Indian mascot, farmworker bills approved in final days of session
This is the final week of the 2021 legislative session; by law, legislatures must adjourn by Saturday, June 12, although they are not expected to go much beyond Wednesday, June 9.
It’s been a busy week, with more than 200 bills still awaiting final resolution as of June 1.
What’s been completed in the final full week includes Senate Bill 116, which reached its final resolution on June 3, when House Democrats approved the bill on a 40-24 vote and the Senate concurred with amendments added by the House Education Committee back on May 20.
The bill now heads to the governor.
SB 116 bars Colorado public schools, colleges and universities from using Indian mascots unless there is a cooperative arrangement with Native tribes. Currently, there are only two: Strasburg High and Arapahoe High in Centennial. Schools have until June 1, 2022, to eliminate their Indian mascots from sports uniforms and school buildings or face a $25,000 per month fine.
The bill does provide funding that could cover the cost for those changes; Yuma High School board president Dan Ross estimated a cost of $250,000. About two dozen public schools in Colorado use Indian mascots.
However, schools named after towns with Indian names, such as Yuma, Niwot and Ouray, can continue to use those names, including on school letterhead.
During final debate on SB 116 on June 2, sponsor Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Adams County, claimed the bill had been through extensive “stakeholding” process, where bill sponsors work with those impacted by the bill. However, representatives from Yuma High pointed out they were never contacted about SB 116, and the bill sponsor, Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, admitted she never even reached out to the state’s two Native tribes, the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Utes, until after the bill was introduced.
Farm working condition bill approved
A bill to allow farmworkers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining over working conditions won preliminary approval on June 4 and final approval on June 7.
Senate Bill 87, another Danielson-sponsored bill in which she did not reach out to the ag industry until right before the bill was introduced, would mandate that ag employers provide access to transportation so that workers can meet with clergy and lawyers and receive health care services. It also prohibits the use of the short-handled hoe, cited as a cause of injuries when workers must spend hours weeding in the fields. The bill also mandates meal breaks and rest periods.
House Republicans mounted a five-hour debate on June 4 with nine amendments. All but one, on exempting a truck driver whose sole job is to haul livestock, or a combine/harvest operator during harvest season, failed. The amendment was offered by Rep. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, and Richard Holtorf, R-Akron.
Pelton and Holtorf also failed with an amendment to exempt cow-calf and lamb operations during birthing season.
One amendment that succeeded was in lowering the minimum pay originally set in the bill for range workers, such as sheepherders, to $500 per week, down from $553.60 per week. That wage would be adjusted annually for inflation.
House sponsors also agreed to an amendment that would ensure that when a worker files a retaliation claim, any monies awarded from that claim would go to the worker. The bill previously would have sent that money to lawyers or union reps.
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