Four bills that could've harmed business owners fail to pass state Senate.
Minimum Wage Hike, Paid Sick Leave Defeated in Colorado Legislature
Colorado small business owners avoided a host of headaches when the Legislature killed four bills that could have harmed their livelihoods. Here’s a quick overview of the bills that business owners won’t have to worry about this legislative session.
Senate Bill 114: The legislation would have allowed all employees to accrue paid sick leave. Not only that, it would’ve permitted workers to bank leave, so any unused time could be carried over to the following year. This could have left small businesses shorthanded in some instances while also facing higher costs, NFIB Colorado State Director Tony Gagliardi said. “For small businesses to be short workers on a moment’s notice creates a real impediment for a business to get product out the door,” he said.
Senate Bill 33: The bill would have required restaurants that don’t offer paid sick leave to post a public notice of their policy in their window. “That was an insane piece of legislation,” Gagliardi said.
Senate Bill 54: Minimum wage remains a hot-button issue, and Colorado lawmakers were sucked into the debate. This legislation would have allowed local governments to raise their wages above the state level. “That creates a competitive disadvantage for some local governments,” Gagliardi said. Cities with higher minimum wages would lose business to other cities, which would “destroy economic development,” Gagliardi said.
Senate Bill 96: This bill would have restarted a commission on pay equity commission. The commission was established in 2010 under the Department of Labor, but re-forming it could have eventually hampered business owners with unnecessary costs, Gagliardi said.
