HB-1269, “Remedies in Employment Discrimination Cases,” Dies on Tie Vote in the House on Second Reading

Yesterday, HB-1269, sponsored by Representative Claire Levy (D-Boulder), died on a tie 32-32 vote in the House on the Second Reading vote. CACI opposed this bill, which also had been named a priority for defeat by the CACI Governmental Affairs Council.

The bill would have established the “Workplace Fairness and Civil Rights and Remedies Act of 2010.” The bill would have allowed additional remedies of compensatory and punitive damages in employment discrimination cases brought under Colorado law. Under current law, plaintiffs who win employment discrimination and other types of employment claims can recover actual economic damages, such as lost wages.

CACI appreciates the efforts of the House members who opposed the bill. The minority-party Republicans present unanimously opposed HB-1269. They were joined by five majority-party Democrats--Representatives Joe Rice (Centennial), Jim Riesberg (Greeley), Christine Scanlan (Dillon), Wes McKinley (Walsh) and Ed Casso (Commerce City)—and one Independent, Representative Kathleen Curry (Gunnison). One Republican member, Representative Jerry Sonnenberg (Sterling), was absent.

Members of the Governmental Affairs Council that actively worked with CACI to defeat this bill included: Waste Management, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Colorado Civil Justice League, Colorado Auto Dealers Association, Colorado Retail Council, Colorado Motor Carriers Association, West Chamber Serving Jefferson County, Metro North Chamber of Commerce and the Arvada Chamber of Commerce. Other business organizations, such as the Colorado Civil Justice League, which is mutually affiliated with CACI, opposed the bill. CACI member DeFilippo Rees Robinette LLC, a lobbying organization, worked against the bill on behalf of a client, the Colorado Stone, Sand and Gravel Association.

The CACI Governmental Affairs Council’s concerns with HB-1269 included the following:

• The bill would have made it more lucrative for both the plaintiff and his or her attorney to file lawsuits against Colorado employers, which would have encouraged more lawsuits against employers.
• Small companies don’t have human resources departments to avoid the many litigation traps they face every time they make a decision to hire, promote or fire an employee. Additionally, small firms often do not have the resources to defend these cases--even meritless cases--and may thus be incentivized to settle early rather than defend themselves, thereby encouraging more claims.
• Large companies with 15 or more employees already face most, but not all, of the bill’s expanded penalties under Federal law. HB-1269 would have led to "forum shopping" in employment cases.
• The new employment-related case load, which this bill would have created, would have further slowed down State courts--where little employment litigation now takes place--and would have cost taxpayers.
• Although the General Assembly this session says it is encouraging new-jobs creation, this bill would have encouraged new lawsuits that would have made it more costly for employers to hire new workers or re-hire laid-off workers.

For an article yesterday on the bill by Ed Sealover, statehouse reporter for The Denver Business Journal, click here:

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/04/12/daily49.html 

For further information on the bill, contact Loren Furman, CACI Vice President of Governmental Affairs, at 303.866.8642 or via e-mail at lfurman@COchamber.com or Larry Hudson, CACI contract lobbyist, at 303.249.4234 or via e-mail at larry@hudsonga.com 

House Finance Committee Chair Again Lays Over Bill to Eliminate Enterprise-Zone Investment Tax Credits and Bill to Suspend Credits for Two Years

On Wednesday afternoon, House Finance Committee Chair Joel Judd (D-Denver) again laid over HB-1396, which he is sponsoring, that would eliminate the state’s enterprise-zone program, which is a major tool of state and local economic developers.

Representative Judd also laid over HB-1200, which caps the enterprise-zone investment tax credit at $250,000 per taxpayer for income tax years beginning 2011 through 2013 and requires the taxpayer to defer claiming any amount above $250,000 to tax year 2014. (See the next article for greater detail about HB-1200.)

CACI Sends Letters to Legislative Leaders Urging Opposition to Eight Anti-Business Bills

On Tuesday, CACI President Chuck Berry sent a letter to each of the four legislative leaders—Senate President Brandon Shaffer (D-Longmont), Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry (R-Grand Junction), House Speaker Terrance Carroll (D-Denver) and House Minority Leader Mike May (R-Parker)—urging them to oppose eight bills that CACI deems harmful to the state’s business climate. (One of the bills, HB-1269, mentioned in the letters, died in the House yesterday, and its demise was described above.) Here is the text of the letters:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry (CACI), I am writing you to express CACI’s concerns with eight bills that we view as harmful to Colorado’s business climate.

Two of these bills will increase business taxes while the other six will add more costs to the bottom line for firms with unnecessary mandates in such areas as economic development incentives, workers’ compensation insurance, taxation, health insurance and employment law.

Earlier this session, the legislature increased businesses taxes as Colorado companies are struggling to emerge from the economic recession. In February, the legislature approved, and Governor Bill Ritter signed into law, nine bills that increase taxes on businesses by $231.3 million for the 28 months beginning March 1, 2010.

Two bills of particular concern are scheduled for a vote tomorrow in the House Finance Committee. If enacted, these bills would severely damage Colorado’s economic development efforts to recruit new companies to our state and to retain the ones that are here now.

The first bill is HB-1396, sponsored by Representative Joel Judd, Chair of the House Finance Committee. This bill would eliminate Colorado’s enterprise-zone tax credits, thus eliminating the most important tool used by state and local economic development officials.

HB-1396 is opposed not only by CACI but by numerous companies, local chambers of commerce and local economic development organizations. This bill would increase taxes on businesses located in enterprise zones by $37.4 million in fiscal year 2010-2011 and by $77 million in fiscal year 2011-2012 for a total of $114.4 million over the two fiscal years.

It is often stated that Colorado has relatively few tools in its economic-development toolbox when compared to the other states, including those that surround us and are our most important competitors in the competitive struggle for jobs and economic growth. HB-1396 takes aim at one of the most important economic development tools that Colorado possesses.

The second bill is HB-1200, which caps the enterprise-zone investment tax credit at $250,000 per taxpayer for income tax years beginning 2011 through 2013 and requires the taxpayer to defer claiming any amount above $250,000 to tax year 2014. If the taxpayer has to defer credit exceeding $250,000, the bill allows the taxpayer to carry the credit forward for 12 income-tax years after the year that the credit was allowed plus an additional year for the years that the taxpayer could not take the credit above $250,000.

Currently, any depreciable equipment purchased and used within an enterprise zone is eligible for a three percent tax credit. The credit may be used up to $5,000 of the taxpayer’s tax liability plus fifty percent of the taxpayer’s liability above $5,000. Here are CACI’s major concerns with the HB-1200:

• Because HB-1200 caps the enterprise zone credit at $250,000, it will hurt companies that invest millions of dollars in equipment to operate their business;
• If this legislation is adopted, the unfortunate, likely result will be that companies will not invest in new equipment until the full credit is available again in three years; and
• By capping this credit at $250,000 for three years, companies may either be discouraged from locating in Colorado until the full credit is available or will look to locate and invest in other states that offer a higher enterprise-zone credit.

In addition to these proposals, I also want to call your attention to the following six currently pending bills that CACI believes will be harmful to the state’s business climate:

• SB-12 (Violations of the Workers’ Compensation Laws)
• SB-76 (Unreasonable Insurance Claims Practices)
• HB-1269 (Employment Discrimination)
• HB-1012 (Workers’ Compensation Surveillance)
• HB-1350 (Economic Development Incentives)
• HB-1263 (Limit Deductions on Compensation)

In general, laws that mandate restrictions on businesses in the labor-and-employment and health-care areas, simply drive up the cost-of-doing-business in Colorado for companies and make our state less competitive with other states.

In conclusion, CACI urges you to focus on policies that encourage job retention--sustaining the private-sector jobs we have now--and lay the groundwork for Colorado’s economic recovery where we will be restoring lost jobs and creating new jobs for our workforce.

On behalf of business leaders across the state, we urge you to make sure that the bills that I have listed above do not become law and cause significant damage to our state’s business climate.

CACI members with questions about these bills should contact Loren Furman, CACI Vice President of Governmental Affairs, at 303.866.8642 or via e-mail at lfurman@COchamber.com 

Health-Care Bills Roundup

Note: the following section was written by Dan Anglin, CACI Governmental Affairs Representative.

Representative Roberts Sums Up Health-Care Debate: “The Government Needs a Reality Check”

The HealthCare Council yesterday held its final meeting of the session. The guest speaker was Representative Ellen Roberts (R-Durango). Representative Roberts expressed disappointment in the passing of the Federal health-care bill, which does not address the issue of containing costs for purchasers of health insurance. She recommended that citizens “push back harder, even within their own party” to demand that true health-care reform continue to be in the forefront of State and Federal governmental debate next year.

Representative Roberts recommended that anyone who is interested in understanding how the Federal Health Care Act will be implemented should review the summaries prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which can be found at:

http://healthreform.kff.org

The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private-operating foundation focusing on health-care issues in the United States. The Kaiser Family Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.

Representative Roberts recommended that leaders of the Colorado business community have small “windows of opportunity” to effect change before the implementation of many of the individual measures of the Federal health care law and that CACI should “ look for places to insert yourself into the conversation and bring the rest of Colorado with you.”

She expressed disappointment in the many health-care bills being heard in the Colorado General Assembly that have the same or similar language as the new Federal law, but would be enacted sooner and would be more restrictive. Specifically, she expressed disappointment that the discussion surrounding HB-1160, “Wellness Incentives,” (the only bill that the HealthCare Council took a position to support this session) has been surrounded by misconceptions and met with such resistance. Representative Roberts noted that HB-1160 is the only bill this session that will reduce the cost for employers and workers to purchase health insurance and is disappointed that the effort to get support from the majority party has been so difficult.

Representative Roberts encouraged the HealthCare Council to continue to be engaged in the health-care reform discussion and suggested that CACI reach out to its membership to determine how to be more involved next year, regardless of the outcome of the November elections. She informed the Council that one of her goals is to find a way to “remove employers from the picture” in the discussion of purchasing or providing health insurance to Coloradoans, but she understands that there are many other obstacles to overcome before that is a real part of health-care reform.

Measure to Provide Wellness Incentives Passes Senate Committee

HB-1160--sponsored by Senator Linda Newell (D-Centennial), Senator Shawn Mitchell (R-Broomfield), Representative Joe Rice (D- Centennial), and Representative Amy Stephens (R-Monument)--passed the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee on Wednesday. Senator Michael Johnston (D-Denver) offered three amendments to the bill, which were adopted by the Committee, that require:

• All health plans to offer wellness incentives to all persons, including dependants;
• All wellness plans to contain culturally and linguistically appropriate programs and materials; and
• Health-insurance carriers must provide documentation to the Colorado Division of Insurance that incentives are paid from the costs savings realized as a result of a covered person attaining a standard related to a health-risk factor.

CACI is opposed to the amendments added by the Committee and will work with Senator Johnston to find a better solution than that which was adopted.

HealthCare Council Bill-Status Update

Following is the current status of the HealthCare Council’s priority bills:

• HB-1160, “Wellness Incentives.” Support. Senate Second Reading, Monday April 19th.
• HB-1166, “Plain Language in Insurance Policies.” Neutral. House considered Senate amendments on April 1st; result was to re-pass.
• HB-1168, “Subrogation.” Oppose. Awaiting House consideration of Senate amendments.
• HB-1330, “All-Payer Database.” Neutral. Senate Appropriations Committee, Friday April 23;
• HB-1234, “Fair Settlement Insurance Claims.” Oppose. Awaiting House Second Reading.
• SB-76, “Unreasonable Insurance Claims Practices.” Oppose. Not yet calendared in House Judiciary Committee.

For information on health-care bills, contact Dan Anglin, CACI Governmental Affairs Representative, at 303.866.9641 or via e-mail at danglin@COchamber.com 

Five Pinnacol Bills Await Senate Action 

Of the seven Pinnacol Assurance bills recommended by the legislature’s interim Pinnacol committee last year, five that are of interest to CACI are still in play under the Gold Dome.

HB-1012, “Limiting Surveillance of Workers’ Compensation Claims,” sponsored by Senator Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora), remains in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which she chairs, but has not yet been scheduled for a vote. CACI and other business organizations strongly oppose HB-1012 in its current form.
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Two weeks ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent the following three bills to the Senate Floor for Second Reading:

• HB-1009, “Pinnacol Assurance Board of Directors,” sponsored by Representative Joe Miklosi (D-Denver) and Senator Mary Hodge (D-Brighton);

• SB-11, “Disclosure of Workers’ Compensation Conflicts of Interest,” sponsored by Senator Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) and Representative Miklosi; and

• SB-12, “Penalties on Worker’s Compensation Benefits,” sponsored by Senator Lois Tochtrop (D-Thornton) and Representative Sal Pace (D-Pueblo).

The Committee sent a fourth bill, SB-13, “Workers’ Compensation Accountability,” sponsored by Senator Hodge and Representative Su Ryden (D-Aurora), to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which this morning passed the bill, sending it to the Senate Floor for Second Reading.

Last week, the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee killed on a bipartisan, seven-to-four vote one of the Pinnacol bills, HB-1356, when two Democrats joined the minority Republicans to oppose the bill. CACI opposed the bill. HB-1356, sponsored by Representative Su Ryden (D-Aurora), would have limited the amount of Pinnacol’s risk-based capital that it keeps in reserve and require Pinnacol to annually return the excess to businesses that hold Pinnacol workers’ compensation insurance policies.

For more information on the Pinnacol bills, contact Loren Furman at 303.866.9642 or via e-mail at lfurman@COchamber.com or Dan Anglin, CACI Governmental Affairs Representative, at 303.866.9641 or via e-mail at danglin@COchamber.com

CACI Councils Status Report

Click here to view a status report on the bills that CACI Councils have taken a position on.

CACI’s Christine Gavin: Motherhood Beckons . . .

Christine Gavin has decided not to return to work at CACI following the birth of her daughter, Grace Annette, on February 2nd. Grace weighed seven pounds, 15 ounces, and was 20 and one-half inches long. Well known to many CACI members, Christine worked in the CACI Membership Department for the last seven years. She joined CACI in March 2000. We wish Christine and her husband, Patrick Gavin, the very best as they embark on this new, happy chapter in their lives as parents. And we thank her for her many years of devoted service to CACI. Christine can be reached at cngavin@me.com 

Upcoming CACI Council Meetings  

Council meetings will be held at the CACI Office beginning at 12 Noon. These will be the last Council meetings held during the 2010 session of the Colorado General Assembly, which must adjourn sine die by Wednesday, May 12th.