committeeman. Will's wife, Carol Royster, is the Eleventh Ward Democrat Committeewoman. The same young man has also filed to run for the same committee seat against Will Royster! So now he is running against both of us but for different offices.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

State Rep John Burnett