Legislative Engagement – Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association

2022 Colorado General Assembly – CFVGA Advocacy Summary

PASSED and signed into law was HB22-1313, a fix of SB21-087 which required growers to double housing during any pandemic. This law gives growers options and restricts the requirement to a covid pandemic.
KILLED a bill titled Protect People and Pollinators, which would have created a patchwork of regulatory zones by giving local jurisdictions the right to make their own regulations on pesticides. This bill also would have restricted the use of EPA-approved agricultural pesticides
Succeeded in AMENDING a recycling bill that mandates producers of packaging to recycle it and assesses fees/fines for product that is not recycled. This bill initially included agricultural producers. However, after considerable discussion and amendment offers, agriculture is now excluded from this requirement.
CFVGA and the ag coalition are LEGAL STRATEGIES to reverse the SB21-87 requirement that broadly defined service providers have access to ag employees at their worksites as often as they desire. On the side of employers is a ruling last year by the U.S. Supreme Court that struct down a California service provider rule that was more restrictive than Colorado’s rule.
EDUCATION and continued ADVOCACY for growers learning how SB21-087 applies to their operations.

2022 Colorado Legislative Update

HB22-1355, dubbed the recycling bill, proposes to fine those companies that produce branded packaging that is not recycled. CFVGA advocacy has moved the threshold of companies exempted from $1 million to $5 million, but in the produce industry, this does not exempt everyone, especially those large, multi-family, multi-industry businesses that pack for other growers and have value-added entities.

HB22-1313, the bill intended to fix SB21-087 housing requirements during a pandemic, which the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment says are unenforceable, passed the House Ag Committee and will move to the full House.

CFVGA voting members (Grower, Allied) are encouraged to stay on top of Colorado legislative issues by attending CFVGA’s weekly advocacy meetings on Tuesdays at 9am. Contact CFVGA if you would like the link to join these meetings or have any other questions.

Check out CFVGA’s bill tracker for the most up-to-date information on all bills CFVGA is tracking.

SB21-087 Ag Workers’ Rights Bill

Passed by the Colorado General Assembly and signed by Gov. Jared Polis June 25, 2021, SB21-087 contains sweeping changes for ag employers throughout Colorado. The bill will be damaging to Colorado farms and ranches and will reduce employee paychecks. Ultimately, the lower earning potential for employees could result in less produce raised in Colorado.

Due to CFVGA advocacy as part of a Colorado ag coalition, farmers had the opportunity to talk with rulemakers about the devastating impact the new rules, particularly overtime thresholds, will have on farms and their employees. This resulted in some softening of overtime, hand weeding and other rules, but will still mean big changes and economic hurdles for Colorado’s produce industry. Bill proponents were unhappy that rulemakers did not implement an across-the-board 40-hour-per-week overtime threshold and on March 31, 2022 filed a lawsuit against the governor and the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment to demonstrate their angst and to try to force this change.

Some of the many changes resulting from passage of SB21-087 include:

overtime after 60 hours per week in 2023 and after 48 (other than high season) or 56 (high season) hours per week in 2024
additional paid breaks when temperatures are 80 degrees or higher
heat illness prevention training beginning May 2022
unfettered, on-farm access of “service providers” to farm employees
limitation of hand-weeding/hand-thinning to no more than 20% of an employee’s time with some exceptions or a variance

Resources

CFVGA’s Labor page (scroll down to Resources) provides fact sheets outlining the rules promulgated by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment for SB21-087 as well as other labor law fact sheets. To access the hand-weeding variance, use this same section and click on Colorado Department of Agriculture.

Fact sheets, surveys/studies pertaining to SB21-087 or ag labor in general: