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SB5, the Labor Peace Act overhaul, advances over business complaints
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SB5, the Labor Peace Act overhaul, advances over business complaints

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Senate Democrats used their first bill hearing of the 2025 legislative session Tuesday to advance a proposed major change to the state’s Labor Peace Act, saying that the 82-year-old “compromise” law is not working for Colorado employees anymore. The 4-3, party-line vote from the Senate Business, Labor & Technology Committee to send Senate Bill 5 to the Appropriations Committee came despite business warnings that erosion of the law will depress the state’s falling economic competitiveness even more. But one of its supporters said he’d like to see business and labor leaders find a compromise — a plea issued before the sides were set for a major negotiating session on Wednesday. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE SUM & SUBSTANCE
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State air quality officials identify five priority toxic contaminants, leading to more regulation
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State air quality officials identify five priority toxic contaminants, leading to more regulation

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado officials took the first steps Friday in adding new control measures around five priority toxic air contaminants produced by sources ranging from oil-and-gas drilling to wastewater processing to the sterilization of medical equipment. By choosing the five priority toxics, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission triggered a process that will lead to creation of health-based standards around the compounds in September and then approval of emission-control strategies in 2026. Environmental activists cheered a future in which contaminants create fewer health problems in long-polluted areas, while business leaders warned that AQCC members selected the quintet without any discussion of whether the toxins are feasible to control. READ...
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Less than one-third of voters support changes to Labor Peace Act, poll finds
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Less than one-third of voters support changes to Labor Peace Act, poll finds

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Less than a week before the first scheduled hearing of a bill to rewrite Colorado’s Labor Peace Act, a coalition of business groups has released a poll that it argues shows voters of all stripes are overwhelmingly opposed to the proposed changes. The 82-year-old law is unique among states in that it requires two votes for workers to unionize a company and then to allow automatic paycheck deductions to fund union negotiating activities. The first vote to unionize requires a simple majority, but the second vote to allow fee deductions needs 75% support — a provision that unions call an unnecessary barrier and that business leaders say keeps union-opposed workers from having to pay the organizations. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE SUM & SUBSTA...
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Senate Republicans regulatory rollback package aimed at saving Colorado families $4,500 annually
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Senate Republicans regulatory rollback package aimed at saving Colorado families $4,500 annually

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Just days after Gov. Jared Polis called for legislators to pass regulatory reform, Colorado Senate Republicans offered the first package to that effect on Tuesday, though it’s unclear whether their proposals are what the governor was seeking. At a morning news conference, members of the caucus announced a series of bills that Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said would create an average annual savings of $4,500 per family if passed. The bills involve repeal of new fees and regulatory increases signed since 2019, rollback of regulations concerning homebuilding and new approaches to energy policy. The announcement follows the December release of a study commissioned by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce that found Colorado is the ...
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Opening-day bills tackle unionization, wage theft, price gouging, Ozempic and more
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Opening-day bills tackle unionization, wage theft, price gouging, Ozempic and more

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado legislative Democrats stormed out of the gate Wednesday by introducing two major pro-labor efforts as well as several cost-of-living bills that are likely to generate significant debate because of the methods they use to bring down costs. Meanwhile, legislators from both parties revived previously killed bills on the first day of the 2025 session, including a proposed limit on grocery-store liquor sales, a proposed study of a single-payer health-care system and a now-bipartisan effort to boost nuclear energy. Plus, a pair of Democrats introduced a bill calling for state regulators to consider the impact on workforce of potential new air-quality regulations. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE SUM & SUBSTANCE
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Colorado regulators seeking steep increases in permitting fees for air pollutants
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Colorado regulators seeking steep increases in permitting fees for air pollutants

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado regulators want to raise fees by as much as 67% on air-pollutant emissions and the permits that are required for them — a price hike that industry leaders hope will result in faster permitting. The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted last month to set an April rulemaking hearing to consider the fee increases and new rules around the reporting of emissions. If approved, four separate fee hikes — meant to cover the costs of permitting, monitoring and enforcement — would go into place between June 2025 and early 2026. These increases will be debated as part of a trio of hearings in the new year focused on increasing regulations around air toxic contaminants, as prescribed in a 2022 law. The AQCC will identify five air toxins...
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There will be an enormous amount to watch in 75th state legislative session
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There will be an enormous amount to watch in 75th state legislative session

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance In terms of resets, Colorado’s November legislative election results were negligible compared to what happened nationally. Republicans flipped three districts in the 65-member state House but still face a 21-seat disadvantage. Democrats’ 23-12 Senate margin is unchanged. Yet, with the 75th General Assembly scheduled to open Wednesday, everyone from business groups to labor leaders and from environmental activists to construction-defect-reform advocates are approaching this 120-day session with a new fervor. Some are reacting to the shifting makeup of party bases nationally, others to Colorado’s downward spiral in economic-competitiveness rankings. The common theme, though, is an urgency for change from all parts of the political...
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Several notable changes highlight new makeup of legislative committees
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Several notable changes highlight new makeup of legislative committees

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado House and Senate leaders have announced the makeup of committees in preparation for Wednesday’s commencement of the 2025 legislative session, making some key panels more Republican and others more Democratic due in part to election results. Republicans picked up three seats in the House in November to end Democrats’ supermajority in that chamber but remain at a significant disadvantage, as Dems hold a 43-22 margin there. Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats each picked up and lost one seat in the Senate, leaving the Democrats holding a 23-12 in that chamber. In the House, Republicans will hold more committee seats, as House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, grew four committees — Business Affairs & Labor, Education, ...
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Colorado to consider state rules on massive federal 340B drug-pricing program
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Colorado to consider state rules on massive federal 340B drug-pricing program

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Many employers know little about the $66 billion 340B federal drug-pricing program and its impact on them. But that likely will change in 2025, when a schism between hospitals and drug makers over the rapid growth of the program will take center stage at the Legislature. The Colorado Hospital Association is working with a group of lawmakers to introduce a bill early in the session that would prohibit drug manufacturers from limiting the use of the discount program to certain pharmacies. Eight states have passed similar laws and about a dozen others are expected to consider them next year, making it arguably the most divisive health-care debate in America today. Created in 1992, the 340B program requires pharmaceutical companies participatin...
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Commission approves ‘extremely aggressive’ emissions cuts for midstream oil & gas sector
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Commission approves ‘extremely aggressive’ emissions cuts for midstream oil & gas sector

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado air-quality regulators on Friday approved the state’s first emissions-reduction rules for the midstream sector of the oil-and-gas industry — rules that officials acknowledged will be expensive to comply with but said are necessary to curb pollution. During a two-day hearing, energy companies warned that the 20.5% reduction in emissions versus 2015 levels come at too high a price — an estimated $86.3 million per year in sector-wide compliance costs that would rise if the sector experienced significant growth. Meanwhile, environmental groups argued that the rules fell short of achieving the emissions cuts called for in the state’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap and don’t guarantee substantial help for disproportion...
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