In late February, the second-ranking Democrat in the Colorado House sat before a group of her colleagues and prepared to do something she had rarely done: voluntarily kill one of her own bills.
House Bill 1020 would have put initial regulations on earned-wage services — companies that let employees access part of their paychecks early in exchange for a fee. Majority Leader Monica Duran and her co-sponsor, Denver Democratic Rep. Sean Camacho, had pitched the measure as a way to put guardrails on a financial product vital for lower-income people in a financial bind.
But Democratic critics alleged it was an attempt by financial companies, who were backing it, to draft their own regulations, and those legislators argued that the service was just a different kind of payday loan. After the bill passed its first committee, progressive Democratic lawmakers worked with a liberal think-tank, the Bell Policy Center, to draft amendments that would have imposed tighter regulations on the services.
Duran and Camacho — who denied the services were a loan — were open to the changes. But Duran said that as she reviewed the amendments, she felt the bill had slipped away from the one she’d introduced. The industry groups supporting the bill balked, and one formally filed to oppose it.
So when the bill came up for a vote, Duran and Camacho voluntarily — and acrimoniously — killed it.
House Bill 1020 was not the first business-friendly bill to be decried as anti-worker, and it hasn’t been the last to be scuttled by other Democratic lawmakers. Another — to help struggling restaurants by clipping tipped workers’ minimum wage — has been delayed until later this month because of that opposition. A third — a draft proposal to audit recent environmental, labor and health care regulations — is undergoing a full rewrite amid backlash from both Democratic lawmakers and the union and environmental groups allied with them. Its sponsors say the idea may be tabled altogether.
It’s not unusual for House Democrats — whose 43 members span the left-of-center spectrum — to disagree on policy, even to the point of semi-public conflict. Nor are the contested bills unique or particularly startling. Lawmakers of both parties often run legislation in coordination with businesses or trade groups, and this year’s bills, sponsors contend, set out to address real problems: a sagging restaurant industry, a popular but unregulated financial service, and debates over the state’s regulatory framework.
“Doing the right thing matters. How we show up to this building matters,” Duran told colleagues on the House’s Finance Committee before asking that they vote to table it. She defended the legislation as pro-worker: “This bill was for working people, to support working people, and as a fierce advocate for working families, I know firsthand how supportive this bill would have been. It is frustrating when misinformation is spread saying this bill is anti-worker.”
But the debate swirling around the direction of the Democratic Party and the chaotic uncertainty springing from the Trump administration have elevated opposition from more liberal members of the party. While some lawmakers have worked to legislate this year like any other, others have sought to close ranks and defend what they see as Democratic priorities in a tumultuous political environment, both for the party and the country.
That tone was set, in part, two weeks after the election, when Democratic lawmakers gathered in the Capitol to unveil pro-labor reforms. Near the end of their news conference, one of the bill’s sponsors called out, “Which side are you on, Democratic Party?”
“We are facing a reckoning of what type of party we want to be,” said Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins freshman who opposed both the tipped-wage measure and Duran’s paycheck bill. “I also think that everybody wants to represent their own districts to the best of their ability. I ran on standing up for workers.”
Trying to help struggling restaurants
The debate around all three bills has been heated. During testimony Monday night, Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis said that it was “appalling” that Democrats were proposing to cut the tipped minimum wage while “the federal government is in chaos.”
Rep. Alex Valdez, a Denver Democrat backing the tipped wage bill, said the rhetoric surrounding it has been “vile,” referring to crude flyers depicting another lawmaker and negative reviews left for restaurants whose owners had testified in support of the bill.
The measure — which now faces a critical and potentially fatal vote in mid-March — is intended to help struggling restaurants reeling from high costs. As written now, it would lower the specific minimum wage paid to workers who also received tips in Denver and elsewhere that exceed the state minimum.
Another sign of the tricky political dynamics: It’s backed by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston but opposed by Lewis and other City Council members, as well as lawmakers from both parties who disparage it as a pay cut and a violation of cities’ ability to set their own wage laws.
Valdez said lawmakers’ desire to respond to actions and posturing from the Trump administration had further strained an already difficult debate, which he said fundamentally turned on helping restaurants stay afloat.
“I think that’s where we see an exacerbation by the Trump administration. It’s just, ‘What can I do?’ But that isn’t always the best way to do things,” he said. “I think at least with the tipped wage (bill) — this is the culmination of a five-year process. We didn’t catch this overnight. It’s five years of conversation, and we’re still having it.”
But for other lawmakers, debate in the legislature is a statement on the uncertainty from Washington, D.C., and internal arguments over how the Democratic Party reacts to its November losses.
“I do think we are trying to figure ourselves out in this moment. Are we a party for working people or not?” said Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat and among the more left-wing legislators.
Even though he and labor unions are pushing a contentious effort to reform the state’s labor law, Mabrey said he felt that “labor groups, progressive advocacy groups, consumer rights’ groups are playing defense this year in a way that they did not have to play defense in my first two years.”
“It is not a DOGE bill”
The audit proposal — to have the state auditor review 10 years’ worth of environmental, labor and health regulations — fits into that feeling of defensiveness because it’s backed by business groups, legislative leadership and Gov. Jared Polis. When details of the audit bill were revealed last month, several Democrats responded with a profane, three-word response.
That reaction — further fueled by fears of deregulation at a federal level — has helped put the brakes on the proposal. Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat sponsoring it, said Wednesday that the idea was about promoting good governance. But it’s now being reworked fundamentally, and it may not come at all this year, she said.
Some Democratic lawmakers had taken to calling the proposal the “DOGE bill,” referring to billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” which has set about dismantling a succession of federal agencies in recent weeks.
“To be frank, we had not had enough of an initial conversation before we released the draft,” McCluskie said. “In large part because of what’s happening with the Trump administration … I think people are drawing a parallel there that is not the same. I would push back. We are trying to just, again, focus on good governance.”
“It is not a DOGE bill,” she added, emphatically.
McCluskie argued that the party can find a path forward that helps both workers and businesses. While Colorado Democrats largely held serve in November, the party’s national losses were “a moment for all of us to recognize that a lot of folks are unhappy,” the speaker said.
“I would lift up that we also have to think about the entire … ecosystem: businesses, workers, consumers, right?” she said. “You have to think about that globally, and I have always believed you can be pro-business and pro-worker at the same time.”
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