| With the COVID-19 omicron variant and job shortages affecting Colorado, it’s no surprise this year’s legislative session is off to a slow start. The Chamber has several priorities for this session on our radar, but we have yet to see any major developments.
One of the top priorities for the Chamber this session is the legislative take on the Employee Traffic Reduction Program considered by the Air Quality Control Commission last summer. Legislators are considering putting forth a bill to reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road, which would require employers to hire staff to monitor, track and regulate when and which employees can drive their personal vehicles to work. At a time when Colorado employers are already struggling to fill their vacant positions, this is a burden that should not be placed on employers, let alone a restriction on the employee’s right to use their personal vehicle for work transit. We support incentivizing employers and employees to take other modes of transportation. That’s why we support House Bill 1026 which offers employers an income tax credit for providing alternative transportation options to their employees. Legislation that requires employers to mandate whether employees can drive to and from work goes too far. Read the op-ed we wrote in today’s Colorado Politics for more insight.
The Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund (UITF) is another one of our top priorities for 2022. Before the pandemic, Colorado had a UITF reserve of over $1 billion, but over the course of the last three years, those funds have been spent, and the state has had to borrow an additional $1 billion from the federal government to pay unemployed workers. Restoring the UITF to solvency is a cost employers stand to bear alone unless the legislature acts. The Chamber supports the use of federal recovery dollars to restore the fund’s balance and incentivize hiring rather than taxing employers, and in actuality, employment, to replenish the fund.
Another major priority for the Chamber this year is preserving the compromise agreed upon through the Labor Peace Act. Legislators have considered introducing a bill that would allow public sector employees to unionize. The Chamber is closely monitoring this issue over concerns that it would jeopardize the state’s carefully crafted Labor Peace Act, where a unique and intentional labor status gives employees the freedom to organize or the freedom to refrain from organizing should they choose.
We’ll be sure to keep you up to date if and when these and other issues start landing on legislators’ desks as bills. We know the excitement is still to come! |
