FASTER OK With Ritter

A bill that would raise Coloradoan's motor vehicle registration fees to pay for highway and bridge improvements and repairs was signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter today.

SB 108, which has been given the acronym "FASTER," would generate more than $250 million per year for the state's transportation system. Some of the money would be used to repair more than 100 structurally deficient bridges.

"With this bill, we'll be able to begin work on the many unsafe bridges and roads all across this state -- work that has been neglected for far too long," Ritter said at the signing ceremony, which was held near a bridge at I-25 and 84th Avenue. "And at a time when the entire country is suffering from a recession, this legislation will let us save jobs, create jobs and help us get our economy moving again."

The measure, which drew nearly unanimous GOP opposition, grew out of Ritter's Blue Ribbon Transportation Finance and Implementation Panel. That advisory commission began meeting in 2007 and eventually won support for its recommendations from many business organizations and local governments.

The bill will allow local governments to toll existing roads in order to generate revenues. It will also impose a small fee on rental car transactions.

According to the measure's sponsors, SB 108 will cause the average driver to pay about $2.60 more per month to register a motor vehicle in the first year of the law's effect and an additional $3.50 per month when the new law is fully implemented in 2012.

Some of the money raised will go into a State Bridge Enterprise fund dedicated to repairing damaged or decaying bridges. That fund will be phased in over three years and will finance a $100 million annual investment in bridge repairs and replacements.

The new law also:

1. establishes a "High-Performance Transportation Enterprise" that aims to encourage innovative financing strategies, including certificates of participation, public-private partnerships, operating concession agreements, user-fee financing and design/build contracting;

2. allocates, upon full implementation, $150 million per year to state and local road-safety projects, with the existing distribution formula of 60 percent to the state, 22 percent to counties and 18 percent to municipalities maintained;

3. gives veto authority over proposed public highway user-fees by requiring 100 percent approval of federal, state and impacted local governments before establishing a highway user-fee or congestion-based tolling;

4. allocates $5 million of the funds each year to the State Transit and Rail Fund proposed in SB 94;

5. allows the Regional Transportation District to seek voter approval of financial measures without legislative approval;

6. creates an "Efficiency and Accountability Committee" within the Colorado Department of Transportation, comprised of private sector contractors and engineers, to identify financial and operational inefficiencies; and

7. requires CDOT's executive director to report annually to the General Assembly on Efficiency and Accountability Committee activities and implementation recommendations.

SB 108 was sponsored by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, and Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton.

"FASTER is an important part of the solution to a huge problem," Rice said. "FASTER will protect and create thousands of jobs for Coloradans, and it will allow us to address some significant safety concerns, as we repair and rebuild hundreds of crumbling bridges and many miles of our rutted roads."

FASTER Gains Initial Senate Approval With Tolls Provision

The Senate, in a surprising reversal, gave preliminary approval Wednesday to the controversial "FASTER" transportation funding bill, but only after first removing provisions that would open the door to additional use of tolls to pay for needed improvements and then adding that clause back to the bill.

SB 108 was approved on a party-line vote of 21-14.

The toll provision had been stripped earlier in the day by a coalition of Republicans and a few Democrats. But it was restored to the bill by the Democratic leadership before the vote.

The toll provision of the FASTER bill would authorize local governments to collect tolls to pay for the improvement, maintenance and repair expenses related to highways under their control.

Among other amendments agreed to by the chamber's ruling Democrats are provisions that remove a pilot project to study assessment of fees according to mileage driven, allow heavy trucks to pay a single-trip charge where tolls are in place, and that require 80 percent of the workforce on a highway project to employ Colorado workers and preference on contracts to be given to Colorado companies.

Republicans argued that the majority Democrats had not tried hard enough to compromise, while Democrats said they had gone as far as they could to accommodate GOP concerns over increased registration fees while preserving the amount of money needed to repair the state's crumbling highways and bridges. Democrats also argued that their willingness to phase in the fee increases was a significant compromise.

Senate president Peter Groff, D-Denver, also disputed GOP warnings that SB 108 could impose a political cost on Democrats in 2010.

"The numbers I care about are 47 and 12," Groff said. "47,000 Coloradans have lost their jobs in the last 12 months. The number I care about is 126. There are 126 structurally deficient bridges in Colorado that need to be fixed. The number I care about is 35. The I-35 bridge was the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota and we cannot allow that to happen in Colorado. We have a responsibility to get people back to work and that’s what this bill is about. It’s about putting Colorado back to work and making sure the roads are safe."

The measure, sponsored by West Slope Democrat Dan Gibbs, would raise motor vehicle registration fees by an average of $41 over the next three years in order to raise more than $200 million per year for transportation. The money would secure more than half of a billion dollars in bonds to pay for the improvements and repairs.

Under current law the state cannot spend any money on transportation until the general fund grows by six percent over the previous year. During a period of economic recession, when state revenues decline, transportation loses most or all of its funding.

Majority Democrats say a consistent funding source is needed both to expand the state's highway system and to repair more than 100 bridges deemed structurally unsound.

Republicans want some of the general fund allocated to transportation and have also suggested using a portion of severance taxes paid by energy companies to fund transportation.

Minority leader Josh Penry, R-Fruita, accused Democrats of displaying a lack of "common sense."

"This Senate is poised to impose hundreds of millions of dollars in new fees on motorists, but we can't reprioritize any money in our existing budget -- not a single penny -- towards safer roads and bridges?" Penry said.

The GOP idea to allocate severance taxes was nixed by voters in the November 2008 election.

The current law requiring transportation to be funded only after six percent growth in the general fund, known as SB1 funding, was enacted in 1997 during a period of Republican control of the statehouse.

FASTER To Hit Senate Floor

The bill that would raise motor vehicle registration fees to pay for improvements and repairs to the state's highways and bridges cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee this morning, opening the door for the whole Senate to consider the controversial proposal.

SB 108, sponsored by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, was approved on a 6-4 party-line vote after the committee defeated GOP attempts to eliminate a study of alternative means to finance the state's transportation needs.

That alternative system, called "Vehicle Miles Transferred" or VMT, would, if adopted, require drivers to pay a fee based on the number of miles driven instead of a tax on each gallon of gasoline purchased.

The study would involve asking Coloradans to volunteer to participate. Gibbs said he thinks the study would be unlikely to have any significant impact on the way the state finances its transportation system for at least 20 years.

The measure now heads to the full Senate.

Democratic Transportation Bill Moves On

The comprehensive transportation funding bill that would raise motorists' registration fees to pay for highway and bridge repairs has taken another step forward on the road to law.

SB 108, which is known by the acronym "FASTER," cleared the Senate Finance Committee Thursday on a 4-3 party-line vote.

Sponsoring Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, said the committee's fast action, which followed approval by another Senate committee earlier in the week, is necessary because the bill will promote job creation.

"If we can create a safer environment while creating more jobs for people in Colorado, let’s do it and let’s do it now," Gibbs said. "The 'ER' in FASTER in for 'Economic Recovery’. We need a reliable, sustainable, responsible solution and a real plan for the future of Colorado now, and this is it.”

The measure will raise about $214 million in its first year if it becomes law and about $250 million in subsequent years. The money will come from increases to motor vehicle registration fees.

The average increase for an individual is expected to be about $2.50 per month, according to a Senate Democratic Caucus "fact sheet" released earlier in the week.

The measure now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

FASTER Bill Passes First Hurdle

A Democratic bill aimed at financing needed highway and bridge improvements and repairs in the state has cleared its first legislative hurdle.

The FASTER bill, which would raise motor vehicle registration fees and raise more than $200 million per year, was approved today by the Senate Transportation Committee on a 4-3 vote.

The measure's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Dan Gibbs of Silverthorne, welcomed the bill's advance as a way of helping revitalize Colorado's economy.

"If we can create jobs while at the same time making our roads and bridges safer, let’s do it," Gibbs said. "I’ve been working closely with the business community, local governments and my constituents to make sure we start creating these jobs now.”

Although SB 108 cleared the committee with no GOP votes in support, some influential business interests are in favor of it.

“Colorado and this country are in unprecedented times,” Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer Joe Blake told the committee. “At this moment we have a choice and a responsibility. We need to get Colorado back to work and Senate bill 108 provides stable and reasonable sources of funding to address the maintenance problems in our transportation system. This proposal will create needed jobs.”

The measure proposes to raise registration fees by about $30-40 year, raising $214 million in the first year of the program and $230 million each year thereafter. A press release issued by the Senate Democratic Caucus indicates that the average person in Colorado would pay $2.50 more to register their motor vehicle each year.

The money generated would be divided between bridge repairs and highway repairs and upgrades.

About $100 million would be dedicated to the bridge aspect of the program and would be directed toward repairing the 125 bridges in the state rated as structurally deficient. The money would enable the Colorado Department of Transportation to secure certificate of participation financing that in turn would permit needed repairs to proceed immediately.

According to the Colorado Contractors Association the bill, if enacted into law, would create as many as 30,000 jobs.

Gibbs has been working to secure Republican co-sponsorship of his proposal. However, according to a report in the Denver Post's Politics West blog, GOP Senate leader Josh Penry of Fruita said that Republicans want to use the effort to secure a permanent and stable source of transportation funding to secure "meaningful tax reform."

Republicans made their own proposal for transportation funding today. It would redirect tens of millions of dollars from the state's general fund plus 25 percent of severance taxes generated from oil and gas extraction activities into transportation.

Last year voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have authorized the use of severance taxes for transportation.

The General Assembly is considering spending cuts to close a shortfall this year, and an expected shortfall next year, in the general fund. The total amount of that shortfall is expected to be $639 million this year, according to Gov. Bill Ritter's budget director, and about $300 billion in FY 2009.

Current law specifies that no state money can be directed into transportation until the general fund has grown by 6 percent over the previous year.

SB 108 heads next to the Senate Finance Committee.

Gibbs Introduces FASTER Transportation Funding Bill

A much-anticipated bill that would raise motor vehicle registration fees to finance improvements and repairs to the state's heavily used and decaying highway and bridge system was introduced at the capitol today.

SB 108, sponsored by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, would ask the average Colorado driver to pay $32 more in registration fees in the first year of the program and then, on average, an additional $42 above what is being paid now every year after that.

The plan would raise about $214 million during its first year in effect and about $265 million every year after that.

Those funds would be used to repay Certificates of Participation, a form of loan, that would be used to finance up-front improvements including repairs to 126 bridges with structural problems.

A "fact sheet" on the so-called FASTER proposal released by Senate Democrats' communications office says that Gibbs' bill, starting in the second year of the program it creates, would generate about $160 million for safety improvements and about $100 million for bridge-related work.

In addition to the increased registration fees, Gibbs' proposal would also institute a new fees on motor vehicle rentals, late motor vehicle registrations, and registration of oversize or overweight vehicles.

Gibbs also said at a capitol news conference Friday that about $10 million raised by the new fees would be available for mass transit projects. In addition, the legislation would authorize municipalities to use tolls or public-private partnerships to finance road projects and allow the use of experimental financing methods like allow communities the option to explore other road project financing mechanisms such as a per-mile driving tax instead of the current tax applied to each gallon of gasoline purchased at the pump.

Republicans have said they are not inclined to support new and increased fees and Gibbs' bill has no GOP co-sponsor.

Gibbs acknowledged that Republican lawmakers have not signed on to his approach.

“Today we are starting a very important conversation,” he said.

In any case, however, Gibbs said Friday that the potential for economic stimulus is also a powerful justification for his bill.

A recent study by the Colorado Contractors Association indicates that a $250 million annual investment in the state's transportation system would generate between 10,000-40,000 new jobs.

The House sponsor of the FASTER proposal is Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton.

Gibbs Misses Ritter Speech, But Definitely Has Excuse

Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, was not at the Capitol this morning when Gov. Bill Ritter delivered his State of the State address to the gathered senators and representatives.

That would normally be considered a political faux pas, but the wildlands firefighter from the West Slope will likely be given a pass.

Gibbs worked in a crew fighting the fires raging north of Boulder Wednesday night and early Thursday morning deep into the wee hours.

The Olde Stage fire , which burned about 1,400 acres, was finally suppressed on Thursday after forcing the evacuation of several hundred people.

Ritter Asks US Department of Agriculture for Forest Funds

Gov. Bill Ritter is asking the Bush Administration for millions of dollars to fight Colorado's pine beetle infestation and to pay for wildfire prevention efforts.

The request comes in the form of a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, asking the department to award up to three long-term, 10-year forest-restoration contracts to private vendors in Colorado.

The department currently awards only short-term stewardship contracts, but Colorado’s new Forest Health Advisory Council says vendors require the stability of longer-term contracts.

The Governor’s letter follows passage of SJR 08-010, which requests that the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Colorado State Forest Service work together to identify and implement up to three long-term stewardship contracts.

SJR 08-010 was sponsored by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, and Rep. Christine Scanlan, D-Summit County.

“A broad spectrum of stakeholders agrees that long-term stewardship contracts are an effective tool for bridging the gap between collaboratively identified forest management priorities and the lack of resources and/or industry to accomplish them,” Ritter said. “This is an example of how we can maximize funds to keep our forests healthy and protect our communities.”

The governor's letter is here.

Breastfeeding Law Takes Effect

Colorado became the 16th state in the union to guarantee women the right to breastfeed at work today as the Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act went into effect.

“With healthier infants, fewer working mothers will miss work to stay home with a sick child. This is the right thing for moms, for healthy babies and for a productive workplace,” Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and the bill's sponsor, said in a press release issued by the House Democratic Caucus. “Businesses recognize the value of healthy children and how that increases the productivity and morale of working mothers.”

Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, was the Senate sponsor of the bill.

The new law will require Colorado employers to provide reasonable break time, to provide private space for mothers to express breast milk at work, and to not discriminate against them for doing so.

A new website with information for employers interested in learning how to comply with the new law has been set up.

Ritter Signs Breastfeeding at Work, Textbook Bills

Gov. Bill Ritter signed Monday a bill that requires employers to provide time and space for nursing mothers to breastfeed or pump milk.

HB 1276 says that an employer cannot meet the requirement by forcing an employee to use a toilet stall. It also requires an employee who believes she has not been accommodated to submit to mediation before suing her employer.

The "Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act" was sponsored by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne.

Today the governor signed a bill that will force textbook publishers to "unbundle" CDs and DVDs from textbooks, disclose revisions from prior editions of textbooks, and publicly disclose the textbook prices.

SB 73, sponsored by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, and Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, was lauded by the governor as a pro-consumer measure.

"This is a consumer right-to-know bill for students and educators alike,” Ritter said. “It represents an important step toward transparency and will help students and their families plan their budgets. Textbooks cost students hundreds of dollars a semester, and with two students in college myself, I know that every dollar counts.”

School Nutrition Bill Hits Ritter's Desk

The Senate re-approved a bill requiring public schools, including charter schools, to avoid making soft drinks and other heavily sugared drinks available to students in vending machines, cafeterias and at on-campus events, sending the measure to Gov. Bill Ritter.

SB 129 directs school districts and the charter school institute to write policies limiting students' choice to milk, flavored milk, juices, sports drinks and water.

The Senate took the measure up again because it had been amended in the House. The final vote was 21-14.

Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, was the only Republican senator to support the bill, which had the support of all the chamber's Democrats.

Democrat Dan Gibbs of Silverthorne carried the bill in the Senate.

State Employee Strike Ban Gets Guv's OK

A bill that would make clear that state employees are not allowed to strike won Gov. Bill Ritter's approval Thursday.

HB 1189 provides that a state employee or a labor organization commits a misdemeanor by inciting, encouraging, aiding or participating in a "strike, stoppage of work, slowdown or interruption of operations."

Ritter issued an executive order allowing state employees to form collective bargaining organizations for limited purposes last year.

His order purported to prohibit strikes by state employees.

However, Republicans, spurred on by an opinion by Attorney General John Suthers, had argued that Ritter's executive order opened the door to public employee strikes because Colorado had no law prohibiting them.

The measure was sponsored by Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, and Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne.

HB 1189 goes into effect immediately because the bill has an "emergency clause."

School Nutrition Bill Gets Preliminary House OK

The House has given preliminary approval to a bill that would limit the kinds of beverages that can be sold to students at public schools and at charter schools.

SB 129 does not specifically ban the sale of soft drinks and other heavily sugar-laden beverages on school campuses. Instead, it would require school districts and the charter school institute to write policies that forbid the sale of beverages that do not meet minimum nutritional standards.

The bill would apply to sales in cafeterias, from vending machines and school stores, and at fundraising events held on campuses.

The House sponsor is Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley. It was carried in the Senate by Democrat Dan Gibbs of Silverthorne.

The measure faces one more vote in the House. If it passes on third reading, it will go to Gov. Bill Ritter.

Senate Appropriations Sidelines Effort to Ban Porn Sales to Kids

A bill that would have made it a crime to sell pornography to minors in the state died in the Senate Appropriations Committee Friday.

SB 125 was a broad effort to shield minors from exposure to nudity or displays of sexual activity. The bill provided that violation of the ban would be a misdemeanor.

The bill's specific criteria for determining whether sex-related material violated the ban is one source of the controversy surrounding the proposal. The language employed by bill sponsor Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, was as follows:

"A material or performance is deemed harmful to minors if the material or performance depicts nudity or sexual activity and if the material or performance, when taken as a whole, meets the following criteria:

(a) a reasonable adult person would find that the material or performance has a predominant tendency to appeal to the prurient interest of minors; and
(b) a reasonable adult person would find that the depiction of nudity or sexual activity in the material or performance is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community concerning what is suitable for minors; and
(c) a reasonable adult person would find that the material or performance lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors."

This language was drawn from a federal statute called the Child Online Protection Act, which was enacted into law by Congress in 1998. That law and a predecessor called the Communications Decency Act were ruled unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment in two cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Court has held that the First Amendment does allow legislatures greater latitude to restrict the access of minors to pornographic material to minors than would be allowed for adults, but there is uncertainty about whether this "community standard" criteria is constitutional. The Court did not have a majority of its members agreeing that the First Amendment allows pornographic material to be banned with such language in either of the cases ruling on the constitutionality of COPA or CDA.

In addition, opponents of the bill have raised concerns that, whether or not it is consistent with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, it has a higher likelihood of being in conflict with the state constitution's speech clause.

In any event, the decision by the Appropriations Committee turned on money, not the freedom of speech.

Republican Sen. Steve Johnson of Fort Collins was apparently perplexed by the majority's conclusion that there's not enough to pay for the bill's mandate.

"There is an appropriate, unexpended, unaccounted for funding source," Johnson said.

SB 125 had previously been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee when Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, joined with three Republicans on that committee to support the measure.

Nursing Mothers Bill Keeps Moving

A bill that would require Colorado employers to accommodate nursing mothers' need to breastfeed their infants or pump milk gained final approval in the Senate Monday and now heads to Gov. Bill Ritter.

HB 1276 provides that employers have to give female employees reasonable amounts of unpaid break time and/or paid breaks and/or mealtime in order to allow breastfeeding or pumping for up to two years after the employee's child is born.

The measure also requires employers to make "reasonable efforts" to provide privacy to the employee by means of a separate room and not a toilet stall.

The bill specifies that an employer does not have to take on any "undue hardship" to comply with the law. That phrase is has a meaning that is dependent on the financial condition and size of a business, the nature of its operations, and considerations of public safety.

The proposed "Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act" was sponsored in the House by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and in the Senate by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 14 other states have laws that touch on the right of female employees to expel milk at work.

Senate Passes Strike Ban Bill

The Senate gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill that would prohibit state employees from going on strike, but not without a fight from Republicans.

HB 1189 would make striking a misdemeanor. It also applies to encouragement or incitement of a strike. The measure applies to work slowdowns as well as full-fledged strikes.

The criminal penalty could be imposed both on individuals and a labor organization. Individuals could be fined $50 per day for violating the law, while organizations could be hit with a $1,000 per day fine.

GOP senators offered numerous amendments in an attempt to impose tougher penalties for going on strike. Republicans had offered a separate bill earlier in the session, since killed, that would have made public employee strikes a felony and barred strikes by other public employees including teachers and RTD drivers.

All of the Republican amendments failed, despite GOP arguments that stronger penalties are needed to protect taxpayers from interruptions of vital public functions that Republican senators said might result from Gov. Bill Ritter's autumn 2007 executive order allowing formation of some employee bargaining units in state government.

"We wouldn't be having this debate in the first place if the governor hadn't opened up this can of worms with his executive order," Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said.

Democratic sponsor Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, argued that the bill does what is necessary to protect against state employee strikes without interfering with Gov. Bill Ritter's efforts to improve working conditions for state employees and government efficiency.

"This is about ensuring we have decent salaries and we have decent health insurance,” he said. “This is not about striking. This is about quality of life.”

In the end, Republicans supported the bill on grounds that it was a better alternative than having no prohibition against strikes in state law.

"It's not a terribly strong bill, but it's the only bill in front of us to try to accomplish what needs to be done," minority leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, said.

The bill faces a final vote in the Senate before going to Ritter.

Evan Dreyer, a spokesperson for Ritter, said the governor is likely to sign the bill.

"He has said repeatedly he would sign it," Dreyer said. "We don't think it's necessary, but if the legislature thinks so, he'll sign it."

Dreyer also said that Ritter does not consider the strike ban bill to be inconsistent with his executive order authorizing some collective bargaining activities by state employees.

"It is in keeping with the executive order," Dreyer said.

Attorney General John Suthers said shortly after Ritter's executive order was issued that it did not and could not prohibit state employees from striking.

School Nutrition Bill Clears Senate

A bill that would require the state's school districts and charter schools to sell only those beverages that meet science-based, nationally-recognized nutritional standards gained final approval by the Senate Thursday.

SB 129, sponsored by Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, is an attempt to combat childhood obesity. The bill would direct the state Board of Education and the Charter School Institute to set rules establishing what nutritious beverages can be sold on campuses.

If enacted, the bill's provisions would go into effect for the 2008-2009 school year. Its terms would cover sale of beverages after regular school hours, such as when students are engaged in extracurricular activities. It would apply to sales of beverages in school cafeterias, vending machines, school stores and at fundraising activities conducted on school campuses.

The bill passed on a 20-13 vote, with Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, the only Republican in support. All Democratic Senators, except Paula Sandoval of Denver, voted for the bill. Sandoval and Republican Nancy Spence of Centennial were absent, though Spence voted against the bill in committee.

Dem Strike Ban Bill Gets Past Senate Committee

A Democratic bill that would forbid state workers from going on strike was approved by a Senate committee Wednesday.

HB 1189 was sent to the full Senate on a 4-1 vote of the State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee.

The bill does not make the act of going on strike a felony, as Republicans would prefer. Instead, it makes it a misdemeanor.

Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, was the sole member of the committee to vote against the bill.

Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Fort Collins, and Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, are the sponsors of the bill.

Breastfeeding Accommodation Bill Approved by Committee

A bill requiring employers to set aside space for nursing mothers to breastfeed their infants, or pump milk for storage, was overwhelmingly approved by the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee Thursday.

HB 1276 would impose on private businesses a "reasonable accommodation" standard, requiring the employer to provide time and space for breastfeeding.

The proposed "Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act" does not require employers to pay female employees for the time taken to nurse an infant or expel milk. The bill would allow employers to designate established break and meal interludes as periods available for nursing, so long as they are sufficiently numerous to be the necessary reasonable accommodation.

The bill also requires that the employer provide space other than a toilet stall for nursing purposes.

HB 1276 is sponsored by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and Sen. Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne.

Romanoff Announces New Committee Assignments

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D-Denver) announced new assignments to committees Sunday, including giving a convert from the GOP an important vice-chair slot.

Rep. Debbie Stafford (D-Aurora), who switched parties after last year's session, will be the new vice-chair of the Judiciary committee. She replaces Rep. Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora), who is replacing former Rep. Mike Cerbo as chair of the House majority caucus.

Rep. Stafford will also continue to sit on the Health and Human Services committee.

Romanoff also gave committee assignments to the chamber's two Democratic newcomers, Christine Scanlan and Mark Ferrandino.

Ferrandino, who replaced Cerbo, will sit on the Business Affairs and Labor committee and the State, Veterans and Military Affairs committee.

Scanlan, who replaced Sen. Dan Gibbs when he took the seat formerly occupied by Joan Fitz-Gerald, will sit on Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources committee and the Transportation and Energy committee.

Romanoff also announced that Rep. Cheri Jahn (D-Wheat Ridge) will replace Cerbo on the Judiciary committee and that Rep. Gwyn Green (D-Golden) will replace Gibbs as vice-chair of the Transportation and Energy committee.