El Paso County commissioners vote to sue state over 2022 passage of bill allowing unionization of county employees
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- In a unanimous vote Tuesday, El Paso County's Board of Commissioners agreed to file a lawsuit against the state regarding a bill passed in the final days of last year's legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.
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The legislation -- Senate Bill 22-230 -- allows county employees to unionize and requires counties to pay for the cost of collective bargaining.
Commissioners held a news conference after their Tuesday meeting to elaborate on the lawsuit; a county spokesman said that commissioners decided to file suit now because the law becomes effective July 1.
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Commissioners said that the law is the latest example of unfunded state mandates -- new laws that don't provide funding for compliance -- and forces counties with limited budgets to spend millions of dollars that could be better used for road maintenance and other essential county services.
According to a cost analysis report provided by the county, annual compliance costs would range from $6 million to $54 million in added personnel costs and other expenses.
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"I see another problem with this law," said Steve Schleiker, the county's clerk and recorder. "It grants broad and overreaching powers to county commissioners to dictate how independently-elected officials like myself, run their offices."
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Commissioners are asking that a judge review the law for its potential impacts and determine whether it violates the state constitution; no timeline has been established yet for the lawsuit to be heard in court.
Also present to share their opposition to the law were Don Wilson, a state representative for northern El Paso County; Commissioner Chris Richardson, from Elbert County; and Kevin Grantham, Fremont County Commissioner and a former state senator.
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El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner said that opponents are concerned about negative impacts besides the potential financial implications.
"And almost instantly after the bill was signed into law, union reps began harassing and intimidating our county employees to join their failing organizations -- lurking outside of county buildings, confronting them at their homes, leading some to consider filing harassment reports to law enforcement," she explained. "So, this isn't dissatisfied employees internally doing this on their own. We have outside forces who are coming in and trying to create a situation.
Richardson agreed.
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"I don't see a move for unionization because employees know that there's no more money," he said. "We scrape for every dime. We do our best to take care of our folks."
Geitner concurred, saying that El Paso County has allocated millions of dollars in pay increases and benefits to retain employees.
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A county spokesman said that other counties are considering whether to join the lawsuit.
The bill that led to the law had nearly overwhelming support from Democrats in the Legislature, and Grantham -- a former state senator -- said that passage of the bill was "a political move."
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"We've heard about threats of campaign contributions being withheld if Democrats didn't support the bill," he said.
Commissioners said that there is strong bipartisan opposition to the law; it excludes smaller counties of fewer than 7,500 people.
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Daneya Esgar, a former state representative from Pueblo County who will soon fill a vacant commissioner seat there, co-sponsored the Senate bill and disagrees that it gives unfunded mandates to counties.
"It is still nothing that is mandatory for any county," she said. "This allows employees to start the conversation about collective bargaining and work toward that in their individual counties."
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Esgar added that there was a great deal of public support for the bill.
"I heard from county employees across this entire state who felt like they really needed the option to be able to collectively bargain. I'm surprised and disappointed about the lawsuit. I was kind of taken aback that it's taken this long for them to move forward in this way."
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The lawsuit comes nearly four years after Colorado voters rejected a measure to allow county employees to unionize.
El Paso County commissioners have complained for years that they don't get enough consideration from the Legislature on important issues.
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"I don't think we've been afforded a true, honest statewide discussion," said Commissioner Stan VanderWerf. "We need a better stakeholder process so that the issues and concerns of local government across the state cab actually be addressed."
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El Paso County has an estimated 3,000 employees.