{"id":131442,"date":"2026-06-01T15:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jared-polis-once-again-vetoes-bill-that-would-make-it-easier-for-colorado-unions-to-organize\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:57:14","slug":"jared-polis-once-again-vetoes-bill-that-would-make-it-easier-for-colorado-unions-to-organize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jared-polis-once-again-vetoes-bill-that-would-make-it-easier-for-colorado-unions-to-organize\/","title":{"rendered":"Jared Polis once again vetoes bill that would make it easier for Colorado unions to organize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis speaks to reporters before signing the state budget into law at the governor\u2019s office in the Colorado Capitol in Denver on May 8. (Jesse Paul\/The Colorado Sun file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gov. Jared Polis on Friday vetoed \u2013 for the second year in a row \u2013 a bill that would have made it easier for unions to organize in Colorado.<\/p>\n

House Bill 1005 would have abolished a requirement in the Colorado Labor Peace Act, a decades-old law unique to the state, that 75% of workers at a company sign off before unions can negotiate with businesses over union security. That\u2019s after a majority of workers vote to unionize.<\/p>\n

Union security is the term for when workers are forced to pay fees for collective bargaining representation \u2013 regardless of whether they are members of their workplace\u2019s union.<\/p>\n

Unions must bargain on behalf of all workers at a company, including nonmembers. That\u2019s why unions feel it\u2019s only fair that mandatory fees be imposed to cover the cost of things like lawyers and negotiating experts.<\/p>\n

House Bill 1005 was identical to a measure Polis vetoed last year. The governor warned Democrats in the Legislature this year that if they sent him the policy again he would reject it.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers weren\u2019t deterred, easily passing House Bill 1005 through the House and Senate and forcing the governor\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the wake of that veto and the substantial negotiations that preceded it, I would have hoped that both business and labor leaders could have worked to craft a long-term and durable agreement on this matter that would have served Colorado workers and businesses alike,\u201d Polis wrote in his veto letter. \u201cUnfortunately, because that did not happen, this issue will likely come up again next year and every subsequent year until it is addressed, which creates uncertainty for both workers and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor groups blasted the decision, accusing Polis of siding with billionaire CEOs over workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill is the most significant pro-worker labor reform Colorado has seen in generations, and vetoing it after overwhelming support from workers and Democratic legislators is an assault on democracy itself,\u201d said Stephanie Felix-Sowy, president of SEIU Local 105.<\/p>\n

The governor also vetoed Senate Bill 147 on Friday. It would have required state departments that lobby on bills to disclose their agency\u2019s posture toward legislation, just like any other lobbyist working at the Colorado Capitol. The bill would also have prohibited former statewide elected officials and members of the General Assembly from serving as a legislative liaison for a state office for two years after leaving the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Polis similarly warned the Legislature he would veto Senate Bill 147 if it made it to his desk, calling it a \u201cclear attempt to limit the governor\u2019s office\u2019s ability to meaningfully participate in the legislative process.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his veto letter, Polis said he was concerned that it would \u201cnot lead to more transparency, and instead will erode the separation of powers among the branches of state government as well as impinge on future governors\u2019 independent decision making.\u201d<\/p>\n

The long game for the labor movement<\/div>\n

Repealing the union security vote requirement has long been a priority for Colorado\u2019s labor movement.<\/p>\n

In 2007, when Democrats controlled the Legislature by narrower margins, they passed a measure similar to House Bill 1005. But then-Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, vetoed the legislation. In his veto letter, Ritter wrote that he felt the proposal would ultimately hurt Colorado\u2019s economy and make it harder to attract new businesses.<\/p>\n

Polis told lawmakers he was open to reducing the 75% threshold, but not OK with eliminating the second vote for union security negotiations altogether.<\/p>\n

Labor leaders and Democrats in the Legislature brought House Bill 1005 this year, knowing it would be vetoed by Polis if it passed, to keep the issue on the forefront. Their hope is whoever replaces Polis as governor next year, almost certainly a Democrat, will be more sympathetic.<\/p>\n

Neither U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet nor Attorney General Phil Weiser, the two Democrats running to replace Polis, have said they would eliminate the union security election.<\/p>\n

The governor vetoed four bills Thursday. He has until June 12 to sign or veto measures passed during Colorado\u2019s legislative session this year, which ended May 13. He can also let bills become law without his signature.<\/p>\n

In other news, Polis did sign a bill that will codify the civil rights protections of kids with disabilities into state law. Senate Bill 125 aims to create a complaint process within the state education department to investigate complaints from families who allege their child\u2019s school violated their rights or did not follow through on services guaranteed by law to their child.<\/p>\n

While Polis approved of the legislation, he expressed concern over lawmakers\u2019 plans to rely on grants, gifts and donations to fund the more than $650,000 the department will need to establish a complaint process. In a letter to members of the Colorado Senate, Polis wrote that gifts, grants and donations \u201cshould not be used to fund core regulatory functions\u201d and he also worries that funding approach could spur a conflict of interest. Polis noted that he will work with the department to submit a funding request to the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Colorado Sun reporters Brian Eason and Erica Breunlin contributed to this report<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

blast decision, accusing governor of siding with billionaire CEOs over workers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6401],"tags":[120,394,14,15,1820,819,28,6419,1633],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-news","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-colorado-state-house-of-representatives","tag-colorado-state-senate","tag-dh-trueanthem","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-tj-trueanthem","tag-unions"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131442"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}