2016 Legislative Wrap Up

July 18, 2016

2016 Legislative Wrap Up

Tourism Industry Association of Colorado (TIAC)

Written by: Precision Policy Group

 

General Overview

 

The 2016 legislative session ended on Wednesday May 11th with a mixed review on what was accomplished. Overall, there were 686 bills introduced, with the State House reaching a record high for introduced bills of 468. The House also beat another record this session for the latest committee hearing; House Judiciary set the all-time record adjourning at 4:47 AM. Out of the 686 bills introduced, 391 were introduced with bipartisan sponsors, which did not guarantee their success. By ‘sine die’, which was the last day of session, a total of 308 bills had been killed and 179 had been signed into law by the Governor. This left an overwhelming total of 199 bills for the Governor to decide on by June 11th, which is the last day for him to sign bills, veto bills, or let the legislation go into effect without his signature. As of May 23rd, 2016, 209 have been signed into law by the Governor. However, there are still a handful of controversial bills waiting on his decision. For a full list of the bills that the Governor has signed to date, please click here. 

 

This session brought a large number of message bills, which are bills that are introduced to start a conversation and very rarely actually pass through both chambers. These bills are introduced mainly to influence the upcoming election, more than anything else. The Republicans’ message bills centered on core platform issues important to the conservative Republican base: guns, abortion, religion and illegal immigration. The Democrats’ message bills centered on the national themes that are also getting a lot of attention in the Presidential races: lessening income/wage inequality and curbing corporate impropriety. Unfortunately, between the quantity of messaging bills and the polarizing nature of the subjects these bills addressed, a partisan gridlock was created early in session, creating a challenge for even the most bipartisan bills to get through.

 

The media has not been kind to the legislature since they adjourned. Most of the articles summarizing the legislative session include a similar narrative stating the legislature was unsuccessful in addressing many issues important to Colorado. The biggest issues discussed prior to the beginning of session, such as construction defects reform, the Hospital Provider Fee Enterprise fund, and transportation funding, were disappointing losses for the legislature and the citizens of Colorado.   

 

There were a number of bills that dealt directly with transportation, made changes to the liquor laws, or directly affected aspects of tourism, such as the hotels, restaurants, and/or the ski industry. Below is an overview of the most important bills in these categories.

Tourism & Transportation

The following transportation bills were proposed but failed.

  • HB16-1039 would have required snow tires and increased traction for cars to drive on certain parts of I-70. Additionally, it would have increased fines for unsafe vehicles on I-70.   Snow tires and increase traction laws already exist for portions of I-70. This bill would have added the same requirements to additional segments of the highway.
  • SB16-210 would have required the Transportation Commission to submit a question to the ballot to increase funding for Colorado roads by almost 80 million dollars over the next 20 years.
  • SB16-194 would have created a new method for local governments to fund transportation projects by creating a state sales tax increment.

Bills with a direct impact on the tourism industry:

  • FAILED – HB16-1074 would have reduced the amount allocated to statewide tourism from limited gaming revenue by 10 percent, totaling $3,010,000, and transfer that same amount to the State Public School Fund to be used for supplemental online education. 
  • PASSED – HB16-1425 specifies that a licensed child care center is not required to obtain immunization records for any enrolled child that attends the center on a short-term basis which is defined as up to fifteen days and no more than twice per year with at least 60 days between 15-consecutive-day periods, such as one associated with a ski resort. A child care center that chooses to accept children on a short-term basis must notify all of the parents that have children in the center that the center allows children to attend on a short-term basis without providing proof of immunization.
  • PASSED – HB16-1401 increases the annual licensing fees paid by retail food establishments beginning January 1, 2017. Additional increases on January 1, 2018, and January 1, 2019, are contingent upon compliance with a number of   requirements explained below.
    • For the second fee increase to be effective on January 1, 2018, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) must establish a uniform system to communicate health inspection reports to the public and the CDPHE, and local public health agencies must exclusively use the system to communicate inspection results by July 1, 2017. If the requirements are not met, this fee increases and the subsequent fee increase will be delayed.
    • For the third fee increase to be effective on January 1, 2019, the previous requirement must be met and the CDPHE must by April 1, 2017, respond to all retail food establishment plans and specifications and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Principles plan reviews within 14 working days. If this requirement is not met, the fee increase will be delayed.
    • The bill creates a new license for a limited retail food establishment that prepares or serves food that does not require time or temperature control for safety, provides self-service beverages, offers prepackaged commercially prepared food and beverages requiring time or temperature control or only reheating commercially prepared foods that require time or temperature control for safety for retail sale to consumers. The CDPHE is required to ensure significant statewide compliance with the federal Food and Drug Administration’s voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program standards by December 31, 2019.
    • The bill specifies that counties may only spend the revenue from the increased fees on retail food-health related activities. The bill lowers the maximum period of suspension for a retail food establishment license from six months to one month, except in cases of closure due to an imminent health hazard. Finally, the bill allows the CDPHE or a local public health agency to issue cease- and-desist orders when a civil penalty has previously been issued and the person remains non-compliant.

Business Bills

 

Below are the main bills that the business community focused on throughout the session. Many bills were extremely controversial and were hard fought by both sides.

 

Bills opposed by the business community that were ultimately defeated:

  • HB16-1202 would have required all employers with 10 or more employees to enroll and participate in the federal E-Verify program to verify the work eligibility status of all newly hired employees. The bill also required all employers to maintain documentation of enrollment and included fines for failing to maintain their enrollment.
  • SB16-076 would have repealed a law passed in 2006 requiring employers to maintain a duplicative verification document in an employee’s personnel files that states the employer completed an I-9 verification form.
  • SB16-096 would have re-created the Colorado Pay Equity Commission within the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment, which had a sunset in statute of September 2015.
  • HB16-1275 would have placed onerous requirements on Colorado corporations operating abroad in so-called “tax havens” as determined by the Colorado Department of Revenue.
  • HB16-1361 would have created contract inference and potential for increased health care costs.
  • HB16-1403 would have mandated an employee-funded, state-administered retirement plan for workers at companies lacking a retirement plan.
  • HB16-1388 would have prohibited employers from asking about an applicant’s criminal history on the initial employment applications. 
  • HB16-1435 would have mandated a fee on employers that don’t provide health insurance to low-wageworkers.
  • SB16-114 would have mandated on employers certain amounts of sick leave allowable to workers.
  • HB16-1294 would have mandated health-benefit coverage to be carried by employers that would have resulted in higher costs of health-care benefits for workers.

Below are business bills that passed (the business community either supported or remained neutral on most of these bills):

  • SB16-056 expands current protections for whistle blowers by assigning certain state agencies to determine if information shared by a state employee is protected under the Colorado Open Records Act, or other laws.
  • HB16-1438 details accommodations that a business must provide pregnant workers. 
  • HB16-1432 allows a worker to access his or her personnel file once a year with protections for employers.
  • SB16-056 protects employer’s confidential information on State employee whistle blower claims.
  • HB-1114 reduces unnecessary regulation on businesses by eliminating the need to include a duplicate I-9 verification form in an employee’s personnel file.
  • SB16-179 directs the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) to revise current rules to make it clearer on how employers should classify workers as independent contractors; ensure consistency among CDLE auditors in how they audit employers; and requires the CDLE to assign a full-time employee as a resource to employers asking the CDLE to provide guidance on proper classification.
  • HB16-1232 continues an important program for seven years that allows businesses to request a determination from the Colorado Department of Revenue on potential taxes owed to avoid audits and fines.

Liquor & Marijuana

Liquor laws received more attention than usual this legislative session, especially near the end.

 

Here are a few changes to the liquor code that were successfully passed by the General Assembly. However, that does not guarantee the Governor, with a background in craft brewing, will be signing them all into law.

  • HB16-1151: Under current law, when a licensee’s employee sells alcohol to a minor during a law enforcement compliance check, state and local licensing authorities must consider a completion of responsible alcohol beverage vendor training as a mitigating factor. Under the bill, responsible vendor training must be considered as a mitigating factor for other violations of the state’s liquor laws, including sales to minors, sales to visibly intoxicated patrons, and other violations approved by future rule making in the Department of Revenue (DOR).
  • HB16-1439 creates a new lodging and entertainment liquor license for facilities that provide lodging, sports, or entertainment activities as their primary business and, incidental to that business, sell and serve alcoholic beverages by the drink for consumption on the premises (licensees). These facilities must have sandwiches and light snacks available for consumption. The bill sets the state license fee at $75 annually, and the local license fee at $500 annually.
  • SB16-197 makes several changes to laws related to the licensing of liquor-licensed drugstores and retail liquor stores licensed with the Liquor Enforcement Division (LED) within the Department of Revenue (DOR).

Bills that failed included:

  • SB16-206 would have banned powdered alcohol completely from Colorado. Last year there was a similar bill that banned powdered alcohol until it was approved by the FDA, which happened late last year.
  • HB16-1452 would have allowed hotels to sell up to 6 bottles of wine from a small kiosk or gift shop to patrons, without having to open and re-cork the wine bottles, which is current state law.

Unlike liquor, marijuana has been a constant discussion since 2008 when medical marijuana initially passed; but is now an even more prominent topic since recreational legalization passed in 2014. This session we saw over 30 bills directly related to marijuana.

 

Below are a few highlights of bills that passed:

  • HB16-1261 allows visitors to purchase up to one ounce of marijuana (instead of the current limit of 1Ž4 ounce) and, among other changes, it also fine-tunes labeling requirements.
  • HB16-1373 creates protections for medical marijuana patients attending school by prohibiting schools from disciplining them for possession or consumption.
  • SB16-040 removes the residency requirement for marijuana business ownership.
  • SB16-015 requires the designated agency to promulgate rules to designate criteria that identify pesticides that may be used in the cultivation of retail marijuana.

Budget

  • HB16-1405/ Budget Bill for FY2016-17 (the “Long Bill”) passed through both the House and the Senate with numerous amendments. Pursuant to the Colorado Constitution, the Legislature is required to pass a balanced budget. Additionally, almost all of the budget “companion” bills passed, with the only exception being HB16-1412, which was withdrawn by the sponsors. These bills are run by JBC members, and make necessary statutory changes pursuant to funding decisions. In order to be run as companion bills, they must receive unanimous consent from the members of JBC.   Most important for tourism, our $19M budget for statewide tourism funding was untouched — a real win this year for TIAC.