DENVER — Colorado Democrats have reintroduced legislation to eliminate the state’s unique two-election requirement for union formation, advancing the bill through its first committee despite a veto promise from the governor who blocked an identical measure last year.
HB26-1005, the Worker Protection Act, passed the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on February 5 by an 8-5 party-line vote, according to Colorado Politics. The hearing lasted roughly three hours. The bill then advanced through the House Finance Committee on February 12 by a 10-1 vote and now awaits action in the House Appropriations Committee.
The bill would repeal a provision of Colorado’s 1943 Labor Peace Act that requires a second election, with a 75% supermajority or a majority of the entire bargaining unit (whichever is greater), before unions can negotiate mandatory dues agreements. Colorado’s two-election requirement for union security is unique among all states, according to KUNC.
Gov. Jared Polis vetoed the same legislation, then numbered SB25-005, in May 2025 after it passed the Senate 22-12 and the House by more than 20 votes. He told The Colorado Sun in January that he would veto the bill again if it arrives on his desk unchanged. “There’s nothing different, so I’m not quite sure why they’re doing it again,” Gov. Polis said.
HB26-1005 contains no material changes from the version Gov. Polis vetoed, according to The Sum and Substance. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Javier Mabrey (D-Denver), Rep. Jennifer Bacon (D-Denver), Sen. Jessie Danielson, and Sen. Iman Jodeh, with dozens of additional cosponsors.
The governor’s spokesperson, Eric Maruyama, said Gov. Polis is “frustrated and surprised that the same piece of legislation could come forward,” according to the Colorado Times Recorder.
Yet sponsors say the policy case remains urgent. “The affordability crisis did not go away,” Rep. Mabrey told The Sum and Substance. “There aren’t other bills that are evidence-based that you could say would increase wages across the state.”
House Speaker Julie McCluskie (D-Dillon) expressed cautious optimism, telling Colorado Politics that she is “hearing a willingness to try again” from both business and labor partners, according to Colorado Politics.
The political dynamics have shifted in one notable respect: this is Gov. Polis’s final term, and 2026 is an election year. Administration sources have hinted he might reconsider if a genuine compromise emerges, according to The Sum and Substance. During the 2025 session, Gov. Polis was reportedly open to reducing the 75% threshold while keeping it above a simple majority, but a compromise was not reached before the session ended, according to The Colorado Sun.
Supporters argue the second election serves no purpose other than giving employers additional time to discourage union formation.
Rep. Mabrey told KOAA that “the second election provides employers an opportunity to intimidate, to union bust,” according to KOAA. Sen. Julie Gonzales (D-Denver), a co-sponsor of prior versions, told KUNC, “When workers decide to form a union, that decision ought to be respected every single time,” according to KUNC.
Workers who testified at the committee hearing offered firsthand accounts. Josh Reitze, an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema employee in Denver, told the committee that Alamo workers won their first union election in September 2024 but lost the second vote. Workers described lost momentum from attrition, and fellow employee Brennain Degenhardt reported not receiving a ballot, according to KOAA. “We deserve a say. We deserve a place in that conversation,” Reitze told the committee.
Kylie Anderson, a Starbucks barista and union member, testified that “this law does not protect freedom. It protects corporate power,” according to KUNC.
A worker covered by a union contract earns 10.2% more in wages than workers in the same industry with the same education, job title, and experience, according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute, a fiscal policy research organization. Colorado’s union membership rate of 7.7% falls 22% below the national average of 9.9%, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a research organization focused on the economics of low- and middle-income workers.
Under the federal National Labor Relations Act, no second election is required. Once workers vote by simple majority to form a union, they can immediately begin negotiating union security provisions. Colorado’s law imposes an additional state-level hurdle beyond what federal law requires.
Business groups have united against the bill, calling it a threat to both worker choice and the state’s economic competitiveness.
Stacey Campbell, representing the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, suggested the bill is “a solution in search of a problem” and questioned why advocates would not want all employees to vote on whether to pay union dues, according to CBS Colorado.
Michael Smith, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business (an organization that describes itself as “the voice of small business”), said in a statement that “for Main Street employers, who already have an onerous regulatory landscape to navigate, removing the second-vote requirement would make it more difficult to manage their workforce, control costs, and plan for the future,” according to NFIB.
J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, called it “reckless” to “unravel” the Labor Peace Act. The chamber cited data showing Colorado’s average annual employment growth rate of 1.5% between 2018 and 2023 was more than three times that of non-right-to-work states, according to the Denver Metro Chamber. The chamber also reported that Metro Denver EDC recruited over 2,500 jobs and secured $1.25 billion in capital investment in the past year.
Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, told the committee that the bill “directly harms” workers by eliminating their voting rights. She reported that restaurant industry members who opposed the 2025 version faced “significant backlash,” including threats, harassment, and property damage. Someone “threw a rock through the window of one establishment during dinner service,” Riggs told the committee.
Rep. Chris Richardson (R-Elbert), who voted against the bill in committee, framed the second election as a free-association issue. “It’s the compelling of dues from other employees that takes the second vote,” Richardson told KOAA.
Fisher Phillips, a management-side labor and employment law firm, described the bill as among the most significant proposed legislation affecting Colorado employers, according to Fisher Phillips. Under current law, if the second election fails or is never held, union dues remain voluntary.
Labor groups are not relying solely on the legislature. Following the May 2025 veto, unions launched a parallel effort to bring a related measure directly to voters.
Initiative 43, filed March 7, 2025, and approved for signature circulation the following month, would require employers with more than eight employees to show “just cause” before firing or suspending a worker. The measure is backed by Colorado Worker Rights United, a coalition of approximately 80 unions, community organizations, and small businesses, including the Colorado AFL-CIO, SEIU Local 105, and UFCW Local 7, according to Colorado Newsline.
Organizers need at least 124,238 valid signatures from registered Colorado voters by August 3, 2026, to place the initiative on the November ballot, according to the Colorado Secretary of State.
Dennis Dougherty, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, said after the 2025 veto: “While this veto is a setback, it’s not the end of the road.” He said working people would take the fight directly to the ballot in 2026, according to Colorado Newsline.
The Denver Metro Chamber has indicated it may pursue its own counter-ballot measures to protect the Labor Peace Act if unions proceed, according to the Denver Metro Chamber.
The bill’s path forward remains uncertain. HB26-1005 is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House and Senate, as it did in 2025. The principal question is whether Gov. Polis will veto it a second time or whether election-year dynamics and a viable compromise shift his calculus.
Preventing the Worker Protection Act from passing remains the top priority of business interests at the Capitol, according to The Colorado Sun. Colorado ranks as the sixth most-regulated state, and business groups cite the Labor Peace Act as one of the few factors that offset that disadvantage, according to The Sum and Substance.
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