The Colorado Legislature will take another look at a bill that would provide protections for people working in extreme heat and cold, this time proposing a phased approach that avoids blanket and specific duties for employers.
House Bill 26-1272 would direct the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to collect data on temperature-related workplace injuries and ultimately develop a model prevention plan for employers.
“We’re seeing corporations reap tremendous profits from the labor of the people who are here in solidarity,” Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs, the bill’s sponsor, said at a press conference celebrating the bill. “We’re also seeing the (presidential) administration roll back protections for workers. We want to make sure that workers have access to water while they’re working, they have access to shade, and they know if they’re getting heat stroke or heat stroke.”
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Last year, Mr. Velasco proposed a bill that would require employers to provide water to workers and set temperature settings for shade and shelter areas at work sites. It was defeated at the first committee hearing after business groups complained that it was over-regulated. The bill’s fellow sponsors, Velasco, Rep. Meg Froehlich, D-Inglewood, Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, and Sen. Mike Wiseman, D-Aurora, introduced this year’s bill.
“I’m really proud to sponsor this bill again this year with a new approach that includes a phased rollout: first collecting data on temperature safety measures, encouraging states to adopt targeted standards where evidence shows they are needed, and finally implementing those standards on the ground,” Cutter said. “And we all know we’re going to need them.”
About 28,000 workplace injuries a year can be attributed to extreme heat, according to a 2025 study that analyzed data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
HB-1272 “has the same goal of ensuring that workers are protected when employers require them to work in dangerous and extreme temperatures,” said Alex Sanchez, president of the advocacy group Voces Unidas. “We are here because too many workers in this state are still expected to endure conditions that endanger their health, their bodies, and sometimes their lives.”
The bill would require CDLE to collect data on temperature-related workplace injuries and related claims starting in 2027. The department must publish a model injury prevention plan by early 2028, and then employers, including state and local governments, will have until September 2028 to submit their own plans for departmental approval. Those plans may include strategies such as cooldowns and warming breaks. CDLE is also required to create training standards for employers to follow.
“The work we put forward last year was both very comprehensive and very prescriptive,” Velasco said. “What we are hearing from the industry in our conversations is that employers are caring for their employees in different ways depending on the industry, so there needs to be some flexibility.”
Still, the bill faces opposition from a number of business groups, including the Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado General Contractors, Colorado Competition Council and Colorado Ski USA.
Michael Gifford, director of advocacy for AGC Colorado, wrote in an email that the organization already has a Construction Health and Safety Excellence (CHASE) partnership with OSHA that promotes workplace safety, and OSHA does not believe temperature concerns are a major issue for construction projects in Colorado.
“There is no need for this expensive and duplicative regulation, especially at a time when (Colorado) is in a state of budget stress and crisis,” he wrote.
As introduced, the bill would also impose financial obligations on CDLE to hire more employees to meet initial requirements and on state agencies to develop and implement prevention plans. A bipartisan fiscal analysis estimates state spending will increase by more than $5 million annually by 2027. The Legislature is currently considering deep cuts to state spending to make up for the $850 million gap in the budget.
Velasco said sponsors will introduce amendments during the bill’s committee hearings to “minimize” the fiscal impact. That could mean language directing CDLE to collaborate with other departments that are already collecting relevant data on temperature-related injuries.
The bill is scheduled for its first committee hearing on March 18th.
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