Updated (at 6:15 p.m. June 5, 2024): This story has been updated to reflect that Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1452 into law on Wednesday, after this story was published.

Lost and damaged wheelchairs are such a prevalent problem in U.S. air travel that federal officials have proposed new rules that could slap airlines with six-figure fines when mishaps occur.

But an attempt to give Coloradans more power to seek compensation for problems they experience with their mobility devices at Denver International Airport faltered at the State Capitol as the recent legislative session wrapped up. A key sponsor accused DIA and city officials of undermining the bill, including by pushing lawmakers to water it down.

State Rep. David Ortiz, the first wheelchair user to serve in the legislature, sponsoredHouse Bill 1452. He said that at the 11th hour, the lobbying resulted in the bill’s proposed enforcement mechanism — a provision granting travelers the right to bring lawsuits against the airport if it failed to meet certain accessibility deadlines — being stripped out.

Now Ortiz is vowing to file an ethics complaint against Denver City Attorney Kerry Tipper and others over their actions surrounding the bill.

When a wheelchair is damaged or lost, Ortiz said, “airports and airlines create a circular firing squad where they all point fingers at each other.” He added: “It’s really disgusting that (the city and DIA) think that they should be exempt” from liability.

But Denver city officials defended the way they approached the legislation. (Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill in its revised form on Wednesday, after this story was published.)

Tipper, who served in the state House until last year, told The Denver Post that the city supported the bill at the Capitol while also seeking to provide lawmakers with clarity on just which services were under the airport’s control. Airlines, Tipper noted, are responsible for handling passengers’ wheelchairs and other mobility and medical equipment — not airport staff.

“DEN wanted to comply in every way that they could,” Tipper said, referring to DIA by its airport code. “But I think legally it would not be appropriate to impose liability against the airport for something they don’t have control over.”

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, air carriers nationally reported mishandling 11,527 wheelchairs and scooters in 2023. In March of this year, the most recent month for which data was available, the rate of mishandling was about 1.3%, down slightly from March 2023.

Ortiz’s anger over the bill’s changes has not subsided since the final weeks of the 2024 legislative session, which concluded May 8. That late period is when amendments passed in the Senate defanged the bill after it had already cleared the House.

Before it was amended, the bill provided grounds for potential lawsuits if the airport failed to meet several deadlines that are still set out in the legislation. Those include installing wayfinding technology to serve people who are blind or vision impaired by the middle of this year; providing comprehensive, ongoing training to all staff members on how to handle wheelchairs and other equipment by the end of 2026; installing accessible bathrooms with adult changing tables in every terminal by the middle of 2030; and by the end of that year, ensuring the use of elevators to move power wheelchairs from the tarmac up to jetways.

“Shame on the airport,” rep says

Acting on the advice of advocates who viewed sections of the legislation as progress worth preserving, Ortiz urged his House colleagues to accept the Senate-amended bill on May 6.

But not before he called out city and airport officials.

“Shame on the airport for the disingenuous way they engaged with the community living with a disability for the past three years,” Ortiz said in a speech on the floor.

He also said he planned to log a formal complaint over city officials’ conduct around the bill.

In an interview with The Post last week, Ortiz reiterated his intention to file ethics complaints with the state. He called out Tipper specifically, alleging that she leveraged her connections as a former state representative to sway lawmakers.

Tipper described Ortiz as a friend and said it had been hard to hear his public criticism of the way Denver approached the legislation. She did testify on the bill, she said, but that was because lawmakers had questions about the legal ramifications — and she is the city’s chief legal officer.

DIA spokeswoman Courtney Law, in an email, pointed out that federal law requires airlines to provide wheelchair services to passengers, and the airport’s role is limited to ensuring that it provides accessible pathways through its facilities.

Airport officials also made themselves available to answer lawmakers’ questions about the implications of the bill, Law said.

“Here, airport employees highlighted their continued work on improving accessibility while also expressing legitimate concerns on certain sections of the bill,” she wrote.

One city official testified in favor of the stronger legislation.

City Councilman Chris Hinds is a wheelchair user and the chairman of the body’s Business, Arts, Workforce, Climate and Aviation Services Committee, which handles issues concerning DIA. He testified as a private citizen, he said, since the subgroup of city officials who dictate city lobbying at the Capitol never reached consensus on an official bill position.

“We will certainly have additional conversations in the city about the lobbying process on state bills, and specifically how the airport accountability bill was handled,” Hinds said.

Feds consider proposed rule

While the city and state have some power over DIA, the airlines largely are regulated by the federal government.

In February, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a proposed rule that would make damaging or delaying the return of a wheelchair an automatic violation of the Air Carrier Access Act. He suggested that fines levied against airlines could exceed $100,000 per violation. The rule is currently open for public comments, according to USDOT officials.

Disability rights advocates are optimistic the rule will be finalized.

In their circles, horror stories about air travel are prevalent. Julie Reiskin, the co-executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, took a Southwest Airlines flight from DIA to Kansas City a few years ago.

Beyond the typical delays and aggravation that come with flying with a wheelchair, Reiskin said that when she landed, she found out the control stick for her power chair had been broken. That required her to use two replacement chairs that were suited to her needs while her chair was repaired.

“What really made me mad is they didn’t tell me,” she said. “They did this in Denver, let me get to a strange city and (then) I had to deal with it.”

Reiskin acknowledged it is airline employees who typically handle wheelchairs and other equipment, but she noted that DIA has a reputation in her community for its poor accessibility.

Despite the legal liability provision being stripped from HB-1452, Reiskin said key components of the legislation could result in better accessibility at the airport — and could even present grounds for legal action under existing laws.

The bill calls for the establishment of a cross-disability advisory committee to assess and provide feedback on areas where DIA can improve. It also would mandate the creation of an online dashboard by the beginning of 2026 to allow people to report violations of accessibility requirements.

“To be honest,” Reiskin said, “I think it was about putting DIA on notice — that the legislature has expectations that they are going to have to answer for if they continue to not meet them.”

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.