Citing opposition from restaurants, a bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers rejected a bill Thursday that would’ve required certain large employers provide advance scheduling for their employees.
Eight of the 10 members of the House’s Business Affairs and Labor committee — including four Democrats — voted against HB23-1118, which, had it passed, would’ve made Colorado just one of two states to enact a “fair workweek” policy. The bill would’ve required restaurants, retailers and food production companies with more than 250 employees to provide work schedules two weeks in advance, which supporters said would give workers more control over their lives. But opponents, leaning on the fluctuating schedules inherent in restaurants, said the bill was too burdensome, particularly for an industry just emerging from the pandemic.
The bill, which also would’ve required employers pay workers for sudden changes to schedules, was in trouble before the hearing began Thursday afternoon. The committee heard hours of testimony on it two weeks ago but didn’t take a formal vote because the sponsors — Denver Democrats Reps. Emily Sirota and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez — withheld it for more work. Key votes on the committee opposed including restaurants in the bill, but Sirota and Gonzales-Gutierrez said they were committed to keeping that industry included, which they said was staffed by particularly vulnerable workers.
Before the vote, Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sirota criticized the effort undertaken by the opposition to lobby against the bill. Supporters have said that many restaurants too small to be covered by the bill were still motivated to testify, and Sirota told the committee that “misinformation spread like wildfire.” The pair asked their colleagues to side with workers over corporate interests.
“I want you all to think about why we are here as legislators, and that is to represent the people who voted us into office,” Gonzales-Gutierrez said. “The people who voted us into office know that they might not always have the loudest voices. Workers don’t always have the loudest voices.”
In response, several legislators said they were swayed not by lobbyists but by restaurants from their communities and from workers themselves. Rep. Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican, read from a letter circulated by the Colorado Restaurant Association and signed by hundreds of food-services workers asking that the bill be defeated.
The committee’s chair, Boulder Democrat Rep. Judy Amabile, said she’d formed her concerns about the bill on her own, based on her experience as a business owner.
“When I looked at it through that lens, I concluded this is a policy I can’t support right now,” she said. “I’m really disappointed because I would like for us to make meaningful change for people who need it here in our state.”
In a statement issued shortly after the vote, members of the coalition supporting the bill expressed disappointment in its failure. Nina DiSalvo, the policy director at the nonprofit law firm Towards Justice, said the vote was a missed opportunity.
In their own statements, prominent opponents — the restaurant association and Colorado Chamber of Commerce — praised the measure’s demise. Loren Furman, the CEO of the chamber, said the legislation was “one of the worst bills for business we’ve seen from the legislature in years.” Sonia Riggs, the president and CEO of the restaurant association, said the bill would’ve harmed the industry as it recovers from COVID-19.
Gonzales-Gutierrez said after the vote that she wasn’t surprised by the outcome. She said she doesn’t know if she will bring the bill next year (she’s also running for a Denver City Council seat and may not return to the Capitol next January) but that other House Democrats supported the policy and may champion it going forward. Sirota told the Post that the coalition will reconvene in the coming months.
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