By

Dan Pilcher

CACI Senior Vice President

& Chief Operating Officer

Phone: 303.866-9600

E-Mail: dpilcher@COchamber.com

Friday, February 2, 2007 -

Senate Passes Union-Backed HB-1072 This Afternoon on Second Reading

The Senate this afternoon passed HB-1072, the union-backed bill that will essentially repeal the 63-year-old Colorado Labor Peace Act, this morning.  After lengthy debate and defeat of numerous amendments, the Senate passed the bill on a voice vote.

The Senate will probably consider the bill for Third--and final--Reading on Monday.  If it passes, as CACI’s lobbying team expects, it will then go to Governor Bill Ritter for his signature.

Consequently, CACI urges its members to write the Governor as soon as possible and urge him to veto the bill.  His mailing address is 

Office of the Governor

Room 136

Colorado State Capitol

Denver CO 80203

The phone number for the Governor’s Office is 303.866.2471 and the fax number is 303.866.2003.  You may e-mail the Governor at governor.ritter@state.co.us but include your Colorado mailing address in your e-mail if you want a reply.

Past issues of CACI’s Colorado Capitol Report and The CACI Legislative Alert contain information about CACI’s opposition to the bill that you may want to include in your letter.  You can find these electronic newsletters on the CACI Web site:

www.COchamber.com

CACI members with questions about HB-1072 should contact Chuck Berry, CACI President, at 303.866.9601 or e-mail him at cberry@COchamber.com

CACI members who represent local chambers of commerce and trade associations are urged to alert their members to contact Governor Ritter to urge his veto of HB-1072.

The Rest of CACI’s Legislative Agenda . . .

Each legislative session, the CACI lobbying team analyzes bills for their effect on the state’s business community and decides CACI’s position under guidelines established by the CACI Board of Directors. 

The CACI lobbying team then prepares our Legislative Agenda, which is a complete listing of bills that CACI is lobbying, either in support or opposition.  The Legislative Agenda can be found on the CACI Web site, where it will be updated on a weekly basis.

www.COchamber.com

If you wish to track a particular bill’s legislative process, you can do so by going to the legislature’s Web site:

www.leg.state.co.us

HB-1176  Physician Choice (M. Carroll/Tochtrop)

Requires every insurance company and self-insured employer to provide a list of at least two unaffiliated physicians or one or more networks from which a worker must choose a doctor for work-related illness or injury.  It also allows the injured worker to change doctors (request cannot be denied) up to 90 days following the injury. 

Position: Oppose

Status: House Business Affairs & Labor Committee

SB-10  Nurse Staffing Levels (Tochtrop/Frangas)

Health Care Task Force recommendation.  Requires hospitals to develop and implement and make public a staffing plan that sets forth the minimum number of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and other personnel providing direct patient care required in each patient-care unit.

Position: Oppose

Status: Witness testimony taken on February 1^st by the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, but no Committee action was taken.

SB-97  Allocate Tobacco Settlement Moneys (FitzGerald/Madden)

Reallocates tobacco litigation settlement moneys from the state’s general fund to the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center

Position: Support

Status: Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee

HB-1073  Federal Basic Pilot Program for Public Contracts for Services (Keller/Judd)

Clarifies that an employer who contracts with the state for services is required to use or apply to use the Federal Basic Pilot Program to confirm employment eligibility of all newly hired employees.

Position: Support – Mountain States Employers Council’s position.

Status: Passed House on Third Reading on January 31^st and has been assigned to the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

SB-36  Mandatory Coverage of Mental Disorders (Keller/Stafford)

Expands mandatory health-insurance coverage to require coverage for mental disorders (in addition to biologically based mental illness) as defined in the 9^th revision of the International Classification of diseases (ICD-9).  Mental disorders under the ICD-9 include psychoses, neurotic disorders, personality disorders and other non-psychotic disorders and mental retardation.  Personality disorders include anxiety, alcohol dependence, obsessive-compulsive personality and sexual and gender identity disorders. 

Position: Oppose

Status: Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee

Killed Bills

SB-29  Requiring Private Employers to Participate in the Extended Federal Basic Employment Verification Pilot Program to Determine Work Eligibility Status (Schultheis/Lambert)

Requires private employers to apply to participate in the federal basic employment verification pilot program.  Fines employers for failing to apply. 

Position: Oppose

Status:  Killed by Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on January 31^st.

CACI Vice President of Governmental Affairs Donnah Moody testified against the bill.

HB-1112  Required Health Care Coverage for Mental Health (Casso)

Requires group health benefit plans to provide coverage for mental illness comparable to coverage for physical illness.  Applies to small-group basic-health-benefit plans. 

Position: Oppose.

Status: Killed by the House Health & Human Services Committee.

Bills Being Studied by CACI

CACI also is closely studying several bills on which CACI has not yet taken a position.  In addition, the CACI lobbying team also monitors a number of bills that may be of interest to CACI and the statewide business community.  If bills are amended in ways that could harm business or help business, then the CACI lobbying team will move those bills to the Legislative Agenda.

HB-1027  Modifications to Tax Credits for Economic Development (Witwer/Taylor)

Allows income tax credits for contributions to enterprise zone administrators to implement economic development plans back to January 1, 1989.  Allows the Colorado Economic Development Commission, rather than the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, to designate the administrator of an enterprise zone.  Relocates the definitions pertaining to the income tax credit allowed to taxpayers that hire new business facility employees in an enterprise zone.  Repeals obsolete provisions regarding an income tax credits.

Position: CACI Tax Council reviewing for impact to determine whether any Department FTE’s are included.

Status: Passed House unamended on January 22^nd and assigned to Senate Finance Committee.

HB-1142  Access to Information Submitted to a County Assessor Related to the Valuation of a Property that Produces Oil & Gas (Curry/White)

Makes public all statements and documentation filed with a county assessor related to the valuation of an oil or gas leasehold or land

Position: CACI Tax Council reviewing to determine impact on maintaining confidentiality of other proprietary business information.

Status: House Local Government Committee

HB-1144  False Claims Act (McFadyen/Veiga)

Authorizes civil actions against a person who submits false claims to the State and establishes penalties for false claims.  Prohibits an employer from preventing an employee from disclosing information related to a claim (whistleblower) and prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee for making a claim and establishes damages for retaliation. 

Position: Ensure bill does not exceed Federal Civil False Claims Act.

Status: House Judiciary Committee

CACI’s 2007 Lobbying Team

CACI’s lobbying team is headed by Chuck Berry, CACI President and former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.  Berry joined CACI in June 2000 as CACI President.

CACI’s Vice President of Governmental is Donnah Moody, who will be lobbying the CACI agenda at the State Capitol each day that the General Assembly is in session.  Donnah will be lobbying her second legislative session for CACI.  Prior to joining CACI in October 2005, she had served the four years prior as the lead lobbyist for the Colorado Rural Electric Association.

Assisting with CACI’s lobbying efforts are Steve Balcerovich and Larry Hudson.  Steve is working his ninth session as a contract lobbyist for CACI.  Larry is working his second session as a contract lobbyist for CACI.  Larry is devoted full-time to lobbying and is “Of Counsel” with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP.  Larry previously worked in the policy office of Colorado Governor Bill Owens.

CACI & Local Chambers of Commerce

About 30 local chambers of commerce across Colorado are dues-paying members of CACI.  A list of these chambers, with links to their Web sites, can be found on the CACI Web site under the “Business Resources” button.

CACI also houses and supports the Colorado Chamber of Commerce Executives (CCCE), a statewide association of local chamber executives, which provides CACI with policy input.  A CCCE representative serves on the CACI Board of Directors.  This representative is Amy Sherman, President and CEO of the West Chamber Serving Jefferson County.