Today on the Senate floor, Senator Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, asked the General Assembly to give business the same protections the government has given itself in regards to unfunded mandates. The Senate approved an amendment to Senate Bill 11-055 to protect local governments from being forced to pay for additional costs if the General Assembly cannot allocate money for the program.
Senator Renfroe encouraged this amendment to be added to every bill the General Assembly passes this session. “We shouldn’t be passing legislation at the Capitol that poses unfunded mandates on local governments,” said Renfroe. “But let’s not pick and choose which bills we do this to, and instead, adhere to this policy.”
Renfroe was referring to an amendment that stated “The General Assembly recognizes the need in this challenging economic time to not burden other levels of government with additional requirements without providing the funding to meet those requirements.”
Immediately after, Senate Bill 11-015 was presented which added additional requirements on insurance companies with no regard to the financial impact it would have on the industry.
Arguing against this bill, Renfroe stated, “Look at us now requiring a burden on business.” He went on to say, “Why don’t we stick to what we passed on the last bill and extend it to the private sector.”
Senator Renfroe then proposed a Committee of the Whole amendment that protects the private sector companies from paying additional costs due to Senate Bill 11-015.
Renfroe’s remarks on the Senate floor are available here.
