Colorado legislators rewrite restaurant bill, backing away from direct cut to servers’ pay in Denver

Colorado lawmakers have backed away from a plan to cut some restaurant workers’ pay, significantly rewriting the measure amid opposition from fellow Democrats and labor advocates.

As it’s now written after being amended Friday night, House Bill 1208 would give local governments that have raised their minimum wages above the state minimum the option to increase their “tip offset.” That is a credit that reduces the base minimum wage to a lower rate that restaurants can pay to tipped workers.

The bill no longer includes a state-enacted increase to the credit, which would have had the effect of a directed pay cut — resulting in a $4-per-hour decrease for tipped workers in Denver — that had been sought by a reeling restaurant industry that’s said it’s struggling to stay afloat amid high costs.

“If the mark of a good compromise is that both sides leave dissatisfied, then (this amendment) is a total banger,” Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat sponsoring the bill, said Friday night.

The amended bill passed the House Finance Committee 11-2. It now heads to the House floor for its first full-chamber vote.

While backed by restaurants, Gov. Jared Polis’ office and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, the original proposal had divided the legislature’s Democratic caucus and drawn sharp criticism from workers and labor unions. The bill’s sponsors, Woodrow and fellow Denver Democratic Rep. Alex Valdez, had delayed a vote on the bill because of its shaky support.

Valdez and Woodrow started Friday with a different amendment that would’ve kept more of the original bill’s intent. But confusion and continued opposition sparked another delay early that evening, and the bill’s sponsors retreated to huddle with lobbyists and senior staff from the governor’s office outside the committee room.

The full compromise was then hammered out and passed easily later that night; several Democratic committee members said they’d intended to vote no until the bill was amended to take out the tip credit change.

Colorado’s minimum wage is $14.81 per hour, and Denver’s is $18.81 per hour, which has increased steeply in recent years. The state’s current tipped-wage credit — the most restaurants can reduce pay rates for servers and others who receive tips — is $3.02 per hour.

Woodrow was correct that neither side left the Capitol satisfied Friday.

“This compromise isn’t going to help Colorado restaurants that are struggling to keep the lights on right now,” Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, said in a statement. “What it does is provide a shred of hope that city and county governments, if they’re  listening to their business community, will take on the challenge of finding some relief for local restaurants before it’s too late.”

Critics were similarly lukewarm.

“Let’s be clear: workers and their allies fought back hard enough to block an immediate pay cut, but this bill is still a corporate-backed attempt to prevent workers from earning fair wages,” Saru Jayaraman, the president of the restaurant worker group One Fair Wage, said in a separate statement. “We will not stop until every restaurant worker in Colorado is paid a full, livable wage with tips on top.”

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