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State Legislature Strikes Funding
....Not content just to say they don’t want enforcement of proposed new labor laws funded with unemployment taxes, opponents of the idea convinced the Colorado Senate Monday to strike such funding from a bill and ban similar uses of Employment Support Fund money in the future.
....Senate Bill 232, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Rachel Zenzinger of Arvada and Republican Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton, is an “orbital bill” to the state budget bill, meaning it’s meant to tweak aspects of state law in line with the $38.5 billion fiscal plan the Senate passed last week. ....
....Specifically, the proposal is meant to bring the 33-year-old ESF in line with federal law on the use of unemployment taxes and cap the amount of money going into the fund moving forward.
Unemployment Tax Revenues
Hospital Costs, Spending Under Fire
....Colorado legislators are questioning how Colorado hospitals charge fees to patients and how they spend their money, putting health-care facilities in a defensive position this session as they look to justify their business models at a time when expenses are outpacing revenue growth.
....On Friday, the House Health and Insurance Committee passed on a fully partisan vote a bill that would bar hospitals from charging certain facility fees, would require providers to give patient notice and itemized bills when such fees are assessed and would fund a study on the fees. And on Wednesday, another House committee will debate a proposal to require nonprofit hospitals invest a minimum of 3% of their net patient revenues into community benefits while imposing a definition of benefits that would prevent them from including charity care and Medicaid underpayment as benefits.
....Hospitals have faced several tough years, first experiencing widespread labor shortages as many professionals burned out during the first year of the pandemic and then recording decreases in operating margins last year due to rising costs of goods and services. Still, Gov. Jared Polis, who has focused on reducing health-care costs since 2019, accused them of “overcharging” patients in his State of the State Address this year and signaled a desire to find new ways to limit costs.
Hospital Costs Tax Revenues
Construction Defects Fight At Capitol
....Colorado homebuilders and advocates for increased condominium construction are fighting a two-part battle at the Legislature over the resurrected issue of construction-defects reform — putting them both on the defensive on and the offensive on the long-debated subject.
....On one hand, they are seeking changes to House Bill 1192, a bill to remove some restrictions on use of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act in ways that could allow more plaintiffs with individual claims to seek bigger damages by categorizing disputes as violations of deceptive trade practices. As written, the bill could elevate defects claims on single-family homes to being as lucrative for attorneys to press as multifamily claims under the Construction Defect Action Reform Act, which played a big part in practically shutting down condo building in the state.
Construction Defects
General Assembling Debating Budget
.... Colorado General Assembly is focused on debating and passing the state’s $38.5 billion 2023-24 budget bill, but with a little over a month left in the legislative session, major legislation is still in the works behind the scenes. On Monday of next week, the Senate Committee of Education will hear Senate Bill 205, a key component to bolstering our state’s workforce pipeline.
ent Tax ReSB 205, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bridges, Sen. Paul Lundeen, Rep. Matthew Martinez, and Rep. Don Wilson, was announced earlier this month as part of a series of workforce initiatives from the governor’s office and legislative leadership. It’s a $25 million bipartisan proposal to fund scholarships to eligible students for postsecondary education and workforce training opportunities. This includes apprenticeships, certificates, on-the-job training, and two- and four-year degrees.
The scholarship will support students’ pathway to a strong career by:
- Reducing financial barriers to a wide selection of postsecondary opportunities.
- Connecting graduating seniors to college and career-planning support.
- Elevating pathways to Colorado’s most in-demand careers, both statewide and by region.
Scholarships
Universities Seek POWR Act Exemption
....A coalition of most of Colorado’s public colleges and universities has asked sponsors of a bill to redefine harassment in state law either to exempt its members from the proposal or to make a bevy of changes to the bill that’s scheduled for its first committee hearing this week.
.... The letter from nine stand-alone higher-education institutions, the four-campus University of Colorado system and the Colorado Community College System adds to concerns that the business community has on the Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (POWR) Act. And it sets up a potentially tougherbattle for sponsors who want to expand protections for female workers statewide after a similar bill died during the closing days of the 2021 session.
....Senate Bill 172, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Faith Winter of Westminster and Julie Gonzales of Denver, seeks to nix the legal precedent that conduct must be “severe or pervasive” to rise to the level of harassment and put into law in its place that the conduct would be “offensive to a reasonable person in the same actual or perceived protected class.”
....The bill also would make it more difficult for an employer to offer an affirmative defense to such claims, would limit the use of nondisclosure agreements to settle harassment accusations and would add more protections for individuals with disabilities.
Exemption
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