{"id":27529,"date":"2024-05-21T11:58:29","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T17:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/democrats-frustrated-as-gov-polis-vetoes-six-colorado-bills\/"},"modified":"2024-05-21T17:58:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T17:58:29","slug":"democrats-frustrated-as-gov-polis-vetoes-six-colorado-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/democrats-frustrated-as-gov-polis-vetoes-six-colorado-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats frustrated as Gov. Polis vetoes six Colorado bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, center, signs into law a surface transportation infrastructure development bill as sponsors state Sens. Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, left, and Marchman, D-Loveland, look on during a ceremony May 16 in front of Union Station in lower downtown Denver. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gov. Jared Polis is working his way through hundreds of bills that were approved by the state Legislature \u2013 and he doesn\u2019t like all of them.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Polis vetoed six bills that were passed by the Legislature, ensuring that they do not become law. The sponsors of the vetoed measures were mostly Democrats, like Polis is.<\/p>\n

It was another example of the Democrat-versus-Democrat dynamic that has shaped the last few legislative sessions. Sen. Jessie Danielson, a Democrat, was a sponsor of four of the vetoed measures, including proposals on labor rights, youth sports and HVAC systems in schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt runs in conflict to what the voters across the state want, what the community wants, what workers want, what families want. There\u2019s no gray area, he opposed the policies. And he did it officially,\u201d Danielson said.<\/p>\n

Polis generally argued that the vetoed bills were too broadly worded or would have unintended consequences.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Polis struck down on Friday.<\/p>\n

Labor rights measures<\/div>\n

HB24-1008<\/a>, a measure that would have attempted to combat wage theft in the construction industry. The measure would have put more responsibility on general contractors to fight wage theft from their subcontractors. General contractors would have been liable for any wages legally owed to employees by subcontractors.<\/p>\n

In a veto letter, Polis said wage theft is \u201ca deplorable crime,\u201d but said that holding contractors responsible for subcontractors\u2019 actions was the wrong strategy. \u201cWage theft is wrong, but punishment for any crime should focus on the wrongdoers,\u201d Polis wrote, calling for a new process to look at solutions.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s sponsors had argued that contractors should be held responsible because they are using subcontractors to evade their responsibilities. \u201cSuch accountability will enlist general contractors in the fight against wage theft, incentivize engagement with law-abiding subcontractors who pay their workers correctly, and encourage general contractors to root out bad actors who underbid for contracts knowing they will make up the difference by denying their workers the wages they earned,\u201d the bill stated.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s prime sponsors were Majority Leader Monica Duran, Rep. Meg Froelich, Sen. Danielson and Sen. Chris Kolker, all Democrats.<\/p>\n

HB24-1260<\/a> would have given employees more power to ignore their bosses on the topics of religion and politics.<\/p>\n

The measure would have generally guaranteed that employees can refuse to participate in employer-sponsored meetings about \u201creligious or political matters,\u201d without fear of punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that employers have freedom of speech and their employees have freedom of choice to attend these meetings,\u201d said Rep. Monica Duran, a Democrat, in an earlier statement about the bill. Supporters specifically said that employers were using these \u201ccaptive audience meetings\u201d to discourage workers from joining unions.<\/p>\n

Polis wrote in a veto letter that he agreed with many of the sponsors\u2019 goals, but he worried that the \u201cdefinitions of \u2018political matters\u2019 and \u2018religious matters\u2019 are so broad that they are unworkable and would result in unintended consequences \u2026 .\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis added that \u201cno employee should be forced to attend a meeting that focuses on the negative aspects of union participation,\u201d and that he would have supported a bill focused on that idea.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s prime sponsors were Duran, Rep. Tim Hern\u00e1ndez and Danielson, all Democrats.<\/p>\n

Schools and sports<\/div>\n

HB24-1307<\/a> would have set new requirements on some school\u2019s HVAC systems. Schools seeking federal funding for their heat and air conditioning systems would have had to meet certain specifications related to installation, inspection, maintenance and reporting. The bill also called on the state to help schools plan HVAC projects and apply for grants.<\/p>\n

The sponsors said their goal was to strengthen the proposals from Colorado schools as they seek that federal money. In a veto letter, Polis lauded that goal, but said the bill would have created roadblocks, including in rural communities that don\u2019t have contractors that meet the bill\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n

School \u201cdistricts in rural counties would need to find labor outside of their communities, which can drive up costs and delay projects,\u201d Polis wrote. An alternative option offered by the bill could be \u201cchallenging or unrealistic,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s sponsors were Rep. Sheila Lieder, Rep. Eliza Hamrick, Sen. Janice Marchman and Danielson, all Democrats.<\/p>\n

HB24-1080<\/a> would have implemented new requirements on youth sports organizations and local parks districts, ensuring that each staff member is trained in CPR and defibrillator usage, and requiring background checks every three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring that adults who coach youth sports have been vetted to gauge whether they would potentially harm a child is an important step in keeping kids safe while engaged in youth sports,\u201d the bill had stated.<\/p>\n

Polis\u2019 veto letter described the bill as an \u201cunfunded mandate\u201d with \u201cambiguous language\u201d and that it would have made it difficult for youth sports leagues \u201cto recruit volunteers or operate at all.\u201d Polis noted that he signed another bill, SB24-113, which set requirements that coaches receive training in mandatory reporting and set requirements related to abuse training, background checks, among other changes. Polis said the two bills could conflict, which Danielson denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a problem for me as a parent as a Coloradan,\u201d she said of the veto.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s sponsors were Rep. Jennifer Parenti, Rep. Jenny Willford, Danielson and Marchman, all Democrats.<\/p>\n

Solid waste management<\/div>\n

SB24-150<\/a> would have limited the use of solid waste incinerators, and it would have declared that gas produced by the burning of waste is not a renewable or clean energy source. The bill would have barred state incentives for combustion units and increased regulation of pyrolysis and gasification processes.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s sponsors had described combustion units as a community health risk that perpetuate \u201cthe extractive, polluting, linear economy by investing in infrastructure that needs to be continuously supplied with cardboard, paper, and plastics that could otherwise be reduced or recycled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis vetoed the measure. He shared concerns about air quality impacts, but defended pyrolysis and gasification as potential routes to produce sustainable aviation fuel.<\/p>\n

It \u201cis not appropriate to speculatively disincentivize critical pathways that could be important to Colorado\u2019s efforts on climate action,\u201d Polis wrote in a veto letter. He argued that state and federal regulators would ultimately be responsible for assessing the air quality impact of any project.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s prime sponsors were Sen. Lisa Cutter, Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Rep. Froelich, all Democrats.<\/p>\n

Insurers and pharmaceuticals<\/div>\n

HB24-1010<\/a>, which would have applied new health care regulations aimed at the practice of \u201cwhite bagging,\u201d in which insurers require that medications are purchased from specialty mail-order pharmacies. The bill would have limited insurance carriers from setting certain limits on which pharmacies can provide drugs for patients.<\/p>\n

Polis wrote in a veto letter that \u201cwhite bagging arose to help reduce the rising cost of specialty drugs through negotiated pricing,\u201d and said that the bill would have removed \u201can important way to negotiate lower costs.\u201d White bagging can be a way to reduce the markups imposed by doctors, hospitals and other distributors, its defenders argue.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the bill argued that white bagging was inconvenient, since it forced patients to go through specialty pharmacies, and some had raised safety concerns, as Westword <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s sponsors were Rep. Matt Soper and Sen. Perry Will, both Republicans, and Rep. Iman Jodeh and Michaelson Jenet, both Democrats.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Governor shutdown proposals on labor rights, waste incinerators and more; here\u2019s why<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[394,14,15,155,819,28,1346,1922,3105,545],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-colorado-state-house-of-representatives","tag-colorado-state-senate","tag-education","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-health-insurance","tag-labor","tag-pharmaceutical","tag-waste"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27529","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=27529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27529"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}