Rep. Woodrow introduced HB25 1208, a bill that will cut pay for workers and stop future minimum wage increases. Review and share some of our talking points below. 

 

General

 

• Hardworking Coloradans deserve the opportunity to earn a good wage, especially as the cost of living continues to rise. House Bill 1208 will worsen the financial security of the tens of thousands of Coloradans who work for tips by reducing their base pay and forcing them to rely even more on unpredictable tips.

 

• Tipped workers in Colorado already earn $3.02 less than non-tipped workers as long as their tips bring their earnings to at least the minimum wage. By lowering the tipped minimum wage further, House Bill 1208 will widen this wage gap and increase poverty rates among Coloradans who rely on tips. 

 

• This bill will cut the pay of tipped workers in Denver by $4 an hour and the pay of tipped workers in Boulder and Edgewater by nearly $2 an hour, which will result in them making $5,000 less per year on average. It will also prevent all tipped workers in the state from fully benefiting from any local minimum wage increases in the future and force municipalities to rewrite their local wage ordinances to come into compliance.

 

• Not only will House Bill 1208 cut wages and increase wage disparities between non-tipped and tipped workers, but it will add further confusion to an already complicated wage system by creating a different tipped minimum wage for tipped workers depending on which city they work in. The current two-wage system is already incredibly complicated, creating harmful incentives that make tipped workers victims of wage theft at much higher rates than non-tipped workers. 

 

• Now is not the time to cut the pay of restaurant workers and other Coloradans who work for tips. House Bill 1208 will significantly worsen the economic well-being of tipped workers and their families by further reducing their wages and forcing workers to rely even more on unpredictable tips. 

 

Restaurant claims
 

• Since its inception, the restaurant industry has fought against every minimum wage increase and worker protection considered at the legislature and the ballot box in Colorado, including overtime protections, paid sick days, and paid family and medical leave.
   

• The data the Colorado Restaurant Association is using to claim widespread restaurant closures is misleading, inaccurate, and pulled from an incomplete data source that resulted from a restaurant licensing software change. Here are the facts about restaurant health in Colorado from non-biased sources:

  • The number of Denver food and drink establishments have rebounded to higher levels than before the COVID-19 pandemic. In Quarter one of 2019, Denver had 2,114 food and drink service establishments, 2,343 at the end of 2023, and 2,359 at the beginning of 2024.
     

• Denver County has 3.27 food or drink service establishments per 1,000 people. This is, by far, the highest number in the state. In terms of annual growth, Denver matches Colorado as a whole and has outperformed Boulder, Arapahoe, and Larimer. 
   

• In the last 2.5 years, there has been net growth of 22 active food or beverage service licenses in Denver. In the last six months, there has been a net decline of 9 licenses total. This is an extremely stable industry. Coming out of COVID, there was a surge when the economy rebounded and money was flowing into the city from the federal government. The number of restaurants did decline between mid-2023 and mid-2024, but are now stable.

 

For local electeds

 

• The law already requires municipalities to do extensive community outreach and stakeholding with workers, businesses, and community members to determine what the appropriate minimum wage is for hardworking people who live and work in our communities – This bill prevents us from listening to the needs of our communities to determine a fair wage that accounts for the cost of living in our community.

 

• Municipalities where they have increased the minimum wage: This bill will force us to cut the pay of the thousands of tipped workers in our community who are already struggling to make ends meet because of high inflation and the increased cost of living. Cities and municipalities have the authority to determine what is best for their communities when it comes to an appropriate minimum wage and this bill strips us of local control and nullifies local input and perspectives.
   

• Municipalities where they have increased the minimum wage: When our municipality voted to increase the minimum wage, there were numerous considerations for restaurants who were included in the conversation. The wage we settled on was ALREADY a compromise between the needs of a wide range of community members including hardworking people, businesses, restaurants, and others after months of stakeholding.