DENVER– Colorado Governor Jared Polis on Friday took his veto pen to organized labor’s signature piece of legislation for the 2025 session, following through on earlier warnings to the far-left supporters of the bill, who steadfastly refused any form of compromise to make the measure palatable enough for the lame-duck governor’s liking.
Senate Bill 25-005, “Worker Protection Collective Bargaining,” sought to unwind the Colorado Labor Peace Act, which has been in effect since 1943, when business owners and striking workers found a compromise to often violent, and sometimes fatal, labor protests. The Act allows for workers the right to unionize, collectively bargain and establish union dues — but only after two separate votes to do so.
The first vote unionizes employees with a simple majority. The second vote, however, requires a supermajority vote of 75 percent of employees to allow “security agreements,” which force all workers — even that 25 percent that said no — to pay union dues.
Under Senate Bill 5, rather than needing two separate votes (including the supermajority) to first unionize and then collect dues, it would only take the one vote of a simple majority to force all members into paycheck deductions.
The bill was sponsored by Senators Robert Rodriguez (D-Denver) and Sen. Jessie Danielson (D-Littleton) and Representatives Javier Mabrey (D-Denver) and Rep. Jennifer Bacon (D-Denver), and included over 50 co-sponsors from the hard-left wing of the Democrat-dominated state legislature, passing both chambers along party lines.
In his veto letter, Gov. Polis, also a Democrat, carefully notes that he is both “pro-union” and pro-worker” but entirely eliminating the second, supermajority vote for forced dues is a step too far. “Too be clear, I believe there must be a high threshold of worker participation and approval to allow for bargaining over mandatory wage deduction. And SB 25-005 does not satisfy that threshold, which is why I am vetoing the bill,” wrote Polis, in part.
Governor Polis also vetoed two other bills on Friday:
House Bill 1065 allowed for Coloradans 72 years-old and older to opt out of jury duty.
House Bill 1147 capped penalties for municipal ordinance violations to match the maximum sentence for violating a comparable state-level law.