Colorado Legislative Strategies Updates 2.3.23

COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER 
February 3, 2023

​Introduction
 
There was an important vote this week, and unfortunately it wasn’t the result that many people wanted. Sometimes, everything comes down to one key vote. Maybe it’s the Governor, maybe it’s a pivotal member of a committee, or maybe it’s the world’s most famous marmot. 
 
Punxsutawney Phil emerged from a tree stump Thursday morning to cast the deciding vote on how much longer winter will last. Tradition says that North America will get six more weeks of winter if Phil sees his shadow and an early spring if he does not. 
 
Groundhog Day is nearly as old as Colorado itself. Every year since 1887, people have adorned top hats and looked to a groundhog to tell us when we can expect spring. Even though Phil has only been correct about 40 percent of the time lately, the tradition still continues. 
 
Hopefully this will be one of the years when Phil gets it wrong. Sadly, Phil saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. But spring can’t come soon enough for everyone in Colorado – this has been one of the coldest and snowiest Januarys in the last 20 years.
 
As the legislative session heats up, hopefully the weather will do the same. We are nearly one-quarter of the way through the entire session. Now let’s dive into some news from this week and take a look at some of the some of the bigger bills that have been introduced.

​This Week
 
This week started off with a new member of the General Assembly. Kyle Brown was selected last weekend by the Democratic House District 12 vacancy committee. Representative Brown won overwhelmingly on the first ballot. This put an official end to the short-lived overall majority of women legislators for this session. With former Representative Tracy Bernett it was 51-49 favoring women but it’s now an even 50-50 split. 
 
Representative Brown intends to resign his position with the Division of Insurance and his seat on the Louisville City Council. Several new legislators this year have come directly from city councils and all except Junie Joseph (Boulder City Council) are resigning from those seats to serve in the General Assembly. Lastly, Representative Brown was put on the Health & Insurance and State Affairs committees. 
 
As the legislature returns to full-membership, the legislative process is really getting rolling. This week, several bills marked the milestone of passing out of the first chamber. Here are the bills that have already made it through committee hearing, second reading, and third reading:

• House Bill 1001 Expanding Assistance For Educator Programs
• House Bill 1004 Language Access In Insurance Documents
• House Bill 1006 Employer Notice Of Income Tax Credits
• House Bill 1028 Name Badge For Former Member Of General Assembly
• House Bill 1033 Alternate Defense Counsel Contracts
• House BIll 1043 Emergency And Continued Placement With Relative Or Kin
• House Bill 1045 Employee Leave For Colorado National Guard Service
• House Bill 1049 Enactment Of CRS 2022
• House Bill 1052 Mod Prop Tax Exemption For Veterans With Disab
• House Bill 1053 Veterans' Cemetery Department of Public Safety Gifts Grants Donations
• House Bill 1058 Child-occupied Facility Lead-based Paint Abatement
• House Bill 1072 Civil Defense Worker Compensation
• Senate Bill 010 Water Resources And Agriculture Review Committee
• Senate Bill 019 Out-of-state Online Retail Vehicle Purchases
• Senate Bill 048 Non-tenured Track Faculty
• Senate Bill 051 Conforming Workforce Development Statutes

 
In addition to all the floor work, several legislators attended a press conference this week to unveil Senate Bill 97, which seeks to crack down on car thefts by no longer looking at the cost of the car to determine the level of offense. Under the bill, stealing any vehicle would be a class 5 felony offense. In attendance to show their support were Democratic and Republican legislators, prosecutors, police chiefs, and mayors. Governor Polis also endorsed the measure. 
 
All the discussion about increasing criminal penalties might make you feel like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day. Last year, the debate over whether or not to increase criminal penalties around the drug fentanyl consumed much of the oxygen in the waning days of session. Even after all of that, multiple legislators this week introduced bills to make changes to last year’s law. 
 
Speaker Pro tem Chris Kennedy is bringing House Bill 1167, which deals with the Good Samaritan and affirmative defense provisions on House Bill 22-1326. This is supposed to encourage individuals to contact police when there is an overdose by giving them immunity from prosecution. Coming from the other side, House Minority Leader Mike Lynch is bringing House Bill 1164, which would eliminate the requirement that an individual “knowingly” possess fentanyl. 
 
Lastly, this week also included several committee hearings. One bill of note passed out of committee with a unanimous vote. Senate Bill 066 reauthorizes the advanced industry acceleration programs. This is an important bill for economic development in the state, it helps companies attract follow-on capital, and it creates good jobs. The bill will next be up in the Finance committee.
 
Bills
 
So far, we’ve seen 282 bills introduced – 171 in the House and 111 in the Senate. One of the biggest takeaways so far is that it’s a bad 120 days to be a landlord or an employer. Here are some of the bigger and more-controversial bills that have been introduced:
 
House Bill 1118 Fair Workweek Employment Standards 
Arguably one of the worst employer bills we’ve seen this year (so far) is the fair workweek bill. The bill places requirements related to scheduling on businesses with 250 employees or more. Even if a business only has five employees in Colorado, and the other 245 employees are in a different state, the bill would still apply to that business. The bill requires an employer to provide a work week schedule to employees with two weeks’ advance notice. If the employer makes certain changes to an employee’s schedule, the employer must provide additional pay to that employee. The employer must keep records that reflect their compliance with the bill, and an employee may bring a civil action against the employer if a violation occurs. 
 
Senate Bill 098 Gig Work Transparency
This bill places transparency requirements on companies such as Instacart, Lyft, and Uber. Essentially, the bill as drafted would require these companies to provide disclosures to their drivers and customers related to the payment a customer makes to the company, and how much of that payment is then given to the driver. The bill also calls for transparency requirements related to termination processes. The bill would require transparency in how a decision is made that a driver is terminated, and allows a terminated driver to seek administrative review after being terminated.
 
Senate Bill 105 Ensure Equal Pay for Equal Work
This bill creates requirements for employers while in the process of hiring a new employee. The bill differentiates between “job opportunity” (a position with a vacancy), “career progression” (a promotion based on seniority or other specifics), “career development” (a promotion), and a “promotional opportunity” (anticipated vacancy in which a current employee would be considered). The bill requires the employer to post each job opportunity and promotional opportunity to all employees, disclose the hourly or salary compensation for that job listing, and disclose when a position is filled. 
 
Senate Bill 111 Public Employees’ Workplace Protection
Not to be confused with collective bargaining from last year, this bill puts additional protections in place for public employees. Specifically, the bill ensures that an employer cannot retaliate against an employee who raises concerns about the workplace. Additionally, it allows public workers to discuss workplace issues and participate in the political process while off-duty, and join or form employee organizations. 
 
House Bill 1115 Repeal Prohibition Local Residential Rent Control 
The moment we’ve all been waiting for… the rent control bill has dropped and is set to be heard in committee on February 15th. Currently, Colorado statute prohibits local governments from enacting an ordinance that would control the cost of rent. The bill repeals that, authorizing local governments to take measures that would control the cost of rent in that municipality or county.  
 
Next Week
 
Next week is another week of excitement. Starting out the week will be House Bill 1011, or Consumer Right to Repair Agricultural Equipment, which is set to be heard in the House Ag committee on Monday. This will be Rep. Titone’s third right to repair bill. Her first run at a right to repair bill was in 2021, but was killed in its first committee. Since then, she has taken an incremental approach, last year was wheelchairs and this year it’s agricultural equipment’s turn. On Thursday, House Bill 1127, or Customer’s Right to Use Energy, is set to be heard in House Energy and Environment. The bill would save our gas stoves and guarantee Colorado energy customers have access to all the energy sources Colorado has to offer. This is a bill that has run several years in a row and is back for consideration again. Maybe it’s still Groundhog Day…
 
Have a good weekend.