By Ed Sealover A special legislative committee probing rising utility costs questioned several long-standing aspects of Colorado’s rate-setting model Tuesday, including whether for-profit utilities like Xcel Energy should be allowed to make as large a return on investments as they do now. Read More at The Sum & Substance.com
Denver’s mayoral race may have statewide implications on tackling homelessness
By Ed Sealover Denver voters will begin casting ballots this week to elect their next mayor. And while those residents represent just 12% of the state’s population and skew more liberal than Colorado as a whole, their decision could send a far-flung message on homelessness and public safety. Read More at The Sum & Substance.com
Unemployment taxes could fund new labor regulations
By Ed Sealover Colorado legislators are seeking to use a fund that is seeded by unemployment-tax payments from employers to pay for enforcement of several regulatory bills this year — efforts that come as the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund continues to be insolvent. Read More at The Sum & Substance.com
Right to repair could spread to more equipment in Colorado
By Ed Sealover Colorado’s right-to-repair movement, which began last year with wheelchair equipment, could spread this year to agricultural equipment — a decision that will lie with the Colorado Senate. Read More at The Sum & Substance.com
Special committee questions justification for utility rate hikes
By Ed Sealover Colorado legislators on the Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates pressed witnesses during the panel’s first meeting Tuesday on how regulators might determine when requests for rate hikes would not be considered just or reasonable and when they might reject them. Read More at The Sum & Substance.com
What We’re Watching: HB 1224
Women’s History Month Feature: Hanna Skandera
In honor of Women’s History Month and our upcoming Women’s Forum, the Colorado Chamber is recognizing women business leaders, executives, and job creators who are core to our local Colorado communities. Each of the women featured in the month of March are panelists for the Colorado Chamber’s Women’s Forum on March 15. Today’s feature is […]
Businesses poised to get relief from retail delivery fee
BY: ED SEALOVER Supporters of Colorado’s 2021 transportation-funding law have made it clear that they don’t intend to repeal any of the fees that generated much of its opposition. But they are in the process of tweaking one requirement that’s proven especially frustrating to business owners. Read More at The Sum & Substance.com
Legislators kill predictive-scheduling bill
BY: ED SEALOVER Members of a Colorado House committee decisively struck down a bill Thursday that would have upended the ways that restaurants and retailers schedule workers for shifts, saying it could have created significant problems for a restaurant industry that is still trying to recover from myriad coronavirus damages. Read More at The Sum […]
New bill seeks again to change definition of harassment
BY: ED SEALOVER Once again, the Colorado Legislature will consider changing the definition of harassment — and whether that will lead to increased lawsuits — following introduction this week of an updated version of a bill that died in the waning days of the 2021 session. Read More at The Sum & Substance.com