Colorado
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.
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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Farming in the Uncompahgre Valley
CBS Colorado’s Alan Gionet, right, interviews farmer Mike Ahlberg.
Farming in the Uncompahgre Valley
CBS Colorado’s Alan Gionet, left, interviews farmer Brent Hines.
Colorado’s governor vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have banned companies from using surveillance pricing to set workers’ wages and prices for consumer goods.
The measure would have been the strongest in the nation against algorithmic pricing. While Maryland became the first state to approve a law banning surveillance pricing in grocery stores in April, Colorado’s proposed measure was more expansive.
Governor Jared Polis wrote in a public letter explaining his veto that he found the legislation to be overly broad, and said it would “inadvertently capture innocuous uses of technology that in no way harms – and indeed benefits – consumers and workers”, echoing business owners’ major concern with the bill, which was supported by progressive groups. He said the bill would “punish differentially lower prices, not just higher prices”.
Consumer advocates are unhappy with the veto. “Governor Polis had an opportunity to stand with working Coloradans, but instead chose to side with the dominant corporations using invasive surveillance data to pick their pockets,” said Pat Garofalo, director of state and local policy at the American Economic Liberties Project.
Colorado’s bill proposed banning companies from using algorithms, powered by artificial intelligence or other data-processing techniques, to set custom prices or wages based on the collection of an individual’s information. This data could include everything from where an individual lives and what they have bought in the past, to their financial status, travel habits and affiliations.
Critics of surveillance pricing say that companies exploit this data to charge buyers the most that they are willing to pay, and give workers the lowest amount they are willing to accept. Colorado’s measure also included exemptions for certain discounts tied to loyalty programs and transparent markdowns for students and senior citizens.
This is the second time in 12 months that Polis has blocked a bill focused on surveillance pricing; in 2025, he vetoed a measure that would have banned landlords from using rent-setting algorithms.
Surveillance pricing bans grow in popularity across US
Many states, including Illinois, California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, are also considering bills that would regulate surveillance pricing. Connecticut’s legislature approved a sweeping consumer privacy bill that included new rules for surveillance pricing in May. The measure bans companies setting individualized prices for their goods based on consumer data.
In New York, the state attorney general is rallying support for a ban on surveillance pricing, and a bill that would do so has passed the state senate, but not the assembly; last year, New York enacted a transparency-focused law that forces companies to disclose when they use personal data to set individualized prices determined by an algorithm.
Maryland became the first state to ban surveillance pricing in April, though that measure was limited to prices for grocery store items and was criticized by many consumer advocates for being riddled with industry carveouts.
Colorado’s surveillance pricing bill was larger in scope, as it applied to all sorts of companies across industries, and covered wages, too. It would have prevented ride-share firms such as Uber and Lyft from setting individualized wages for drivers based on data they collect about them, as documented in a 2023 study.
Colorado’s measure had also won over many critics of Maryland’s law, who feared that latter’s legislation was watered down by lobbying efforts.
Maryland’s measure, unlike Colorado’s proposal, did not crack down on other ways companies may try to achieve the same effect as surveillance pricing, says McBrien, with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic). Under Maryland’s law, a company could raise its prices for everyone, and then offer individualized discounts – but Colorado’s law addressed this loophole, McBrien says.
Critics of Colorado’s bill agreed with the governor in characterizing the rules as overly broad; they argued it would disrupt competitive markets and open the door to unnecessary litigation. The Travel Technology Association, which represents online travel agencies and short-term rental platforms, called for a narrower definition of “surveillance data” and testified through written comment that the measure would “prohibit pricing practices that are transparent, pro-competitive, and beneficial to consumers – while exposing travel platforms to litigation exposure that bears no relationship to the harms the bill identifies”.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has documented examples of surveillance pricing in stores selling clothing, beauty products, home goods and hardware. Under the Biden administration, the FTC released an initial study that indicates companies use a wide range of personal data when setting individualized prices for consumers.
But it’s unlikely the current administration will crack down on surveillance pricing, given that the current FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson, characterized the previous administration’s report as a rush job. Consumer advocates say the federal government’s inaction adds to the urgency of states needing to regulate surveillance pricing.
On 18 May, a bipartisan group of 16 state attorneys general wrote to the FTC about online food delivery fees, asking the agency to “address unfair and deceptive pricing practices across the economy”, including surveillance pricing.
Colorado
Colorado community reels after police say driver with revoked license hits three pedestrians, killing one
A man already driving with a suspended license from a DUI is now accused of intentionally plowing into three people on a sidewalk in Colorado.
This happened near the intersection of East Wildcat Reserve Parkway and Willowbridge Way in Highlands Ranch around 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Witnesses say that after the crash, the driver made a U-turn, went back to the scene, slowly drove past the wreckage, then left. That allowed another witness to follow him 5.5 miles down to Daniels Park, where just 15 minutes later, 28-year-old Adam Bauserman was taken into custody.
Bauserman’s demeanor was described by deputies as “unusually quiet.” At one point, he apparently asked, “Do you know if I killed the man?”
As it would turn out, the man survived, but his girlfriend did not. Flowers are piling up at the scene of a morning walk that turned deadly.
Right now, investigators don’t believe the driver knew any of those victims.
“You expect to be safe when you’re walking on the sidewalk,” said neighbor Beth Chitel, who lived just yards from the crash site until she moved last month. “These are very highly trafficked pathways around here; it could have happened to any of our friends, any of our neighbors, any of our children.”
“This was a horrific scene,” said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.
Thirty-five-year-old Corrine More died in the crash. Her sister tells CBS Colorado she lived in the neighborhood and was out on a walk with her boyfriend. She describes Corrine as a nursing student with a big heart who was loved by everyone who knew her, and who was beautiful inside and out.
Corrine’s boyfriend, 30-year-old Kyle Vasey, was seriously injured. He has undergone multiple surgeries and was described by a doctor in the affidavit as being at substantial risk for permanent disfigurement or death.
The other victim is 72-year-old Dianne Windes. The sheriff says she was walking in the opposite direction from the couple. She was also hospitalized with serious injuries.
Witnesses believe the driver who crashed into the three pedestrians did so on purpose.
“If we can prove that, we’ll certainly do that, but at this point we have no indication of that,” Weekly said.
It was thanks to a witness who followed that truck that deputies arrested Bauserman, who was driving with a revoked license after a DUI last year.
“Mr. Bauserman has had several revocations and suspensions of his license over the last 10 years,” Weekly said. “He should never have been on the roadway, and as a result of that, somebody is now deceased.”
Deputies did not detect immediate signs of intoxication but are waiting on blood test results.
Right now, investigators believe Bauserman was only traveling 3 mph over the speed limit, at about 48 mph in a 45 mph zone. That will need to be confirmed in the investigation.
“He should never have been on the roadway, period. And so, the fact that somebody in our community has been lost in such a tragic, horrible way. How many lives have been destroyed by this selfish act?” Weekly asked.
“I want to express my sympathies to the families, and yeah, we’re here to support you as a community, and we’re by your side,” said Chitel.
Neighbor Beth Chitel started an online fundraiser for the victims.
“The last thing that the family should be having to worry about right now is the bills that are coming,” said Chitel.
The sheriff says that 15 to 20 community members stepped up to help in the aftermath of this tragedy.
Chitel says the community has been hurt by other recent tragedies, like the death of 13-year-old Alex Mackiewicz, who was hit while in the crosswalk on his way to school. That fatal crash happened just over a mile away from this one.
“Something really needs to be done. The community is well aware of the safety issues posed there, of course. Again, we don’t expect them on the sidewalk,” said Chitel. “We need more crosswalks; we could use more stoplights. We need more safety measures put in place because, in general, it’s really not a safe road. People speed on it.”
“It’s absolutely horrible. As the sheriff, I have done a lot to increase traffic enforcement. We’ve almost doubled the size of our traffic unit. I expect my folks to be out there and be productive and ensure the safety of our citizens. These tragedies, certainly back to back, are heartbreaking for everybody involved, it shouldn’t happen,” Weekly said.
Three families are forever changed, a community is left with questions, and the investigation is just beginning.
“We need to make sure that we do our job well, and that we get justice for all these victims,” Weekly said.
Bauserman is being held on charges including vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Preliminary charges Bauserman is facing include the following seven felonies and one misdemeanor:
- Vehicular homicide
- Failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving death
- Failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury (two counts)
- Vehicular assault (two counts)
- Assault in the second degree – crimes to at-risk persons
- Driving a motor vehicle with a license is under restraint (express consent refusal/DUI conviction)
These charges could change based on the results of the blood tests and additional information that is garnered through the investigation.
A judge set Bauserman’s bond at $100,000.
As the investigation continues, the sheriff’s office says anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Detective Pereira at bpereira@dcsheriff.net or call (303) 660-7537.
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