click to enlarge Colorado Restaurant Association
click to enlarge The owner of Blue Bonnet is one of many who testified in support of the bill in early March. Danielle Lirette
What’s Next?
Following the intense and impassioned testimony that went late into the night at the House Finance Committee on March 3 over HB25-1208, a proposed law that would cut base wages for tipped employees , there were almost two weeks of silence. Then, at 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, a new amendment was dropped, and it was announced that the Finance committee would hold an action-only hearing (meaning no witness testimony) the next day.The new amendment, L015, was…convoluted. The best way to explain it is be the following graph:“ If I’m being honest, each of these amendments have successively made this bill more and more confusing,” said Representative Yara Zokaie, who went on to tackle her concerns that certain language in the bill might violate the state constitution.Over the next hour or so, committee members asked Representatives Steven Woodrow and Alex Valdez question after question about how the complexity of the bill might lead to increased wage theft; about how Denver workers, with the highest cost-of-living in the metro area, would get the least relief; about how it’s possible the fiscal impact could be $0; about the reasoning for a four-year phase approach and a 75 percent tipped minimum wage plateau; and about why, again, this isn’t a matter for local government.In short, the committee still seemed wholly unconvinced. With constituents and stakeholders holding their breath for the vote, it was postponed once again — although just for a few hours until the end of the committee hearing.During that time, both sides of the argument came together and struck a compromise that completely upended the bill’s original proposal. Instead of adjusting Colorado’s tip credit or setting ceilings and floors for the state, the sponsors removed the majority of the existing language of the bill and instead called for allowing local governments to determine their own tip offsets, with a minimum of $3.02 (which is what the current tip offset is statewide).Leaning into local control was the only way to find common ground between the proponents and opponents of 1208, although neither side was entirely ecstatic about it. “I’ll say this, if the mark of a good compromise is that both sides leave dissatisfied, Amendment L018 is a total banger,” joked Representative Woodrow.Pacified by this compromise, the committee voted 11-2 in favor, although many of the “yes” votes spoke on the record about how they would “have preferred to have the full local control,” noted Representative Brianna Titone.Representative Bob Marshall echoed that sentiment, saying, “Full local control was the original amendment I expected to see but the most and biggest concern was the status quo and the impact it had on current workers so if this preserves their current wage status and allows the jurisdiction to increase it as they see fit, I think mine would be more of just an ideological objection to be against it rather than a pragmatic one and I err on the side of pragmatism so I appreciate this amendment.”One of the “no” votes was Representative Lorena Garcia. “I want to start with how this discussion even began and the sense of urgency that restaurants felt that something had to be done immediately right away, otherwise they would all shut down,” she said. “I am frustrated and I’m upset that [this amendment] is not achieving a solution and these restaurants were here crying and claiming that they needed it. Why is this bill simply not [postponed indefinitely]? Why then are we even doing this?”But doing this, we are. The bill’s next step will be a House floor vote; if it passes, HB-1208 will move on to the Senate.After the vote, both sides came out with statements of support. “This compromise isn’t going to help Colorado restaurants that are struggling to keep the lights on right now,” said Colorado Restaurant Association president and CEO Sonia Riggs. “What it does is provide a shred of hope that city and county governments, if they’re listening to their business community, will take on the challenge of finding some relief for local restaurants before it’s too late.”An equally lukewarm, couched statement came from the coalition of labor rights activists who originally opposed the bill, which includes Coloradans for the Common Good, One Fair Wage, Colorado Jobs with Justice and others. “The amended version of the bill importantly avoids an immediate wage cut for tipped employees and preserves some local control. It’s still unfortunate that the bill only gives local control to local governments if they want to vote to keep their tipped minimum wage low, but will not allow them to vote to end the subminimum wage for tipped workers,
Colorado Tipped Wages Bill Passes Finance Committee With an Amendment
