Springs rep makes new attempt to bar collective bargaining

DENVER — A week before the legislative session is scheduled to end, a last-minute fetal homicide bill was pulled in favor of a bill to prohibit collective bargaining by state employees.

Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs, had drafted a measure similar to another measure earlier in the session by Rep. Mark Waller, also a Colorado Springs Republican. Both bills would have increased penalties for criminals who cause miscarriages, intentionally or otherwise.

The Waller measure was yanked because of an uproar in the pro-life community, which said the bill didn’t go far enough because it didn’t define a pregnancy as an unborn child.

Joshi’s bill was tentatively titled, “First Degree Murder of an Unborn Child.”

But Joshi changed his mind Tuesday night, and said there hadn’t been enough time to vet the bill.

“We haven’t been able to contact all the stakeholders, and we need to, to do a good bill, rather than rushing something through,” he said.

The collective bargaining bill, however, was introduced Tuesday night. It is also another version of a bill from earlier this session, by Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs.

Cadman’s measure would have banned collective bargaining for all government employees across Colorado, including state and municipal employees.

Even though state employees don’t have collective bargaining power, Joshi said his bill is an extra step to assure that the state isn’t put into a financial bind.

“Currently, the way we have all the financial issues, we don’t want to be put in a situation where they can dictate situations to us,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, scoffed at the bill, and said it would die in the Senate even if it passes the House.

“They can’t do collective bargaining, so it’s repetitive,” he said. “You can expect the Senate to stand up for working families.”