Direct Care Worker legislative Updates

CCWU LOBBY DAY

Colorado Care Workers Unite

26 FEBRUARY 2024 / 8:00 to Noon STATE CAPITOL

Attendees 

SEI Local 105, CCWU & Jenn Ochs MWCO’23

Next CCWU lobby day is Tuesday, 3/5

Agenda

Raise increase for direct care workers

1. No bill # yet

2. In November, Governor Polis put a wage increase for direct care workers in the 2024-2025 proposed budget.  Members of the Joint Budget Committee believe that this increase should match the Denver minimum wage along the front range specifically and workers in those areas should be brought up to $18.29. We are backing that because we also believe care workers need a substantial wage increase *in order to feel some economic relief and show up ready to care for their clients. We believe this will help bring workers back into the industry and retain the ones that may have to leave to higher paying jobs so they can afford rent and food. This is peak budget season and lots of competing priorities are out there concerning our state budget. That is why we are showing up every other Tuesday and next week we will begin advocating via phone and email into the JBC to push for this increase. The final passage of the state budget should happen in mid-April

Other Bills

1. Worker Freedom Act HB 24 -1260 vote NO to captive audiences

2. Sponsors;: Majority Leader Monica Duran, Representative Tim Hernandez, Senator Jessie Danielson

3. Tentative read date

4. Bill Description: CO employers can require employees to attend meetings where they are forced to listen to the employer’s political or religious beliefs. When attending these meetings,  workers understandably fear that their jobs are at risk if they don’t adopt the employer's viewpoint.

Captive audiences meetings are an affront to worker freedom and no employee should be retaliated against for not attending or participating.

1. HB 24 -1066 Prevent Workplace Violence in Health-Care Settings

2. Sponsors:Rep Eliza Hamrick,  Rep Lorena Garcia, Senator Dafna Michealson Jenet & Senator Julie Gonzales

3. Introduced 1/10/24

4. The bill enacts the "Violence Prevention in Health-care Settings Act", applicable to hospitals, freestanding emergency departments, nursing care facilities, assisted living residences, and federally qualified health centers, and the "Violence Prevention in Behavioral Health Settings Act", applicable to comprehensive community behavioral health providers. Both acts require each of these facility types to:

• Establish a workplace violence prevention committee to document and review workplace violence incidents at the facility and develop and regularly review a workplace violence prevention plan (plan) for the facility;

• Adopt, implement, enforce, and update the plan;

• Provide training on the plan and on workplace violence prevention;

• Submit biannual workplace violence incident reports to the department of public health and environment or the behavioral health administration, as applicable; and

• If a workplace violence incident occurs, offer post-incident services to affected staff

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People Power will make anything possible!