Nixon vetoes bill to impose restrictions on public-sector union dues

[Sherman A1]

Missouri labor leaders were swift to laud Gov. Jay Nixon within minutes after he announced Tuesday that he had vetoed SB29, a bill that would have barred public employers – including school boards and the city of St. Louis – from deducting union dues from members’ paychecks without annual authorization.

The bill would have required a separate annual authorization before dues money could be spent on political activities.

Nixon noted in his veto that the members already can change their authorizations at any time, and said that SB29 was actually about “singling out union dues…for no beneficial purpose.”

The governor, a lawyer and former attorney general, also questioned the constitutionality of the measure’s provision that exempted police, firefighters and other first-responders. Nixon wrote that the exemptions amounted to “disparate treatment to similarly situated people,’’ which he said violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection clause.

https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/31587/paycheck_sb29_veto_062513