Ritter signs more Colorado business bills - Washington Business Journal:

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Shouting grocery-store workers interrupted Ritter'ss 5:30 p.m. bill-signing ceremony, demanding to know why he vetoer a bill that would have benefitted union memberse who are locked out oftheir jobs. ( .) Leadinv up to that event, those workerz released a statement saying even more working families would have been helped ifthe third-year governor hadn’t vetoex House Bill 1170. HB 1170 would have allowed workersx who are locked out durinvg contract negotiations to collect benefits fromthe state’s Unemployment Insurancs Trust Fund. Ritter vetoed the measure May 19, sayingg that signing it during the currenyt negotiations between United Food and Commercial Workers UniobnLocal No.
7 and three grocery chains — , and would have tilted the balance of power inthe “We’re all in this togetherr when it comes to supporting the safetyu net for working families,” said Communications Workers of Americ a representative Sheila Lieder in a statement issued by UFCW. “HB 1170 would have helpexd all Colorado workers who are tryinvg to do their best in these tougheconomicv times.” Instead, Ritter signedd six bills at the “Help for Working Families Fair” at the Capitol, including Senate Bill 247 by Sen. Lois D-Thornton.
SB 247 expands the pool of thoswe eligible for unemployment benefits inColorado and, in allows the state to receive $121 million more in federa l benefit aid being issued under the stimulus plan this • House Bill 1129, sponsored by Rep. Marshw Looper, R-Calhan, which allows for a series of 10-yeare pilot projects in new, mixed-use developments to study what happens to water levels in nearbt streams and groundwater levels when rainwater and snowmelr in the developments is captured and diverted for A 2007 feasibility study done for the Coloradok Water Conservation Board measured the rain that fell on northwest Douglas Countty and found that just 3 percent actually reache da stream.
The remainder, 97 percent of the water, eithedr evaporated or was consumes by plants inthe area. • Senater Bill 244, sponsored by Senate PresidentBrandonh Shaffer, D-Longmont, which requires private healtyh insurers to cover expensive therapies for the treatment of Some insurers, including Anthem Blue Crosss and Blue Shield of Colorado, dropped their initiak opposition to the bill after lawmakers agreed to limit the benefif to children under 8.
Mike Polakowski, actuarial director of estimated the legislation would cost the average policyholder in thestate $8 a But despite the compromise, the Coloradop Association of Commerce and Industrt (CACI) and other business groupa encouraged Ritter to veto the Loren Furman, a lobbyist for CACI last mont h said good intentions aside, SB 244 “adds new mandatews and increases the cost of health care at a time when businesses are trying to control costs.
” • House Bill sponsored by Speaker Terrance Carroll, which makes changes in state law to allowe local governments to take advantage of low-interest loans on public-works projects in the federal stimulus