Committee kills bill aimed at helping Colorado businesses

DENVER - House Republicans nixed a bill Wednesday that would have given financial incentives to Colorado businesses that bid on state contracts because they said it was unfair to many contractors.

The bill, by Rep. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, was aimed at creating more jobs by giving in-state businesses and companies owned by veterans a head start on other bidders.

The bill would have given Colorado companies a 5 percent preference if at least 90 percent of their workers are Colorado residents, if they had guaranteed that the employees for the contract job would be eligible for a federal apprenticeship, and if they had given those employees health benefits.

But that last point was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the six Republicans on the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, called the benefits provision a mandate, arguing that the bill discriminated against companies that don’t give or can’t afford to provide benefits to contract employees. He said that portion of the bill would help usher in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare.”

“This is the government getting mixed up in health care,” Waller said.

Lee shot back that the bill didn’t have the word “mandate” in it, and that it would just “encourage” businesses to offer benefits. The main point, he said, was to help grow Colorado’s economy and help veterans simultaneously.

His arguments fell flat, however. The measure died on a 6-5 party-line vote.