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Colorado legislative committee kills 4th attempt to pass family-leave bill

HB 1001 would have taken a portion of the paycheck of each employee in the state each week and put it into a statewide fund managed by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment
Credit: Sheldon, Bobbi
Colorado state Sen. Kerry Donovan speaks at a Feb. 6 rally for the FAMLI bill.

Denver Business Journal — For the fourth time in the past five years, a bill to create an employee-funded, paid-leave system for every worker at a private company in Colorado did not make it out of the Legislature.

Republicans on the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee killed House Bill 1001 Monday with just 10 days left in the 2018 legislative session — nearly four months after House Democrats made it the first bill they introduced, a symbolic gesture that spoke to its importance in their agenda. And they did so at the urging of some of the largest membership-based business organizations in the state.

HB 1001 would have taken a portion of the paycheck of each employee in the state each week — a fee equal to about $2 to $5, co-sponsoring Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail, said — and put it into a statewide fund managed by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Employees of any business then could use the fund to take as much as 12 weeks off to care for themselves, a child or another family member and receive a portion of their pay.

While workers at larger companies now can take as much as 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, many have to choose between getting a needed paycheck or taking care of a parent dying of cancer. And roughly 40 percent of Colorado workers are employed at companies of less than 50 people, meaning they are not subject to FMLA protections at all, Donovan noted.

Read more at the Denver Business Journal: https://bit.ly/2I4R2j2

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