Colorado Democrats will once again consider a bill this year to eliminate a second election requirement in the state’s union laws, following a veto on the first iteration of the legislation from Governor Jared Polis.

Lawmakers, workers and union members crammed into the space outside the governor’s office in the state Capitol on Thursday to announce the return of the so-called Worker Protection Act. The legislative session begins next week.

“We’re back here because the problem did not go away,” Representative Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat who will once again run the bill, said. “You hear politician after politician saying ‘Affordability, affordability, affordability.’ Well, we are here with an actual, real solution to increase worker power and to increase wages.”

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Alongside Mabrey, the bill will be backed by Representative Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat and Senator Jessie Danielson, a Wheat Ridge Democrat.

The bill, like last year’s version, would get rid of a second union election rule, unique to Colorado, to form what’s known as a strong union. After a majority of workers vote to form a union, as outlined in federal law, there is a second election with a 75 percent threshold for workers to negotiate which employees need to pay dues. The second election does not compel union membership, but it opens the door to discuss whether all employees should pay into the union representation they benefit from.

“That second election just gives employers more time to intimidate workers and shut down organizing efforts before workers ever get a real seat at the table,” Danielson said.

Service workers are the backbone of our communities, but too many of us can't afford to even live where we work. We should not be punished and our vote should not be delayed.

Colorado is the only state to have a second election requirement, and workers say it can be an arduous process. Josh Reitze, a cook at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in Denver’s Sloan’s Lake neighborhood, said his union voted to form in 2024 and began negotiations in September of that year. Members are just now waiting for the results of that second election, 15 months since the union was created.

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“Service workers are the backbone of our communities, but too many of us can’t afford to even live where we work. We should not be punished and our vote should not be delayed,” Reitze said. “The Worker Protection Act matters because it would stop companies from dragging out the process and using fear to silence its workers.”

Business groups generally support the second election requirement, which has been Colorado law since the 1940s.

Last year, the Worker Protection Act languished in the Legislature as business groups, legislators and unions tried to reach a compromise at the behest of Polis, who said he would not sign a bill that both sides didn’t agree to. Negotiations collapsed, and the bill passed unchanged with every Democrat in support. Polis, also a Democrat, then vetoed it. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill’s resurgence.

Mabrey told reporters on Thursday that Polis had “not explicitly” said he would veto this year’s bill, but there has not been discussion with the business community in the legislative interim.

“We do not need a task force to figure this out,” Mabrey said. “We need a governor who has the courage to stand with workers.”

This will be the final regular legislative session with Polis as governor. Senator Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser are the Democrats running to replace him, though neither have said whether they support the legislation.

“Maybe if we fail this year, we can get it done next year,” Mabrey said.

The 120-day legislative session begins on Jan. 14. Democrats hold wide majorities in both chambers.