Two bills continue to sit in the Missouri Senate that would restore local control over the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, despite last week’s announced agreement between Mayor Francis Slay (D) and the Police Officers Association.
The compromise would give police officers collective bargaining rights, preserve police pensions, and preserve officers’ ranks, salaries and benefits once they become city employees. There would also be a no-strike clause.
House Speaker Steven Tilley (R, Perryville) remains cautiously optimistic that local control will pass this year.
“This thing has made it further than it’s ever made it in the past," Tilley said. "I think a couple of senators are a little uncomfortable with some of the collective bargaining language, but my hope is that it gets done and we return the city police force to the people who pay for it, and that’s the citizens of St. Louis.”
Tilley co-sponsored the House version of the bill.
The Senate version of the local control bill is on the Senate’s calendar for Monday, but there is no guarantee that it will be taken up for debate then.
