Expect to hear a lot about the "right-to-work" issue over the next three weeks.
The group Americans for Prosperity said Tuesday it will be running new advertisements statewide starting Thursday, focusing "on the urgency of overriding Gov. Nixon's veto of right-to-work."
The group described its advertising as a "six-figure ad buy," and it will run primarily on television stations, with some radio.
AFP-Missouri's deputy director, Rachel Payton, told the News Tribune that advertising also had been discussed, but she wasn't sure if it was involved in the campaign being launched Thursday.
Lawmakers last spring passed a bill (House Bill 116) that, among its provisions, says no one can be required, as a condition or continuation of employment, to become a member of a labor organization or pay dues, fees or other similar charges to a labor organization.
The bill says any agreement that violates an employee's rights, as specified in the law, "will be unlawful, null and void, and of no legal effect."
Also, anyone who violates the law's provisions will be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor crime.
Any person who is "injured" by a violation, or threatened violation, of the law is allowed to recover all resulting damages, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
In his three-page veto message June 4, Gov. Jay Nixon wrote: "The "right-to-work' moniker is a misnomer. Right-to-work laws create a less-skilled workforce, drive down wages and directly interfere with a business owner's right to contract.
"House Bill No. 116 takes this ill-advised policy one step further by also subjecting employers and others to state criminal prosecution and unlimited civil liability. House Bill No. 116 is wrong for workers, wrong for business owners and wrong for Missouri."
The ad begins with a question, "Can Missouri survive another decade without growth?" then says, "Missouri workers need more freedom, more choices and most importantly, more high-paying jobs."
The ad says other states that have adopted a right-to-work law have seen "3.6 million new jobs" created.
The ad also urges the audience to "call your elected officials today" - before the Sept. 16 veto session - "and tell them right-to-work is right for Missouri."
Tuesday afternoon, Payton told the News Tribune, "I think it is incumbent on the citizens of our state to engage with their lawmakers, to encourage them to make the right decision.
"The path that Missouri's on right now isn't the path to prosperity and isn't the path to us getting on a more stable economic footing."
She added, "Right-to-work is not a cure-all, but it's definitely an opportunity to change the status quo and give Missouri a chance to get on the right track."
The governor said the proposed law would make Missouri's economy worse, not better.
"This attack on working Missourians would stunt economic growth by reducing workforce training
opportunities and driving down wages," Nixon wrote in his veto letter.
Payton said AFP's support for a right-to-work law is not an anti-union effort, "because it doesn't do anything to ban unions and doesn't do anything to keep people from joining unions, if they so choose. It just gives people the actual choice to join a union, instead of being compelled to join a union."
The Senate passed the bill on May 12 by a 21-13 vote, which came only after the bill was called up for debate with a parliamentary maneuver that prohibited anyone from offering amendments to the proposal, and then a vote that was forced by the rarely-used-in-the-Senate "previous question" motion.
The Senate briefly debated and passed only one other bill during the session's last three days, because the Senate Democrats refused to allow anything else to come to a vote.
The House then passed the Senate's version of the bill by a 92-66 margin.
However, neither of those votes guarantee an override of the governor's veto, because the Senate needs at least 23 votes for that override, and the House needs 109 votes.
Payton said, "We are definitely going to try" to swing the votes needed for an override.
"Other states are making these game-changing moves," she said.