Colorado House passes union-organizing bill as another veto threat looms

The Colorado House passed pro-union legislation Monday that would make it easier for organized workers to negotiate with their employers — a rerun of a vetoed bill that’s again likely to meet with doom.

House Bill 1005‘s passage was essentially a forgone conclusion. Every Democrat in the legislature had supported the 2025 version of the bill, and every House Democrat supported this year’s version. A priority for the organized workers who form a key part of the Democratic base, the bill would repeal a unique provision of Colorado law that requires unions to pass two elections before they can fully negotiate with employers.

Democrats’ priority bills on taxes, unions are up for key votes this week in the Colorado legislature

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The first election -- requiring a simple majority vote of members -- is standard nationwide and is held to establish the union. Colorado law then requires a second vote, with a threshold of support that's as high as 75%, before the new union can negotiate the provision of union contracts related to union dues.

"Today, we're back because the problem did not go away," said Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat who's sponsoring the bill with fellow Denver Rep. Jennifer Bacon. "It has only gotten worse. Costs keep rising. Workers are under attack like never before. The president is gutting worker protections provided by the Department of Labor" and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA.

The House's Republicans all voted against the bill in the 42-22 party-line vote.

HB-1005 now moves to the state Senate, where it's expected to again pass and go to Gov. Jared Polis for passage into law.

But it's unlikely to get to the finish line: As he did last year, Polis has signaled that he will veto the bill unless business groups agree to a deal with the unions and Democrats backing it.

When no deal materialized last year, Polis rejected the measure. A spokesperson for the governor's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning.

The governor has defended what state economic officials have called the state's hybrid "right-to-work law" and said he wants Colorado's unions and businesses to reach an agreement on changing it.

When business groups rejected Polis' last offer last year, Polis tried to expand the talks to include his own priorities, a move that unions and Democrats starkly opposed. That prompted a complete collapse of the negotiations, then passage of the bill as written and, finally, Polis' veto.

This year, though, the end of Polis' final term in office is in sight.

No ongoing negotiations are underway involving his office or business groups. Union groups argue that Polis' public veto threat has made it harder for them to negotiate. The bill's supporters have instead turned their eyes to pushing Polis' successor, who will likely be a Democrat, to commit to supporting the policy when the new governor takes office in January.

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