Denver Business Journal – by Ed Sealover

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed several business-related bills into law Wednesday.

Those bills include:

• Senate Bill 31, sponsored by Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Castle Rock, which excludes tax-increment financing from being used for gambling-related facilities in tourism enterprise zones.

• Senate Bill 112, sponsored by Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, which lets businesses use deductible programs to help reduce workers’ compensation insurance rates and requires the state commissioner of insurance to publicize aggregate loss and payroll data used in workers’ compensation rate making.

If companies can save money through deductible programs, they can spend more creating jobs, Kopp said.

• Senate Bill 116, also sponsored by Kopp, which requires public entities to reimburse contractors on an ongoing basis if change orders are made to contracts rather than to wait until a change order agreement can be reached.

The bill is particularly important at a time when construction industry unemployment hovers around 27 percent, said Michael Gifford, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (3/31/10)

Contact: Jenn Penn 720.937.2148

www.buildingjobs4colorado.com

Governor Bill Ritter to Sign SB10-116 Public Contracting Jobs Protection Act

(Denver) – Governor Bill Ritter Jr. is expected to sign SB10-116 – Public Contracting Jobs Protection Act – by Senator Mike Kopp and Representatives Joe Rice and Kevin Priola on Wednesday, March 31, 2010.

SB10-116 – Public Contracting Jobs Protection Act is a bipartisan legislative effort supported by a large coalition of construction organizations known as the Building Jobs4Colorado Coalition.

The Building Jobs4Colorado coalition, a broad coalition of construction industry owners, general contractors, sub-contractors and sub-sub contractors across Colorado that represents more than 1,500 companies and tens of thousands of Colorado citizens, has proudly supported SB10-116 throughout the legislative process.  The Building Jobs4Colorado Coalition commends Governor Bill Ritter for his leadership in signing SB116 into Colorado law in effort to save jobs in the construction industry.

“With national unemployment in the construction industry hovering around 27%”, said Michael Gifford, Executive Director of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado and member of the BJ4C Coalition, “the need for SB10-116 is more essential than ever before”.

“Because of stimulus dollars, public works projects are just about the only source for new jobs in the construction industry”, said Dave Davia, Executive Vice President / CEO of the Colorado Mechanical and Plumbing Contractors and member of the BJ4C Coalition.  “Current contracting practices by some local governments, for additional directed work, have the effect of delaying cash flow to construction firms during a project, making it difficult to keep workers employed.  SB10-116 will certainly assist the construction industry during these difficult financial times”.

SB10-116, the Public Contracting Jobs Protection Act requires public entities to reimburse contractors for their costs for additional directed work until a change order agreement can be reached.  Current practices require contractors to pay upfront labor and materials costs for any additional work until a change order agreement can be reached which sometimes takes many months.  SB10-116 will ensure contractors are paid on a timely basis for change directive work, creating a great stimulus for the Colorado economy and keeping Colorado workers employed.