Jefferson City, MO  (KTRS)  A Missouri lawmaker wants to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.

State Representative Michael Butler has pre-filed legislation that would raise the state’s minimum wage to that amount. Butler says the state’s current minimum wage of $7.65 an hour has trapped too many Missourians in poverty.

“No one in Missouri should work a full-time job and still be living in poverty. Our core objective as leaders of this state is to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Missouri. I can think of no better way to do that than to increase the minimum wage,” said Butler, D-St. Louis.

He added, “Thousands of Missourians are suffering from, not a lack of work, but from a lack of livable wages. We can do something to help that, and we will.”

Butler’s legislation is HB 1453. Bill pre-filing began in the Missouri House Tuesday, Dec. 1. The 2016 legislative session begins Wednesday, Jan. 6.