How Missouri & Nebraska Reveal the New Front Line for Economic Justice
When voters deliver life changing policies for their communities, lawmakers shouldn’t get to erase them. Yet in 2024, that’s exactly what happened.
Across the country, citizen-led ballot initiatives made headlines in November 2024. Voters secured worker protections, affirmed reproductive rights, defended marriage equality, and much more. But as the celebration faded, a new reality set in: The win wasn’t the finish line, it was the start of a new fight.
Nowhere was this more clear than in Missouri and Nebraska, where lawmakers moved swiftly to weaken or undo voter-approved economic justice measures. These attacks didn’t just threaten policy gains, they threatened the legitimacy of the democratic process itself.
This case study spotlights two campaigns BISC supported: Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages (Prop. A) and Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans (I-436) and what their fights teach us about implementation, power, and the urgent need to defend the People’s Tool.
The Gold Standard: BISC’s Approach to Ballot Measure Efforts
Ballot measures aren’t just campaigns, they’re long-term power-building opportunities. BISC’s 360 Lifecycle approach ensures that victories are intentional, community-centered, and built to last beyond an election. The lifecycle includes the following phases:
- Incubation – Exploring a ballot measure concept, beginning initial research and coalition formation
- Decision – Assessing viability in a complex political landscape
- Qualification – Drafting ballot language and certifying it with the state, gathering signatures, earned media begins
- Campaign – Educating and mobilizing voters
- Implementation – Ensuring the will of the people is executed by elected officials
The final implementation phase is where opponents often concentrate their attacks — and where our defenses must be strongest. When paired with BISC’s Declaration of Equity, the 360 Lifecycle builds movements that shift power, culture, and narrative – not just policy.
A Growing Threat: Defending Wins Amid Rising Authoritarianism
As partisan gridlock deepens and authoritarian tactics spread, lawmakers in several states are attempting to:
- Erode or repeal voter-approved policies
- Undermine the legitimacy of direct democracy
- Create new barriers to the initiative process
- Claim voters were “confused” when results go against their ideology
Too often, lawmakers claim their attacks are ‘necessary reforms’ but the end result is always the same: stripping communities of the power to bring bold change to people’s lives.
When elected leaders dismiss overwhelming public support, they deepen distrust in government and open the door to authoritarian alternatives.
What’s at Stake: Policies That Help People Thrive
Ballot initiatives have become a lifeline for workers, especially when state and federal systems fail to act. Nebraska’s I-436 in 2024 guaranteed workers the right to paid sick leave, while Missouri’s Prop. A not only guaranteed that right, but also increased the minimum wage and more.
Paid Sick Leave
Paid sick leave is a critical component of keeping communities and their economies healthy. It is a basic protection that:
- Prevents the spread of illness
- Lets parents care for sick children
- Reduces costly employee turnover
- Strengthens local economies
In the absence of a federal policy, 18 states, Washington D.C., and some cities have passed laws requiring employers to provide some form of paid sick leave. The impacts to a business’ bottom line have been minimal. A recent report by the National Partnership for Women & Families showed that employers spend less than $0.03/hour in additional paid sick leave compensation costs for a worker. That same report highlighted paid sick days as improving employee retention, helping employers avoid expensive turnover. The report also highlights a Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine estimate that employees working when they’re sick costs the U.S. economy as much as $293 billion a year.
Women feel the effects of paid sick leave policies most acutely, especially women of color who earn less on average than their white or male counterparts. And according to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than half of the lowest-wage workers — typically women and workers of color — lack any access to paid sick leave benefits.
Despite its clear benefits lawmakers often refuse to act, leaving some of the most vulnerable communities in the United States without access to worker protections that would improve the material conditions of their lives and help them thrive.
Raising the Minimum Wage
Set against the backdrop of the rising cost of living and a stagnant federal minimum wage that falls below the poverty threshold, community leaders are increasingly turning to ballot initiatives to improve wages when federal or state leaders will not. Since the most recent federal increase to $7.25/hour in 2009, there have been 22 proposed wage-focused statewide ballot measures; voters have approved 14 citizen-led ballot initiatives to increase wages.
In the 14 states with policies for inflation adjustments like what Missouri’s Prop. A included, nearly 6 million workers benefitted from a wage increase in 2025 according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute.
These aren’t abstract policy debates — they are changes that directly affect families, communities, and the economic health of entire states.
Case Study — Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans (I-436)
The Campaign
After their successful 2022 initiative to raise the minimum wage, BISC’s Nebraska partners targeted the state’s next major economic injustice: the 250,000 workers without paid sick leave.
Anchored by Nebraska Appleseed, the coalition leading the Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans campaign included a number of trusted grassroots and grasstops organizations from across the state.
The ballot measure guaranteed:
- 1 hour of paid sick leave per 30 hours worked
- Up to 5 or 7 sick days a year, depending on workplace size
The vote wasn’t close — it passed with nearly 75% voter approval and received endorsements from over 200 Nebraska businesses of all sizes.
The Implementation Attack
Legislative Bill 415, the implementation bill, was rewritten to create a partial repeal.
The result:
- 140,000+ workers stripped of voter-approved rights
- Temporary and seasonal agricultural workers excluded
- Businesses with 10 or fewer employees exempted entirely
- Workers under 16 excluded
The bill passed by a single vote — had only one legislator chosen to stand with Nebraska’s voters, this critical worker’s right would still be protected today.
The Response
Members of the coalition are now pursuing a constitutional amendment that would raise the vote threshold necessary for lawmakers to amend or repeal voter approved ballot measures, protecting future wins from political interference and ensuring the lawmakers respect the will of the people. The campaign, Respect Nebraska Voters, has until July to get on the November 2026 ballot.
Case Study: Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages (Proposition A)
The Campaign
Prop. A promised:
- Gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026
- Ensure future wage increases keep up with inflation
- Guarantee workers the right to earn paid sick leave (1 hour per 30 hours worked)
Impact:
- 562,000+ workers would benefit
- Nearly 1 in 4 children in those households lifted
- Positive effects for Latiné and Black workers in particular
Nearly 1.7 million Missouri voters passed Prop. A and over 500 of the state’s business owners endorsed the initiative.
The Implementation Attack
House Bill 567 fully repealed the inflation adjustments and stripped workers of the guaranteed right to earn paid sick leave.
Consequences:
- 700,000 workers lost their earned paid sick leave
- Future wages are unprotected from rising inflation
- Workers lost all sick leave accrued since May 1
The Response
Missouri Jobs with Justice filed a new initiative petition to embed paid sick leave and inflation indexing in the state constitution. Meanwhile, Respect Missouri Voters has proposed an initiative to defend the initiative process with a ban on confusing ballot language, a ban on making it more difficult to qualify, and a requirement that 80% of lawmakers in both the Senate and House approve changes to a voter-approved initiative.
But the road is long:
- A new legislative measure could require future initiatives to pass in every congressional district, enabling as few as 5% of voters to block a policy favored by 95%.
- An urgent fight looms to repeal a new gerrymandered redistricting map designed to dilute Black political power in Kansas City.
The Bottom Line: Direct Democracy Is Under Serious Threat
Missouri and Nebraska offer a powerful and chilling lesson: Winning on Election Day is no longer enough. Implementation is the new battleground.
As lawmakers escalate attacks on voter-approved initiatives, our commitment to defending the 360 lifecycle becomes not just strategic but essential for the survival of democratic governance.
Authoritarian actors rely on procedural manipulation and power plays. People powered movements rely on community leadership, truth, and long-term organizing.
Defending direct democracy is defending democracy itself.
Voices From the Front Lines:
In honor of BISC’s 25th anniversary in 2023, we launched a power-building project aimed at showing the impact that early and sustained funding can make for ballot measure efforts. Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans and Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages were our partners in this project, receiving early and less-restricted funding to begin developing local leadership, growing their coalitions, engaging their communities, and more.
“The base for PSL was really, really wide. I think a lot of folks who were most affected by it were working Nebraskans but this was an issue that was really popular with so many people, [which] meant that it stretched a lot wider than just folks without paid sick leave.”
Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans
“I think we run the risk of losing a lot of people, not from support of Paid Sick, but of their trust in what policy will actually go through. I definitely think that is a concern of the voters and so that’s something we always have to be aware of. If something happens implementation wise, we are going to lose those voters the next time around because they’re going to be feeling that it doesn’t matter anyway, so why do it? They’ll get that apathy from it.”
Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans
“We should feel proud of changing the things that were in our control. And that, as long as the ballot initiative process is protected in our constitution, that power remains ours…The ballot box is probably one of the least important things in terms of a win. But in this one I think it means a lot to win because it gives us something to…continue to feel optimistic about…We get to keep our optimism about the ballot initiative process and the power of direct democracy in Nebraska, where it feels like lawmakers are no longer serving their constituents.”
Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans
“One thing that has been very exciting is the journey with my family, being able to stand up for something that I believe in. Being able to use my voice and show them that it matters. For them, being able to take part and see that no matter your age, no matter your background, no matter what you’re given in life, that you have the ability to…change something else on your way with the movements that you make. And with the unity and solidarity of like-minded folks.”
Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages
“The personal stories that we tell are what, I think, got us over the finish line and got into people’s hearts and minds to realize, and many people didn’t realize we even were struggling to have sick leave.”
Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages
“Our coalition is grounded in the idea that we have to change the water we swim in. And the only way we’re going to do that is if our institutions are building power for the long haul. And these campaign moments are just opportunities to kind of test our power and win real changes along the way, right? …That grounding for the last ten years, I think is just like, in a way, now just a well-oiled machine that’s still deeply rooted in relationship, but it’s no longer people being like, ‘We’re doing what again? Why is, who decided this?’ And instead it’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s figure this out and let’s be able to work with each other and let’s be honest with each other about what it takes.’”
Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages
“[Winning is] the relationships between organizations, and continuing that work. This is not the only ballot measure we’re going to work on. We’re going to keep moving.”
Missourians for Healthy Families & Fair Wages