WORKFORCE

Colorado workers kept our state and our economy running through several extremely difficult years of pandemic disruptions and health and safety hazards. This year, Democrats uplifted workers by extending collective bargaining rights, making whistleblower protections permanent, and supporting communities transitioning away from coal-based economies.

Additionally, Democrats worked to bolster the state’s workforce through a number of initiatives aimed at providing new learning and professional development opportunities, lowering barriers to entry to specific career paths, and increasing wages to help ensure every working family has the support they need to thrive.

Supporting Workers

Collective Bargaining For Counties | SB22-230

Fenberg & Moreno / Esgar

Right now, only four out of Colorado’s 64 counties recognize their workers’ right to collectively bargain. The Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act guarantees an estimated 36,000 county employees the right to organize under a collective bargaining unit, more than doubling the number of public workers in Colorado entitled to negotiate for better pay, benefits and working conditions. The bill grants collective bargaining rights to 98% of eligible statutory county workers in Colorado – county workers in counties with over 7,500 residents, and not including consolidated cities and counties.

Whistleblower Protections | SB22-097

Pettersen & Rodriguez / Herod & Sullivan

The bill makes permanent pandemic-era protections for workers in the public and private sectors that ensure workers have the ability to raise concerns about workplace health and safety practices or hazards to their employer, other workers, the public, or government agencies. The legislation also protects workers from retaliation, discrimination, or adverse action, allows workers to wear personal protective equipment while at work without fear of discrimination, and prohibits employers from requiring employees to sign contracts that waive these rights. The legislation also gives the Department of Labor and Employment the authority to enforce and investigate claims.

Wage Theft Employee Misclassification Enforcement | SB22-161

Danielson & Jaquez Lewis / Duran & Froelich

Wage theft deprives Colorado workers of at least $750 million in legally earned wages each year. The bill empowers the Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) to facilitate the collection of unpaid wages in wage theft cases by expanding investigatory authority to locate violators and streamlining enforcement of CDLE determinations in court. It also establishes the Worker and Employee Unit in the Department of Law to investigate and enforce wage theft, unemployment insurance, and misclassification of employees, and workplace safety claims under specified circumstances.

Safe Reporting Assaults Suffered By Sex Workers | HB22-1288

Fields & Smallwood / Titone & Soper

The bill allows for safe reporting for sex workers if they witnessed or were a victim of a violent crime, granting a victim or witness immunity from certain prostitution-related charges if the evidence for the charges was obtained as a result of the victim seeking assistance from a law enforcement officer or emergency services. Under the bill, victims would receive immunity from prosecution when reporting to law enforcement the crimes of human trafficking, stalking, kidnapping, assault, and murder.

Fund Just Transition Community & Worker Supports | HB22-1394

Winter & Donovan / Esgar & Roberts

The bill allocates $15 million to the Office of Just Transition and Coal Transition Worker Assistance Programs, both aimed at boosting communities and workers transitioning from coal-based economies. $5 million will go to the Just Transition Cash Fund to support targeted economic development for expansion assistance for existing local businesses, expanding private financial investment, and site selector and technical assistance engagements. $10 million will go to the Coal Transition Worker Assistance Program Account to directly assist coal transition workers and their families with tuition assistance and apprenticeships, expanded child care assistance, career planning services, financial counseling, and housing assistance.

Fund Just Transition Coal Workforce Programs | HB22-1193

Hansen & Rankin / Herod & McCluskie

The bill allocates a total of $4.5 million over the next two years to the Office of Just Transition to support programs to assist workers and communities impacted by the transition away from a coal-based economy.

Workers' Compensation Updates | HB22-1374

Rodriguez / Daugherty

The bill makes updates to the Workers’ Compensation Act to: allow for advance payments for mileage reimbursements in certain situations; clarify how benefit amounts are determined for permanent medical impairments when the schedule of injuries amount payable exceeds the amount payable for nonscheduled injuries; increase benefits for funeral and burial expenses; and require reporting of active medical treatments lasting more than 180 days after the date of injury.

Workers' Compensation Injury Notices | HB22-1112

Gonzales / Daugherty

The bill extends the timeline for an employee to notify their employer about an on-the-job injury from four to ten days and updates the public signage regarding workers’ compensation.

Updates to Employment Discrimination Laws | HB22-1367

Winter & Pettersen / Lontine & Gray

The bill amends the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to include individuals in domestic service in the definition of ‘employee’, extends the time to file a charge with the Civil Rights Commission from six months to 300 days after the occurrence and the time in which the commission has jurisdiction over complaints if written notice that a formal hearing will be held from 270 to 450 days, and repeals the prohibition against the relief and recovery of certain damages in age discrimination cases.

Developing Colorado’s Workforce

Community College Nursing Bachelor Degree Eligibility | SB22-003

Donovan & Buckner / Exum & Mullica

Under current law, community colleges may offer a bachelor of science degree in nursing as a completion degree to students who have or who are pursuing an associate degree in nursing. The bill allows community colleges to also offer the nursing degree to students who have or are pursuing a certificate in nursing.

Expansion Of Experiential Learning Opportunities | SB22-140

Coleman & Gardner / McLachlan & Amabile

The bill is aimed at bolstering Colorado’s workforce by incentivizing businesses to create high quality work-based learning opportunities for students and adults by aligning existing state-funded programs in education, training and employment. The bill also creates a digital navigator program tasked with addressing digital inequities that prevent people from accessing work-based learning, job-training and employment opportunities. The bill also makes investments in virtual career-aligned English as a Second Language programming to ensure English language learners have equitable access to experiential learning opportunities.

Regional Talent Development Initiative Grant Program | HB22-1350

Bridges & Lundeen / McCluskie & Rich

Investing in Colorado’s workforce will have a transformational effect on workforce shortages today and well into the future. The bill establishes the Regional Talent Development Initiative Grant Program in the Office of Economic Development and International Trade to build and scale successful partnerships between employers and postsecondary institutions to fill good jobs in growing industries. The bill allocates $91 million to the new grant program. The competitive grant program would leverage local, federal and private dollars to better align postsecondary credential programs to today’s jobs. The program will take a regional approach to create partnerships between employers and postsecondary institutions to build new pathways into high-skilled and high-demand industries, especially in industries with staffing shortages.

Colorado Rural Health Care Workforce Initiative | SB22-172

Winter & Rankin / Roberts & Rich

The bill creates the Colorado Rural Health Care Workforce Initiative, which allows institutions of higher education to establish or expand a health care rural track to encourage and train health care providers to practice in rural communities. Students who participate in the rural track program are eligible for a scholarship if they commit to practicing in a rural or frontier county for two years. The bill also establishes a Rural Program Office in the University of Colorado School of Medicine to develop a relevant curriculum, provide technical assistance to participating institutions, and evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative. 

Health Care Workforce | SB22-226

Jaquez Lewis & Rankin / Mullica

The bill expands the healthcare workforce through financial support for added capacity in health care oriented education programs at existing institutions from federal pandemic relief funds: $26 million to pay for in-demand health education credentials (like CNA and EMT) through the community college system; $20 million for a practice-based health education grant program, to address the bottleneck that is clinical placement sites for health students; $10 million for short-term recruitment of health care workers to deal with current and anticipated fall COVID wave shortages; $3 million for the existing school nurse grant program; and $2 million for wellness and peer support programs aimed at support and retention.  

Fee Relief for Nurses | HB22-1298

Hinrichsen & Jaquez Lewis / Mullica

This bill provides licensure and certification fee relief for nurses, nurse aides, and psychiatric technicians. $11.7 million will be used to fund the State Board of Nursing expenses to regulate nurses, nurse aides, and psychiatric technicians starting in FY22-23 until the funds have been fully expended. 

Increase Minimum Wage For Nursing Home Workers | HB22-1333

Rankin & Zenzinger / McCluskie & Herod

Under current law, only nursing facilities that are within a locality that have increased their local minimum wage are eligible to receive annual supplemental payments to increase the minimum wage for nursing facility employees up to the minimum wage set by the locality. The bill changes the definition of "eligible nursing facility provider" and makes other conforming changes to allow any Colorado nursing facility that meets the defined criteria to be eligible to receive wage enhancement supplemental payments, as defined in the bill, to increase the minimum wage for nursing facility employees to at least $15 per hour. 

Behavioral Health Care Workforce Development | SB22-181

Bridges & Simpson / Cutter & Van Beber

If we want to achieve our goal of transforming Colorado’s behavioral health system and better meet the needs of patients, then we need a robust workforce to help us do it. This bill directs the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) to invest $72 million to bolster and stabilize the state’s behavioral health care workforce, which will help more Coloradans access the critical care they need to thrive. The BHA’s workforce plan must include efforts to diversify the behavioral health workforce, expand the peer support professional workforce, reduce the administrative burden on providers, and support the existing workforce. The bill also provides funding to the community college system to build a robust career pathway for the behavioral health field. 

Interstate Licensed Professional Counselor Compact | SB22-077

Ginal & Woodward / Larson & Young

This bill enacts the Interstate Licensed Professional Counselors Compact which will allow licensed professional counselors in any state that have joined the compact to provide services in each member state under a privilege of practice, including telehealth services in each member state. 

License Registration Fee Relief For Mental Health Professionals | HB22-1299

Fields & Kolker / Young

The pandemic has not only exacerbated stress for Coloradans, it has significantly increased the workload for our mental health workers. This legislation will make it easier and cheaper for mental health workers to apply or renew their licenses. The bill transfers $3.7 million to Department of Regulatory Agencies to pay for expenses of the state board of psychologist examiners, state board of social work examiners, state board of marriage and family therapist examiners, state board of licensed professional counselor examiners, state board of unlicensed psychotherapists, and the state board of addiction counselor examiners to provide fee relief for mental health professionals regulated by the boards.

Protecting Injured Workers' Mental Health Records | HB22-1354

Winter / Michaelson Jenet & Lindsay

The bill amends the Workers’ Compensation Act of Colorado to limit the disclosure of records related to a claimant’s mental health. The bill also requires a person providing mental health services to a Workers’ Compensation claimant to be a licensed mental health provider.