Legislature Passes Higher Funding for Sheltered Workshops
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - Legislation that would raise salaries for those working in Missouri's sheltered workshops is on its way to the governor. About 5,600 mentally disabled Missourians are employed in dozens of sheltered workshops. They're paid below minimum wage to perform basic tasks such as shredding documents or packaging products for other companies. The bill would gradually increase the amount the state pays sheltered workshops from $65 per work week for each employee to $95 a week by July of 2010. The measure also gives a bigger preference for sheltered workshops in the state bidding process. The bill's sponsor, Representative Steve Hobbs of Mexico, says the state's payments to sheltered workshops hadn't changed since 1999.
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