down the industry, costing millions in tax
revenue and thousands of jobs. The bill
was introduced and passed quickly in the
Senate, as the drama of the court case
regarding reading bills at length loomed
underneath. This may be considered the
2019 low. Once the bill passed on a party-
line vote, the House Speaker, while moving
quickly, was still able to amend the bill in
a number of ways that gave some more
certainty to the industry. The end result
was better than the introduced version, but
those in the industry are still nervous about
what lies ahead. For now, the ballot wars
that voters of Colorado have seen over the
last number of years seem to have ceased.
Only time will tell if that remains true.
TABOR REFORM
Colorado's infamous Taxpayers Bill
of Rights (TABOR) caps the amount of
money the state can spend each year to the
current budget plus growth and inflation.
Any extra revenue is must be returned to
taxpayers. One bill passed that will ask
voters on the November ballot to let the
state keep any surplus. A companion bill
passed that would allow the state to keep
the excess revenue and split the extra funds
equally between transportation, K-12
education and higher education.
PAID FAMILY LEAVE
This was one of the more hard-fought
pieces of legislation during the session.
With almost every single business group in
the state opposing the bill as introduced,
the end-result of the legislation is one
of the few issues where the business
community's message resonated with
enough legislators to effectuate change and
the bill was reworked. In the end, the bill
was completely rewritten from establishing
a billion-dollar-government insurance
program and mandating very specifically
what that must look like to instead
establishing a task force to study the issue
of implementing a mandatory state family
leave program.
The legislation as introduced would
have affected every single Colorado worker
and employer, mandating they pay into the
system, regardless if there were alternative
benefit plans that were equal or better.
Raising issues of concern including the
price tag needed to pay for implementation
of the program, the length of time of leave
(12-16 weeks), utilization forecasts and how
to maintain solvency won in the end. The
original concept required the state to collect
a premium on each person's paycheck;
with employees and employers sharing the
cost 60-40 (50-50 as introduced). The task
force must do numerous analyses, including
actuarial and feasibility studies, and come
back next year with recommendations for
new legislation that will implement such a
program.
CLIMATE CHANGE
House Speaker KC Becker introduced
and passed legislation setting specific targets
for reducing greenhouse gas emission in
Colorado. The goal is to reduce output 30
percent by 2030 and 90 percent by 2050,
compared to 2005 levels. The legislation
faced opposition in the State Senate but
ultimately went through on a narrow vote.
Colorado regulators will begin rule making
on establishing goals over the summer/fall.
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