In this Capitol Report:
Recap of Labor & Employment Council Meeting
This week, the Colorado Chamber Labor & Employment Council had the opportunity to listen to a presentation by Jeff Riester, Director of Legislative Affairs and Assistant Attorney General, at the Department of Law, Office of Attorney General. Jeff has served in the role since Dec 2019 and helps develop and manage the Attorney General’s legislative agenda and provides other state departments legal and legislative advice.
Jeff shared an overview of House Bill 1119 known as the False Claims Act introduced this legislative Session. He shared the intent of the bill of mitigating unemployment insurance fraud and other types of fraud and the opportunity for the State to receive federal stimulus funds for these purposes. The Colorado Chamber staff with the help of the US Chamber and other Chamber members, provided a list of concerns to the bill and the AG’s office shared their willingness to work with the Colorado Chamber to address those concerns through amendment language.
Jeff also provided an update on the data privacy rulemaking process to implement the Data Privacy Act that was adopted into law last year. The Attorney General’s Office will be convening small stakeholder meetings on that process soon and will be working closely with the CO Chamber which developed a large coalition of its members on this issue starting in 2019.
The Council also took positions on several bills during the meeting as follows:
HB 1152 – Adverse Action by Employers MJ Use [Oppose]
SB 66 – Restore Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund [Support]
HB 1098 – Barriers to Regulated Professions [Oppose as introduced – amendments expected]
SB 97– Whistleblower Protections [Oppose]
SB 99 – Sealing Criminal Records [Oppose as introduced]
SB 1100 – Prohibit Discrimination by Employers Covid-19 Vaccination [Oppose]
HB 1144 – Naturally acquired immunity Covid 19
HB 1112 – Work Comp notice bill [Neutral]
HB 1216 Restrictive Employment Agreements [Oppose as introduced]
SB 115 – Clarifying Terms of Premises Liability [Support]
Please contact Larry Hudson at [email protected] or Loren Furman at [email protected] with any questions regarding this recap.
The Labor & Employment Council meets again on March 16th at noon – 1:15p.m. Please RSVP to Laura Moss at [email protected].
Colorado Rural Electric Association (CREA) Convenes Annual Meeting
This week, CREA held a three-day Annual Conference which included electric coop representatives and leaders across the State. The Colorado Chamber is grateful for the 18 year partnership with CREA and has worked closely with CREA on many energy related laws and regulations. Loren Furman was honored to speak at the Annual Meeting and share some of the policy issues that are moving through the legislative process and the impact to the electric coops.
About CREA: The CO Rural Electric Association represents and serves Colorado’s 22 electric cooperatives that do distribute electricity and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which generates the electricity for 17 of the state’s 22 co-ops. In total, CREA’s member cooperatives serve nearly 1.5 million rural electric consumers in Colorado.
Save the Dates: Upcoming Policy Council Meetings
Governmental Affairs Council – Feb. 22nd
- Guest Speaker: Eve Lieberman, Chief Policy Advisor for Governor Jared Polis
- Discussion of Governor Polis’ 2022 policy priorities
Energy & Environment Council – Feb 23rd
- Guest Speakers: Shaun McGrath, Director of Environmental Health & Protection, CDPHE & Michael Ogletree, Air Division Director, CDPHE
- Discussion of 2022 legislation and CDPHE priorities for air and environment
Visit our online calendar for the complete schedule of council meetings.
Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Laura Moss at [email protected] or (303) 866-9652 for more information.