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DENVER – The Colorado Chamber of Commerce today announced its “Job Killers” and “Wallet Watchdog” bill lists, identifying eight initial bills on its opposition agenda for the 2026 session. Together, these proposals threaten the state’s business climate, economic opportunity and future growth, while also worsening Colorado’s cost of living crisis.
The Chamber’s “Job Killers” list highlights bills it has identified as harmful to employers across a variety of sectors, from energy industries to manufacturing to health care and more. These proposals would increase regulatory burdens, raise operational costs, and discourage investment and job creation throughout the state.
Through its “Wallet Watchdog” campaign, the Chamber has identified a series of bills that would worsen the state’s affordability crisis. These bills will create new costs and increase consumer prices for hardworking Colorado families.
“Colorado is already one of the most expensive places to live in the country, and our economic competitiveness is declining,” said Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Meghan Dollar. “Employers consistently tell us that the high cost of living is making it harder to attract and retain talent, and the last thing our state needs is legislation that increases costs on businesses and consumers alike. When legislators add new costs and regulatory burdens, it puts jobs and growth at risk while driving up prices across the economy. Colorado lawmakers should be focused on strengthening our business climate and improving affordability, not advancing proposals that threaten both.”
Legislation on the Chamber’s “Job Killers” list includes:
- HB 1054: Creates a duplicative and overcomplicated workplace safety system, adding layers of new regulations and red tape for businesses across all industries. The bill imposes costly and unnecessary compliance burdens, creating barriers to growth and job creation throughout Colorado’s economy.
- SB 81: The bill imposes significant new labor costs on farmers and ranchers who rely on seasonal and time sensitive labor, threatening the sustainability of agricultural operations and rural jobs across the state.
- SB 93: Prohibits local governments from issuing or renewing building permits unless proof of workers’ compensation coverage is provided for all contractors and subcontractors. This unrealistic requirement threatens project delays and creates new barriers to construction, further constraining Colorado’s housing supply and putting construction jobs at risk.
- SB 102: Imposes extensive new requirements on data centers, threatening their development and construction across Colorado. This bill would drive investment in these facilities out of state, and Colorado would lose out on the benefits of constructing data centers along with the jobs these projects create.
Legislation on the Chamber’s “Wallet Watchdog” list includes:
- HB 1005: This revives a previously-failed effort to overhaul Colorado’s longstanding labor laws, making it easier for labor unions to deduct mandatory dues from worker paychecks, whether they vote to support the union or not. With typical union dues ranging from between 1.5% to 3% of take-home pay, this would create significant new costs for many employees.
- HB 1210: This bill would hurt the very consumers it is trying to help by restricting how businesses offer discounts, promotions and loyalty incentives. Limiting these common pricing practices reduces opportunities for savings and would lead to higher costs for consumers.
- HB 1272: This bill places extreme requirements on employers surrounding the temperature of worksites, creating new compliance and litigation costs that will inherently be passed on to consumers and workers.
- SB 41: Disrupts Colorado’s already-strained health care industry by imposing new fees and requirements on mergers and acquisitions, while prohibiting certain transactions altogether. The bill adds a duplicative layer of regulation on top of existing oversight, limiting flexibility in the market and threatening the access and affordability of care, particularly in rural communities.
These campaigns will involve advocacy against legislation by the Chamber’s lobby team, grassroots action alerts and social media engagement. In the 2024 legislative session, the Chamber’s “Job Killers” campaign led to the defeat of all eight bills identified on the list. Building on that momentum, the Chamber launched its first “Wallet Watchdog” campaign in 2025, helping to kill six of the nine bills on the list that would have increased costs on Colorado families and businesses.
Several other potential opposition agenda bills are currently under consideration by Colorado Chamber policy councils for pending bill positions. The Chamber will continue to monitor legislation introduced in the 2026 session and will update the lists as bills move through the legislative process.
Visit https://cochamber.com/oppositionagenda for updates.
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The Colorado Chamber of Commerce champions free enterprise, a healthy business environment and economic prosperity for all Coloradans. It is the only business association that works to improve the business climate for all sizes of business from a statewide, multi-industry perspective. What the Colorado Chamber accomplishes is good for all businesses, and that’s good for the state’s economy. It was created in 1965 based on the merger with the Colorado Manufacturers’ Association.