By Ryan Warner | Colorado Public Radio
Colorado is getting in its own way, and Democratic Socialists will only exacerbate the problem, according to the head of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. J.J. Ament believes one-party rule in Colorado means business owners are bombarded with regulation.
“In each of the last two years, more than 500 new laws were introduced in the state of Colorado. No citizen, resident, small business person can keep up with that pace of change,” he said.
Ament cited as examples local minimum wage ordinances and what he believes is an inflexible state family leave program.
“We’re certainly seeing a decline in our economic competitiveness. If you measure since 2019, we’ve sometimes seen as many as a thousand businesses leave the 80202 [downtown Denver] zip code.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Ament implored the governor and Denver’s mayor to fully bring public employees back to the office. The state and city are the largest employers downtown, and he believes they can lead by example.
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