Denver, CO
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.
While the bill is sponsored by Democrats and backed by Gov. Jared Polis, its provisions have divided Democrats, both in the Capitol and in Denver. Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who testified against the bill Monday night, said it was “appalling” that Democrats were supporting the measure.
The rhetoric and debate around the bill — which has played out in crude flyers depicting the bill’s sponsors — has become sharp enough to draw a rebuke from the House’s leadership; they condemned the flyers in a statement Monday.
Supporters said Monday that they had asked fewer restaurant owners to come testify because those who had testified at a prior hearing were later insulted and targeted with bad online reviews.
“It’s been the worst hearings in the seven years that I’ve been here,” Valdez said Tuesday morning, several hours after the vote was delayed. He’s co-sponsoring the bill, which would lower the tipped minimum wage for restaurant workers in response to restaurants’ warnings of high costs and a reeling industry, with fellow Denver Democratic Rep. Steven Woodrow.
Whether the bill had enough support to pass the House Finance Committee, which has an 8-5 Democratic majority, is unclear.
Valdez told The Denver Post that it “definitely” had enough support but that he wanted to work on finding a consensus among fellow Democrats, who hold near-supermajority status in the Capitol.
He said he wanted to delay the vote because “we’re not trying to stuff anything down anyone’s throat here.” He had prepared several amendments, including one to soften the wage reductions in Denver and to make clear that restaurant workers would always be paid at least the state minimum wage.
“We’re negotiating with members of the caucus,” he said, referring to House Democrats.
But Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat and a critic of the proposal, said the bill didn’t have enough support — from either Democrats or Republicans — to pass Tuesday morning.
“It does not actually help anybody in the restaurant industry,” she said of the bill. “I mean, where was there ever any proof that cutting wages supports an industry?”
Rep. William Lindstedt, a Broomfield Democrat and the Finance Committee’s chairman, said he didn’t know whether the bill had enough support to advance. The bill comfortably passed its first committee vote, though the committee Lindstedt leads has more progressive Democrats who’ve openly opposed the proposal.
The bill would have its largest impact in Denver, where the tipped minimum wage is $15.79 and the standard minimum wage is $18.81, higher than the state’s standard of $14.81. City leadership is split: Mayor Mike Johnston has backed the proposal, and his deputy chief of staff — former state Sen. Dominick Moreno — testified in favor of the bill shortly before Valdez delayed the vote.
But roughly 90 minutes earlier, three members of the City Council — Lewis, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sarah Parady — all testified against it.
The Denver council members said Monday night that the council wanted to address the problems facing restaurants, but the city should take the issue on itself.
However, in comments to The Post, Valdez accused the council members of “saying they have no interest in fixing the problem.”
The bill will likely be voted on next week. Should it pass the Finance Committee, it will proceed to the House floor.
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Originally Published:
Denver, CO
Claimed by Christ, Free in Him: Archbishop Golka Celebrates First Juneteenth Mass in Denver
The annual archdiocesan celebration highlighted human dignity, Black Catholic faith and the healing power of Christ’s love.
“This is my first Juneteenth celebration as a priest or a bishop. I’m honored that this could be my first, right here,” Denver Archbishop James Golka said during the Mass commemorating Juneteenth at Curé d’Ars Parish in Denver on Sunday, June 14.
Celebrating the day the Emancipation Proclamation reached enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in the United States. This year’s annual archdiocesan Mass, organized by the Office of Black Catholic Ministry and bringing together parishes and groups from across Northern Colorado, also served to welcome the recently arrived archbishop, who was warmly greeted with processions by the Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary, liturgical participation by the Curé d’Ars youth group and choir, and additional music by the Queen of Peace African Catholic Society.
“You have a very beautiful church here. The building is okay, also,” Archbishop Golka remarked, noting the beauty of the people of God, the Church, amid laughter and applause.
Carolyne Richardson, member of the Knights of Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary at St. Ignatius of Loyola, was particularly touched by Golka’s quiet enthusiasm.
“The church was overflowing with diverse ethnicities joining in this celebration. Everyone was elated to meet Archbishop Golka. He seemed to look each parishioner in the eye with genuine care and concern,” she noted. “It was sheer jubilation watching him sing the gospel songs along with the choir.”
Recalling his time with fellow bishops at their annual spring meeting in Florida, the archbishop reflected on Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, and its discussion on the reality of slavery.
“Although there was not always consistency in practice — slavery was long tolerated before being unequivocally condemned — there has been a continuous affirmation throughout history of the dignity of every human being created in the image of God, even if it took eighteen centuries for the full incompatibility with slavery to be explicitly recognized,” the Holy Father wrote. “This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one for which we cannot consider ourselves detached. It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord” (Magnifica Humanitas 176).
“Finally, Pope Leo says this to you, to all of us,” the archbishop noted as he finished quoting the Holy Father’s encyclical. “‘For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”
(Photos by Matt Walker/Denver Catholic)
In his characteristically deeply pastoral way, Archbishop Golka offered the deep, personal love of Christ as a spiritual foundation and antidote to any and all attacks against humanity, be they in the form of slavery or the lurking dangers of artificial intelligence.
“At your Baptism, you were claimed by Jesus Christ. That’s our identity. The evil one tries to make us forget that. We forget that we are beloved children of God. We begin to think that maybe we are worthless, that there’s no reason why we’re here. That is a lie,” the archbishop emphasized. “When God created the universe, he had you in mind, to be here at this time, and this place for his purposes. And he wants to use you in everything. That means, he can use your weakness and your mistakes if you let him.”
The call to surrender more completely to the Lord of love, whose Sacred Heart burns in love for souls, resonated deeply with those in attendance.
“The Mass was more beautiful than I could have imagined,” said Kateri Williams, director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministry. “Archbishop Golka’s homily deeply touched those in attendance, and many were moved to tears as he spoke of the Father’s unconditional love and as he reminded us that each of us has a unique purpose and calling in God’s plan.”
Osahon “Osi” Ogbeide, one of several members of the Youth Ministry at Curé d’Ars who read the Prayers of the Faithful, was also taken by the seeming contradiction in Archbishop Golka’s homily.
“The homily focusing on being a slave and surrendering to the lord was very impactful because it reminded me that God wants the best for us. And that can only be achieved in surrendering to him,” he said.
As we continue to surrender to God and follow his plan, even when it surprises and confounds us, we participate in the Kingdom of God, the archbishop concluded.
“God’s purposes are much more immense than my plan. My plan is pretty puny,” Archbishop Golka said. “God’s purposes began with creation, and they’re going to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the Reign of God. We get to participate in the Reign of God coming, if you use God’s gifts for God and God’s purposes.”
Factors such as declining birth rates and families moving out of the city are contributing to declining enrollment at Denver Public Schools. In turn, it’s reshaping the district’s future.
“I think we’re in a good position, but it’s responsible for us to always be looking in the future and knowing we have to make some adjustments,” said Chuck Carpenter, the district’s CFO.
In a two-year span between this past school year and next, DPS expects a decline in enrollment of around 1,700 students.
“We haven’t really seen anything like this,” said Carpenter in response to the consistent decline.
Because of this trend, the district is facing a $28 million structural deficit over the next five years.
“We have a balanced budget now, and we’re not predicting that we’ll have an unbalanced budget in three years,” said Carpenter. “We’re saying we need to make adjustments over the next three, four years, so that our budgets are balanced.”
DPS’s Director of Campus Planning, Andrew Huber, told CBS Colorado in an interview last month that those adjustments will likely include closing down more schools.
“Additional school closures will be necessary in the upcoming years. When exactly that would be is hard to forecast right now,” said Huber.
The district’s CFO says his biggest takeaway from a recent round of closures is to make sure to give families options for what’s next.
“No one wants their school closed, but the second-best option isn’t going to be the same for every family,” said Carpenter.
This issue could be one Denver faces for years to come.
“We sort of say, how many kids are born here? Because in five years, those kids will be kindergartners,” Carpenter added.
The city’s birth rate peaked in 2005, meaning those babies have already graduated high school. And, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, more young families move out of Denver and into surrounding counties than move into the city.
“I think school consolidation is very — I understand why people want to talk about it, but I think it’s more about, like, how do we make sure that the programs that are offered are rich programs,” said Carpenter.
Carpenter also says the district is closely monitoring some potential cuts to federal grants for students of poverty and language learners. He says those decisions will be made by October for the start of the new fiscal year, and cuts would have a “terrible” impact.
The Denver Broncos hosted eight tryout players at mandatory minicamp this week, including quarterback Sawyer Robertson. It sounds like the team has made decisions on those tryout players, and Robertson won’t be signed (at least not right now).
Instead, the Broncos are signing offensive lineman Reid Holskey (according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler) and cornerback Blake Cotton (according to the Denver Post‘s Parker Gabriel). Holskey (6-6, 306 pounds) spent time on the Houston Texans’ practice squad in 2025 before joining the New York Giants in January. He was cut by New York last month. Cotton (6-2, 195 pounds) is a rookie who spent last fall at Utah, totaling 30 tackles and seven pass breakups in 13 games.
The two moves came one day after Denver wrapped up minicamp. The 91-man offseason roster was already full, so the Broncos will need to make corresponding moves to make room for Holskey and Cotton on the roster.
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