HEADLINES

U.S. Senators Tell CACI that Card-Check Legislation Has Slim Chance for Senate Vote

 

Senate Passes Bill to Resolve Disputes over Sales-and-Use Taxes

 

Bill Granting Tax Credits to Companies to Re-Hire Laid-Off Workers Awaits Action

 

Upcoming CACI Council Meetings

 

 

  

  
 
 

 

Dan Pilcher

CACI Senior Vice President

& Chief Operating Officer

 

Phone: 303.866.9600

 

E-Mail: dpilcher@cochamber.com

 

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

 

 

Colorado’s U.S. Senators Tell CACI Group that Original “Card-Check” Legislation Has Slim Chance for Senate Vote this Year

 

For the second year in a row, CACI has sent a delegation of business leaders to Washington, D.C., in cooperation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to lobby Colorado’s U.S. Senators against the union-advocated, so-called “Employee Free Choice Act“ (EFCA).

 

The CACI delegation first met with Senator Mark Udall and then with Senator Michael Bennett.  Both are Democrats.

 

Senator Udall told the CACI delegation that EFCA is "not going anywhere this year,"
according to Peter O’Connor, CACI Immediate Past President and Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, AngloGold Ashanti NA.


Senator Udall told the CACI members, according to O’Connor, that he "would consider having it (EFCA) come to the Floor (of the Senate) but (the bill would) need to be modified to get the 60 votes needed to get it to the Floor."  In the Senate, 60 votes are needed to end a filibuster by opponents of a bill to bring it before the Senate for a vote.

 

Senator Bennet, Colorado’s junior Senator who faces re-election in November, told the CACI group that the "Original language (of EFCA) is not coming to the Floor" of the Senate, O’Connor reported.

Senator Bennet said that he had conducted collective bargaining from the management side at least half a dozen times, and thus he has an appreciation for how the labor-management collective bargaining system should work, according to O’Connor.  Senator Bennet was Superintendent of Denver Public Schools before being appointed by Governor Bill Ritter to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar, who was appointed by President Barack Obama to head the U.S. Interior Department.

In addition, Senator Bennet said that The Denver Post “. . . claims I don't have a position, which is not correct.  I do have a position.”  He said that he is not comfortable with the original language of EFCA and that he does believe that collective bargaining should be free of intimidation while there is a need to consider “unintended consequences," O’Connor reported.  To read Post editorials about EFCA and Senator Bennet, click on:

 

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_12861996

 

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12159957?IADID=Search-www.denverpost.com-www.denverpost.com


 This year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce worked with state chambers in eight states to send delegations to Washington D.C. as part of its third “Workforce Freedom Airlift” to urge their respective congressional delegations to oppose EFCA.  For more on the U.S. Chamber effort, click on:

 

http://www.uschamber.com/press/releases/2010/march/100302_card.htm

 

The other states participating in this year’s Workforce Freedom Airlift are Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

 

The CACI delegation consisted of the following individuals:

 

Tony DeNovellis, AAA Colorado*

Peter O’Connor, AngloGold Ashanti NA*

Rob LeVine, Antlers at Vail*

Michele Lucero, Centura Health

Tom Flanagan, Citywide Banks*

Donna May Evans, Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce

Lance Landry, CoorsTek

Stacey Campbell, Littler Mendelson

Keith Pearson, McLane

Ann Brown, New Vista Image*

Kevin Reddy, Noodles & Company

Mark Moses, Outback Steakhouse*

Matthew Schmitz, Rocky Mountain Jeans

Denise Reeves, CACI

Sandra Drago, ComCap Asset Management

Tricia Smith, Southwest Airlines

David Dean, Rocky Mountain Clothing*

Robert Smith, Miller International

Leonard Patrick Herron, Herron Enterprises

 

*CACI Board Members

 

Donna May Evans, CEO of the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, presented the following letter to Senators Udall and Bennett on behalf of CACI and 23 local chambers of commerce, which are CACI members.  Here is the text of the letter:

 

We are writing to express our strong opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act

(EFCA), S. 560 and H.R. 1409.  Representing businesses of differing sizes and industries from across the state, we employ hundreds of workers in Colorado.

 

EFCA has three provisions, each of which we oppose.

 

The first provision would require union recognition based on authorization cards signed by a majority of employees. This provision would (a) allow organizing to be conducted in secret, (b) effectively eliminate the secret ballot election, and (c) hinder or even eliminate an employer’s ability to tell his or her side of the story and correct misleading union rhetoric.  Card-check recognition also would effectively disenfranchise workers who oppose unionization and, as courts have repeatedly recognized, is inherently less reliable than traditional election processes for determining whether employees wish to have union representation.

 

The second provision would enable a union seeking a first contract to require an

employer to enter into binding interest arbitration if a collective bargaining agreement was not reached within as little as 130 days.  The government-appointed arbitrator would be able to set all terms of a union contract — not just limited to wages and benefits, but also management-rights clauses, work rules, use of technology and other critically important provisions.  Compulsory interest arbitration is the antithesis of free collective bargaining and would put an arbitration panel in the position of judging which tradeoffs are in the best interests of the employer, union and workers.  No government-appointed arbitrator should have the power to impose a contract that could radically alter an employer’s business model and potentially destroy its competitive advantage and ability to compete in these difficult economic times.  This provision would completely overturn the long-standing principle that the parties are obligated to bargain in good faith but are not compelled to agree to terms they believe will put them in jeopardy.  Employers and workers will lose any opportunity to shape the contract if this provision is enacted.

 

The third provision would significantly increase penalties on employers for certain violations of labor law.  There are significant problems raised by this provision, including the lack of due process in the mandatory reinstatement provision and the conversion of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) from a remedial statute to a punitive one.  Most telling is the fact that the new penalties are imposed for employer violations — but not union violations, which demonstrates the lack of balance in this ill-conceived bill.  It is hard to see how federal law should favor coercion by labor organizations over coercion by employers.

 

Numerous proposals have been floated as potential “compromises” to the above provisions.  In many ways, these so-called compromises are even worse than the original bill and could include elections held within as little as five days, restrictions on an employer’s ability to meet with workers, and access by union organizers to company property.  The simple fact is that there is no compromise on EFCA that will not harm employers’ ability to compete and create jobs, as well as impinge upon the rights of both workers and employers.

 

For these reasons, we urge you to oppose EFCA as well as any procedural votes to bring the issue to the floor, such as a cloture motion in the Senate, that could lead to its passage.

 

Sincerely,

 

  1. Kremmling Chamber of Commerce

  2. Aurora Chamber of Commerce

  3. Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce

  4. Greenwood Village Chamber of Commerce

  5. Boulder Chamber of Commerce

  6. Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce

  7. Greeley/Weld Chamber of Commerce

  8. Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce

  9. Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce

  10. Metro North Chamber of Commerce

  11. Fruita Chamber of Commerce

  12. Montrose Chamber of Commerce

  13. Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce

  14. The Chamber Serving Highlands Ranch

  15. Durango Chamber of Commerce

  16. Granby Chamber of Commerce

  17. Rifle Chamber of Commerce

  18. Frisco Chamber of Commerce

  19. Loveland Chamber of Commerce

  20. West Chamber Serving Jefferson County

  21. Craig Chamber of Commerce

  22. Longmont Chamber of Commerce

  23. Golden Chamber of Commerce

 

Monday’s edition of The Denver Post carried an article about the CACI’s delegation’s trip:

 

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14488917

 

For more information on EFCA, visit the Web site of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

 

http://www.uschamber.com/issues/index/labor/cardchecksecrbal.htm

 

 

Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Resolve Disputes over Sales-and-Use Taxes Paid to Local Governments

 

On Monday, March 22nd, the Senate unanimously passed on Third Reading SB-142 and sent it to the House, where it has been assigned to the House Local Government Committee.  The bill is on the Committee’s agenda when it convenes at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon in Room 111 at the State Capitol.

 

Last summer, the CACI Tax Council worked on a proposal to resolve disputes on sales-and-use taxes paid by taxpayers to local governments.  This proposal was turned into SB-142, which is sponsored by Representative Cheri Gerou (R-Evergreen) and Senator Joyce Foster (D-Denver).

 

This bill amends current statute 29-2-106.1 (2)(a), C.R.S., to provide that the protest period for notice of deficiencies be standardized by municipalities to 30 days.  Current law requires a local government to issue a deficiency notice to a taxpayer when sales-and-use taxes are due.  Since current law does not provide a uniform period that a protest must be filed with a local government, the filing time varies broadly among municipalities.  For example, some cities provide 20 days while others provide 30 days.

 

CACI’s Tax Council and the Colorado Municipal League cooperated on this proposal based on an agreement by the two organizations that this change will help both taxpayers and municipalities in the following ways:

·         SB-142 ensures that taxpayers are on notice that a standard number of days (30) are allowed by each municipality for a taxpayer to protest a notice of deficiency.

·         Many cities have a 20-day protest period, or less, which is too short for a taxpayer to receive an assessment, evaluate the assessment, consult with outside advisors if necessary, prepare a protest, and get it filed.  This bill establishes a time-certain of 30 days for a protest period.

·         The bill aligns with the State of Colorado, which allows 30 days to protest assessments.

·         SB-142 creates consistency for taxpayers who are filing a protest to a deficiency notice when sales and use taxes are due.

 

For more information about this bill, contact Loren Furman, CACI Vice President of Governmental Affairs, at 303.866.8642 or via e-mail at lfurman@COchamber.com

 

 

Bill Granting Tax Credits to Companies to Re-Hire Laid-Off Workers Awaits Action by Senate Appropriations Committee

 

SB-133, which would grant income-tax credits to employers to “incentivize” them to re-hire laid-off workers sooner rather than later, has not yet been scheduled for a hearing by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

 

The Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee approved the bill on a party-line vote on March 16th.  The Senate co-sponsors of the bill are Senator Rollie Heath (D-Boulder) and Senator Chris Romer (D-Denver).  As introduced, the SB-133 would:

·         Apply only to firms that laid off workers during 2009;

·         Apply only to firms that rehire the works sooner than they would have without the tax credit;

·         Apply only when the re-hired worker has been employed for at least one year after the re-hire;

·         Be available to employers for the tax year beginning January 1, 2011;

 

The credit would be equal to a percentage of the employer’s costs for paying the employer’s share of FICA taxes, which is 7.65 percent of an employee’s salary.  For workers rehired between January 1st and April 30th of this year, the credit per worker is equal to 66 percent of the employer’s FICA taxes.  For workers rehired between May 1st and August 31st of this year, the credit is 33 percent.

 

An employer who wants to claim the credit would have to submit an affidavit with his or her tax return saying that:

·         The person rehired during the eligibility period worked for them a year before being laid off and was laid off during last year;

·         Each person rehired has worked for the company for one year since the rehire date; and

·         Were it not for the credit, the firm would not have rehired the individual by the date of re-hire.

 

If the credit amount exceeds the tax liability of the employer, it cannot be refunded to the employer but it can be carried forward and used as a credit on future tax returns for up to five years.

 

The bill is projected to cost the state $5.5 million in fiscal year 2010-2011 beginning July 1st and the same amount the following fiscal year, according to the fiscal note, for a total of $11 million over two years.  The fiscal note acknowledges, however, that “the degree to which rehires of unemployed workers occur sooner than otherwise expressly due to the bill is unknown . . . “  In other words, the bill is built on an assumption for which there is no data.

 

 

Upcoming CACI Council Meetings

 

Council meetings will be held at the CACI Office beginning at 12 Noon.  Members who would like to RSVP for Council meetings should contact Misty Fox, Office Manager, via e-mail at mfox@COchamber.com

 

·         Tax Council, Friday, March 5th, guest is Senator Keith King (R-Colorado Springs), member of the Senate Finance Committee; lunch sponsored by Bill Schroeder, IREA, whose website is www.intermountain-rea.com

·         Governmental Affairs Council, Tuesday, March 9; lunch sponsored by David Rivera, Climax Molybdenum, whose website is www.fcx.com

·         Energy and Environment Council, Thursday, March 11, guest is Senator Greg Brophy (R-Wray); lunch sponsored by Paul Ludwig, Suncor Energy, whose website is www.suncor.com

·         HealthCare Council, Wednesday, March 17, guest is Representative Cindy Acree (R-Aurora), member of the House Health and Human Services Committee; lunch sponsored by Bill Bishop, Lockton Companies LLC, whose website is www.lockton.com

·         Labor and Employment Council, Wednesday, March 24; lunch sponsored by Mark Moses, Outback Steakhouse, whose website is www.outback.com

·         Governmental Affairs Council, Tuesday, March 23; lunch sponsored by Marie Patterson, AngloGold Ashanti N.A., whose website is www.anglogoldashanti.com

 

For the complete meeting schedule of CACI Councils during the legislative session, visit the CACI Web site:

 

http://www.cochamber.com/newsandevents_calendar.asp

  
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