Free school lunches in trouble, hidden housing fees bill clears a hurdle, what’s in the sweeping gun control bill and more from the legislature this week

Colorado Democrats spar over legislation as party seeks direction in Trump era

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.

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Colorado’s free school meals program is again on shaky ground — and lawmakers may ask voters to rescue it

Colorado’s universal school meals program has again blown past its projected costs by tens of millions of dollars, igniting a renewed search by lawmakers for ways to guarantee sustainability — through cuts or a financial boost — for the program.

Voters approved the Healthy School Meals for All program in 2022 with the passage of Proposition FF. It gives all Colorado school children free breakfast and lunch, regardless of their families’ ability to pay. Backers originally expected the free meals would cost between $48.5 million and $78.5 million annually.

Now, state budget analysts expect it to cost $150.8 million a year.

State lawmakers last year nixed some auxiliary pieces of the program to make up the gap, and they plan to do so again this year. That will still leave the state about $50 million short of what it would take to fully fund the program.

But with the state general fund facing its own $1 billion shortfall, there are few options for lawmakers to make up the gap.

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Controversial restaurant wage bill vote delayed amid uncertain support from Colorado lawmakers

A controversial bill intended to help struggling Colorado restaurants by cutting servers’ pay stalled out early Tuesday morning as the measure’s sponsors attempted to shore up support from leery fellow Democrats.

House Bill 1208 was set for a second committee vote Monday, with full votes in front of the House coming next. But after hours of testimony that stretched past 1 a.m. Tuesday, the measure’s sponsor — Denver Democratic Rep. Alex Valdez — asked that the bill be laid over, delaying it for at least a week.

The bill would clip the tipped minimum wage paid to restaurant workers in Denver and several other cities with higher rates than the state’s minimum, and it’s aimed at shoring up an industry that says it’s reeling from high costs. Under current state law, tipped workers can be paid $3.02 less per hour to account for tip income. As written now, the bill would require Denver and other local governments to lower their tipped minimums.

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Colorado House passes bill prohibiting hidden housing fees charged by landlords

The Colorado legislature moved closer to banning certain kinds of hidden fees common in rental agreements Tuesday after the House passed a price transparency measure, sending it to the Senate.

House Bill 1090 — part of House Democrats’ pitch to curb costs in the state — would broadly require retailers and companies to detail the full price of a good or service in their advertising. It would also ban fees common in apartment buildings and other rental housing, like those charged for common-area maintenance, for making rental or utility payments, or for pest control.

Charging those so-called “junk fees” would be a deceptive trade practice under the bill.

“The idea behind the bill is that if you’re going to sell a good or service in Colorado, you need to be transparent about the fees and the true cost of what this good or service will be,” Rep. Naquetta Ricks, an Aurora Democrat who’s sponsoring the bill, said during earlier debate Friday. Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat, is also sponsoring the bill.

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Housing bills near the halfway point, key gun measure enters last leg in the Colorado legislature this week

A slew of Democrat-backed housing bills are set to hit the midway point of the legislative process in the Colorado Capitol this week.

That includes House Bill 1090, which would prohibit certain fees charged by landlords, often known as “junk fees,” and require general transparency around hidden fees across industries. The bill passed its first House vote Friday and is set for its final vote in the chamber this week, potentially as early as Monday. It will then move to the Senate.

House Bill 1108 is also awaiting its final vote in the House before passing to the Senate. That bill would specify that landlords can’t require penalties for leases that were terminated early because of a tenant’s death. House Bill 1113, which targets the installation of nonnative turf in new apartment complexes, is similarly at its last hurdle before hitting halftime.

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Colorado Democrats are ready to pass a sweeping gun control bill. What would it do, and is it constitutional?

Colorado lawmakers are closing in on limiting sales of semiautomatic firearms — including those commonly known as assault weapons — in the state after two years of unsuccessful attempts.