Senate Committee Kills ‘Ban the Box’ Bill

Date: May 01, 2017

News Release--Colorado small-business group praises this evening's action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]

DENVER, Colo., May 1, 2017—A committee of the Colorado Senate voted, this evening, to kill the so-called ‘Ban the Box’ bill for the remainder of the session, an action drawing praise from the representative group for the state’s small-business owners.

NOTE TO EDITORS—A 673-word guest editorial on the harmful effects House Bill 1305 would have had on hiring, especially for minority job-applicants, can be read on the NFIB/Colorado webpage. Feel free to use it as content for your publications and/or websites.

“Concerns over workplace security and skyrocketing litigation costs have made pre-employment background checks an essential tool for many businesses—large and small,” testified Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent, before the Senate State Affairs Committee this afternoon. “Background checks also help prevent lawsuits against companies over negligent hiring in cases in which an employee’s actions harm someone else.”

In addition to small businesses not being able to afford the legal and human resource departments that big businesses can, Gagliardi noted another difference between the two, “While proponents will state ‘Ban the Box’ legislation does not prohibit employers from checking on a prospective employee’s background it simply delays the examination of the record, small-business owners often do not have the extra days to wait. When a job opening exists in a small business it must be filled at the earliest opportunity.”

It may have been one insight in particular that swayed senators into voting to kill House Bill 1305, when Gagliardi pointed out, “Advocates for prohibiting employers from asking a job-seeker up front if he or she has ever been convicted of a crime would be dismayed to hear this, but significant research [see editorial] on the issue finds that it ‘doesn’t help many ex-offenders, and actually decreases employment for black and Hispanic men who don’t have criminal records.’ ”

With 350,000 dues-paying members nationwide, including 7,000 in Colorado, NFIB is the nation’s largest and leading small-business association. You can follow NFIB on Twitter, NFIB_CO, or on its web page, www.nfib.com/colorado.

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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.

National Federation of Independent Business/Colorado
1580 Logan St. Suite 520
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6099
www.nfib.com/colorado
Twitter: @NFIB_CO

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