Legislative Priorities

This bill would have given local governments in Colorado the power to eliminate the $3.02 per hour tip credit that operators use to offset wages for front-of-house, tipped workers. It would only have allowed for decreases or elimination of the tip credit, which would have had significant negative repercussions for the hospitality industry.

CRA Position

Oppose

Sponsors

Representatives Mabrey and Ricks; Senator Winter

Status

DEAD BEFORE INTRODUCTION. The bill sponsor let the CRA know that he will not introduce this bill after all because he did not have the support required to pass it. In fact, Rep. Mabrey specifically cited the concerns and outreach from the CRA and its members as the reasons for his decision to not move forward with the bill.

Thank you to everyone who emailed, called, and met with elected officials to voice opposition to this bill. We couldn’t have beaten it at this early stage without you!

SB24-020, which the Colorado Restaurant Association wrote with the bill’s sponsors, would make the current law allowing alcohol-beverage delivery and takeout permanent, by removing the current law’s July 2025 expiration date.

CRA Position

Support

Sponsors

Senators Roberts and Hinrichsen; Representatives Lindstedt and Pugliese

Status

This bill unanimously passed through the Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Committee on February 1, and passed the Senate Finance committee on February 6. On March 8, it passed out of Senate Appropriations on a 7 – 2 vote. It passed out the Senate with only two no votes on March 15 and unanimously passed through the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee on April 3. Next, it’s scheduled to be heard in House Finance on April 15.

HB24-1439 would create an income tax credit for employers with apprentices.

• For income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2025, but before January 1, 2035, section 1 of the bill creates a refundable state income tax credit (tax credit) that an employer may claim if the employer employs an apprentice for at least 6 months during an income tax year and either has a registered apprenticeship program or is an employer-partner of a registered apprenticeship program.
• The amount of the tax credit is up to $6,300 for 6 months of employment plus up to $1,050 for each consecutive additional month of employment, for a maximum of up to $12,600 per apprentice per income tax year.
• An employer may not claim a credit for:
  • More than 10 apprentices per income tax year;
  • The same apprentice for more than 24 consecutive months; and
  • An apprentice for months when the apprentice did not receive wages from the employer.

CRA Position

Support

Sponsors

Senator Coleman; Representative Willford

Status

Scheduled in House Finance on April 15.

SB24-181 creates the Colorado alcohol impact and recovery enterprise in the department of revenue to:

• Collect a fee from manufacturers and wholesalers that distribute alcohol within Colorado; and
• Use the fee for alcohol and related substance use disorder prevention, early intervention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery services and programs in communities throughout the state.

The bill exempts small manufacturers and wholesale distributors of alcohol based on production and distribution level amounts for which a manufacturer or distributor may pay reduced tax or claim an exemption under federal law.

The bill also:

• Creates the alcohol impact enterprise board and specifies membership and duties of the board; and
• Requires the state auditor to conduct an audit of the enterprise in the 2030-31 state fiscal year and every fourth state fiscal year thereafter.

The bill also exempts the enterprise from the prohibition on an enterprise receiving more than $100,000,000 in revenue in fees in the enterprise’s first 5 fiscal years without first receiving voter approval.

CRA Position

Oppose

Sponsors

Senators Priola and Hansen; Representatives Kennedy & Amabile

Status

Introduced in mid-March, and scheduled in Senate Finance Committee on April 9.

SB24-1373 concerns persons licensed to sell alcohol beverages, and, in connection therewith, eliminating the liquor-licensed drugstore license, updating the requirements for wholesalers, removing the cap on the amount of alcohol beverages a retailer can purchase from retail liquor stores, requiring a fermented malt beverage and wine retailer to display alcohol beverages in a single location on the retailer’s sales floor, expanding certain licensees’ ability to deliver alcohol to certain other licensees, and prohibiting a fermented malt beverage and wine retailer from selling alcohol beverages with greater than fourteen percent alcohol by volume.

CRA bill summary

CRA Position

Amend

Sponsors

Senators Roberts & Will; Representatives Amabile & Ricks

Status

Introduced in mid-March, and scheduled for the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee on April 4.

Sonia testified in a “neutral’’ position on the bill but emphasized the importance of increasing retail-to-retail caps. At least one concerning amendment was added, 005, which would allow local authorities to dictate where products are displayed. The CRA GA team will continue to work with bill sponsors on this amendment.

Passed out of House Business Affairs & Labor Committee on April 4 on a 6-5 vote with six amendments added.

HB24-1220 concerns disability benefits for workers’ compensation injuries, and allows a claimant to refuse an offer of modified employment under certain circumstances, adding the loss of an ear to the list of whole person permanent impairment benefits; replacing the two aggregate limits on temporary and permanent injury benefits with one limit adjusted annually by the director of the division of workers’ compensation; and requiring a workers’ compensation insurer to pay benefits to a claimant by direct deposit upon request.

CRA Position

Monitor

Sponsors

Representative Daugherty; Senator Marchman

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to the House Business Affairs & Labor committee. On February 29, the bill passed that committee and has been assigned to House Appropriations.

HB24-143 concerns credential-assessment tools and integrating frameworks for nondegree credential evaluation and classification into state education and workforce systems and aligning stackable credential pathways and apprenticeship programs with international classification standards.

CRA Position

Amend/Monitor

Sponsors

Senators Coleman and Zenzinger; Representative Herod

Status

The CRA worked to get an amendment that was added during committee to ensure industry associations are specifically named as stakeholders. On February 21, this bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee as amended, on a 6-1 vote. Assigned to Senate Appropriations.

HB24-1260 prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to listen to speech or communications concerning religious or political manners including concerning labor union organization (i.e., prohibits “captive audience” meetings). The bill also creates a private right of action for employees who feel their rights under the bill have been violated.

CRA Position

Monitor

Sponsors

Representatives Duran and Hernandez

Status

This bill has been introduced.

SB24-152 concerns an income tax credit for qualifying food-and-beverage retailers (and restaurants) that source ingredients from local producers practicing regenerative agriculture.

CRA Position

Support

Sponsors

Senators Simpson and Roberts; Representative McCormick

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to the Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee. The CRA testified in support and the bill passed that committee unanimously on March 7. The bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee and referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 19.

SB24-081 would ban the sale and distribution of many products that include added PFAS chemicals, including food packaging in January 2032 and cookware in January 2025.

CRA Position

Amend

Sponsors

Senator Cutter; Representatives Kipp and Rutinel

Status

This bill was introduced in the Business, Labor, & Technology Committee on February 13. The CRA submitted an amendment that would exempt commercial-grade food equipment certified by the National Science Foundation/American National Standards Institute (NSF/ANSI) from both the 2025 and 2032 prohibitions. The bill was rescheduled for the Business, Labor, & Technology Committee for March 12.

The CRA testified in an “amend” position on March 12 when the bill passed out of committee as amended on a 5-2 vote.

Moved through second reading in the Senate on March 22 without our amend language; the bill sponsor did add an amendment on second reading that would push the timeline for commercial cookware and equipment exemptions under this legislation until 2028. On April 4, the bill passed out of House Business Affairs & Labor Committee and was referred to House Committee of the Whole.

HB24-1095 increases various penalty amounts for violations of the Youth Employment Act and indexes those increases to inflation. It also requires the Department of Labor to publicly publish the final order in any violation with the clerk of the court and make the information available via public-record request (with certain protections for the minors personal identifying information).

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Representatives Lieder and Amabile; Senator Sullivan

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Business Affairs & Labor on February 15.

SB24-033 would change the tax treatment of short-term rentals rented for more than 90 days per year from residential to commercial rates.

CRA Position

Oppose. The CRA was asked to formally oppose this bill by the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, and we have conferred with CRA members in our resort community chapters, who have all voiced concern and opposition to the bill.

Sponsors

Senator Hansen; Representative Weissman

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Senate Finance on February 20.

SB24-048 concerns recovery from substance-use disorders, including provisions that limit where liquor-licensed drug stores and fermented malt beverage and wine retailers may display products containing alcohol.

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Senator Priola; Representatives Kennedy and Lynch

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Business, Labor, & Technology on February 8.

HB24-1015 would require the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics in the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment to create and make available to employers suicide-prevention education posters and notices for their workplaces, in addition to requirements that suicide-prevention education be added to handbooks and other notices given to employees.

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Senator Michelsen-Jenet; Representative Vigil

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Business Affairs & Labor and Appropriations, where it is under consideration.

HB24-1014 concerns the elimination of a judicially created requirement that a significant number of consumers be harmed before remedies may be available under the “Colorado Consumer Protection Act.”

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Representatives Weissman, Mabrey; Senator Gonzales

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to the Judiciary Committee on February 7.

HB24-1178 concerns local government authority to regulate pesticides.

CRA Position

Oppose

Sponsors

Representatives Kipp and Froelich; Senators Cutter and Jaquez-Lewis

Status

This bill has been introduced and assigned to Energy & Environment.

HB24-1151 concerns prohibiting certain consumer transactions that do not include all mandatory charges.

CRA Position

Monitoring. The CRA GA team has a meeting with the Attorney General’s office this week because they have flagged a concern with the language we had included in the introduced version of the bill. We have not been given specifics about their concerns but will report back when we know more.

Sponsors

Representative Ricks

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee on January 30.

Passed out of House Business Affairs & Labor Committee as amended, 7-3 vote, in late February, and scheduled for second reading in House Chamber on March 22.

HB24-1129 concerns protections for drivers engaged with delivery network companies (DNC), including requiring a DNC operating in the state to provide various disclosures to its drivers and to consumers of the DNC regarding payments that a consumer makes to the DNC and the amount that the DNC then pays to a driver.

The bill also requires a DNC to provide specified disclosures to the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics in the Department of Labor & Employment regarding the DNC’s operations in the state. The division shall make this information available to the public.

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Representatives Vigil and Mabrey

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Business Affairs & Labor on February 15.

HB24-1156 concerns authorization for holding special events where substances prohibited to minors are served.

CRA Position

Monitoring. Waiting to hear from Liquor Enforcement Division as to why this bill is necessary.

Sponsors

Representatives Harstook and Lindstedt; Senator Smallwood

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to House Business Affairs & Labor.

HB24-073 changes the definition of a small employer for the purposes of purchasing health insurance from 100 employees or more to 50 employees or more.

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Senators Smallwood and Rodriguez; Representative Velasco

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Health & Human Services.

HB24-1028 specifies that the governing body of a municipality, which includes a city, town, and city and county, may authorize the operation of an overdose prevention center within the municipality’s boundaries for the purpose of saving the lives of persons at risk of preventable overdoses.

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Representative Epps; Senator Priola

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Health & Human Services.

SB24-062 concerns the current law permitting a plaintiff in a personal injury case stemming from a tort to claim interest at a rate of 9% on the damages alleged from the date the action accrued until the date the judgment is satisfied. Beginning July 1, 2024, the bill would prohibit a plaintiff’s attorney from collecting attorney contingency fees based on that portion of the ultimate damages award attributable to the 9% interest.

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Senator Gardner

Status

This bill was introduced and assigned to Judiciary.

HB24-1065 reduces both the individual and the corporate state income-tax rates from 4.40% to 4.0%. The bill also exempts the rate reductions from the existing statutory requirements that tax expenditure legislation include a tax preference performance statement in a statutory legislative declaration and repeal after a specified period of tax years.

CRA Position

Monitoring

Sponsors

Representatives Bottoms and Pugliese; Senator Kirkmeyer

Status

The bill was introduced and assigned to House Finance.