Tomorrow’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing should seriously consider its cost
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, 303-325-6243, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Regional Media Manager, 415-640-5156, [email protected]
DENVER, April 11, 2019—In a correspondence sent, today, to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the state’s leading small-business association has asked for a ‘No’ vote on Senate Bill 188 when the panel convenes for business, tomorrow, Friday, April 12, beginning at 7:30 a.m. in Room LSB B across the street from the State Capitol.
The email from NFIB Colorado State Director Tony Gagliardi also included an analysis of SB 188, Economic Effects of Implementing a Paid Family and Medical Leave Program on the Colorado Economy, conducted by the NFIB Research Center, which forecasted, “that a program financed by an employee-side payroll tax could result in nearly 23,000 lost jobs in Colorado, a cumulative loss of $19.3 billion in real state gross domestic product, a reduction of $3.7 billion in personal income of Colorado residents, and out-migration from the state in excess of 20,000 people.”
In his email to the committee senators, Gagliardi warned that “the costs of the program as stated by proponents in testimony, and by the Fiscal Note preparer, are seriously understated. For that reason, NFIB request you vote NO on the proposal.”
NFIB’s opposition is also attracting media support, The Gazette recently editorialized, “This bill takes a well-meaning philosophy and turns it into a liability for employers and employees that goes too far and is rife for abuse. No other state in the union has anything like the program proposed by SB 188.”
Gagliardi has reminded legislators that more than 70 percent of small-business owners already offer paid leave—and a leave better tailored to the benefit of employees and employers than any state program could ever offer.
“Colorado voters wisely rejected a universal health-care initiative by a huge margin two elections ago, after looking at the true price tag of it,” said Gagliardi. “Colorado’s legislators should do the same with the FAMLI leave bill. The 20 re-writes Senate Bill 188 has gone through should be all the hint anyone needs to see how badly flawed it is.”
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
National Federation of Independent Business/Colorado
1580 Logan St. Suite 520
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6099
www.nfib.com/colorado
Twitter: @NFIB_CO
