Polis’ Senate Bill 5 veto maintains the Labor Peace Act, until compromise can be met (Editorial)

Colorado lawmakers vacated the state Capitol more than a week ago having done extraordinary bipartisan work with the state s tightening budget But Gov Jared Polis vetoes have kept specific of the Democrats more ambitious goals in check On Friday Polis struck down an attempt to make Colorado more union-friendly a bill that would have undone decades of compromise between big businesses and big unions in this state The veto preserved Colorado s middle-of-the-road Labor Peace Act but Polis decision is one of the largest part controversial vetoes in latest history We had joined Polis in calling for a compromise that respected the importance of organized labor and also the importance of keeping union dues and fees in check Unfortunately a compromise could not be exposed and Polis was right to veto Senate Bill The entire process of Senate Bill proves that Colorado s functioning legislative system is good for this state While Congress refuses to act on immigration on the national debt and deficit on any number of critical measures Colorado s General Assembly is having healthy debates and nuanced agenda conversations The disagreement on Senate Bill came down to a scarce percentage points illustrating just how crucial compromise was Instead the issue will head to the ballot box Colorado voters will likely see competing measures on the ballot this November asking whether to make the state more pro-business and more pro-union Also in sharp contrast to Congress Colorado lawmakers were able to balance the budget despite having to return millions of dollars collected to taxpayers through the Taxpayer s Bill of Rights refunds We were disappointed to see that after cutting proposed spending levels lawmakers dipped into the state s Unclaimed Property Trust Fund to pay for unfunded projects While the projects were worthy funding for safety-net hospitals and fire districts the move continues a dangerous precedent Already the state owes about million to the trust an unfunded liability Polis declared he was peaceful signing the two bills because the additional amount million is relatively small and the maintains on the unclaimed property fund are predictable and steady meaning it is highly unlikely for the fund to become insolvent in the future This would be one place we would have liked to see Polis use his veto Related Articles Gov Jared Polis vetoes pro-union bill backed by Democratic lawmakers repeating his hope for compromise Gov Jared Polis coming labor bill veto will strain Democrat s labor ties and set stage for ballot fight Live updates Colorado lawmakers pass trans rights pro-labor act Senate advances ride-hailing bill Live updates Authorities react to killed AI bill hospitals-pharma fight nears end immigrant protections finalized Colorado House advances labor bill after negotiations collapse with business leaders Gov Jared Polis Lawmakers must stop pulling from this fund unless it is to make loans that are low-risk and present a return on funding to begin paying off the liability One such proposal was killed this year and would have given homeowners low-interest loans for solar panels Aside from our wish for vetoes on those spending bills we were disappointed in Polis veto of Senate Bill The veto rejects reasonable regulation of social media companies instead allowing Facebook X Snapchat TikTok and others to continue their failure to regulate users who engage in illegal activity like selling drugs or sharing child pornography The Senate voted to override the veto but the effort to revive Senate Bill died in the House The governor was also right to strike down an ill-advised attempt to slow constituents records access for everyone except real journalists Colorado lawmakers and Gov Jared Polis had a good albeit imperfect year Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns editorials and more To send a letter to the editor about this article submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail