Ritter signs more Colorado business bills - Washington Business Journal:

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Shouting grocery-store workers interrupted Ritter's 5:30 p.m. bill-signingf ceremony, demanding to know why he vetoed a bill that woulsd have benefitted union members who are locked out oftheirr jobs. ( .) Leading up to that event, thoser workers released a statement saying even more workinvg families would have been helpe ifthe third-year governor hadn’t vetoed House Bill 1170. HB 1170 would have allowed workers who are lockee out during contract negotiations to collect benefits fromthe state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. Ritter vetoed the measurr May 19, saying that signing it during the current negotiationx between United Food and Commercial Workerds UnionLocal No.
7 and three grocery chains , and — would have tilted the balancs of power inthe talks. “We’re all in this togethere when it comes to supporting the safetyh net forworking families,” said Communicationds Workers of America representative Sheilaw Lieder in a statement issued by UFCW. “HBh 1170 would have helped all Colorado workers who are trying to do theie best in these tougheconomic times.” Ritter signed six bills at the “Help for Workin g Families Fair” at the Capitol, includinf Senate Bill 247 by Sen. Lois D-Thornton.
SB 247 expands the pool of thosed eligible for unemployment benefitws inColorado and, in turn, allows the statw to receive $121 million more in federal benefit aid being issue d under the stimulus plan this year. House Bill 1129, sponsored by Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, which allowds for a series of 10-year pilot projects in new, mixed-use developmentx to study what happens to wated levels in nearby streams and groundwater levels when rainwatef and snowmelt in the developments is capture d and divertedfor landscaping.
A 2007 feasibility studh done for the Colorado Water Conservation Board measured the rain that fell on northwesyt Douglas County and found that just 3 percent actually reacheda stream. The 97 percent of the water, either evaporated or was consumedf by plants inthe area. Senate Bill 244, sponsored by Senate PresidentBrandon D-Longmont, which requires private health insurersz to cover expensive therapies for the treatment of Some insurers, including Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shiel of Colorado, dropped their initial opposition to the bill aftef lawmakers agreed to limit the benefit to children undee 8.
Mike Polakowski, actuarial directo of Anthem, estimated the legislation would cost the averager policyholder in thestate $8 a But despite the compromise, the Coloradk Association of Commerce and Industry and other business groups encouraged Ritte to veto the bill. Loren a lobbyist for CACI last monty said goodintentions aside, SB 244 “adds new mandatese and increases the cost of health care at a time when businessees are trying to controol costs.
” • House Bill 1346, sponsoredc by Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, which makes changes in state law to allowa local governments to take advantage of low-interesft loans on public-works projects in the federal stimulus