Mandates impede business growth.

• Author: Berry, Chuck
• Position: Guest column

AS IT HAS EVERY LEGISLATIVE SESSION FOR FOUR DECADES, the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry works hard at the General Assembly to protect the statewide business community from ill-conceived proposals that would hinder the ability of companies to do business in Colorado and compete in the global economy.

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During both this session and last year's, CACI has been especially concerned with what we term proposed "mandates." We define a mandate as a bill that, if enacted, would force--usually with a financial penalty--businesses to comply with the bill.

Although such bills often have worthy objectives, it is the legislature's attempt to force businesses to comply with a state law--and bear 100 percent of the cost of doing so--to which CACI strongly objects.

Proponents of business-mandate bills usually present their arguments in terms of anecdotal evidence, often in a highly emotional manner that instantly garners sympathetic media coverage.

In discussing mandates, I should point out that any proposal that has an impact on state and local governments is required to have a "fiscal note" prepared by the staff of the Colorado Legislative Council, the research arm of the General Assembly.

If during this session, as has been the case since the 2002 session following the 2001 recession, a fiscal note is attached to a bill because it would have some impact on state and local governments, the bill would most likely die in either Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives or the Senate.

In other words, a fiscal note is the proverbial "kiss of death" to a bill, given the state's troubled budget. Not so with bills drafted to only affect the private sector.

A bill that impacts the private sector does not require a fiscal note. Consequently, CACI and its members know that a proposed mandate will definitely cost the business community, but it's almost impossible to quickly quantify the cost.

Yet, legislative sponsors seek to dictate "solutions" to problems, which they have defined in their terms, by forcing businesses to adopt costly policies. During this session, some of the more notable proposed mandates, which CACI opposed, included the following:

* Mandated parental leave for workers to attend their children's school activities (SB-66).

* Mandated ban on communications on employer opinions (HB-1314).

* Mandated health-care expenditures for large employers (HB-1316).

* Mandated restrictions on how...