Fort Collins Now
October 2008
Nervous yet?
The stock market is all over the place. Banks are failing. Small businesses are having a hard time finding credit to make payroll. It’s time to batten down the hatches.
And in the midst of it all, roughly 85,000 voters will be receiving their mail ballots in the next week – about half of all of the active voters in Larimer County.
On that ballot, there will be nineteen amendments and referenda. Four stand out. Four have the potential to make a tough job market much, much tougher. Unfortunately, however, they’re disguised in “feel-good” packaging. Don’t be fooled. These are job-killers. They’re economy-killers. They’d make a bad situation worse – if you can imagine that.
Amendment 53 is deceptively designed to feed into the calls for heads to roll on Wall Street. Called the “Criminal Accountability for Business Executives,” it would expose executives to criminal liability for the actions of their companies. A lower-level mistake that might have led to a fine for the company could now land the company’s executives in jail. Would you start a business if the actions of one of your employees could land you in jail? If you owned a business, would you risk keeping your headquarters in Colorado? How many jobs won’t be created? How much money will companies have to spend on legal fees and insurance? How many executives will pick up stakes and leave rather than take the risk in Colorado? We talk about the need for high-paying primary jobs, but it’s tough to create those types of jobs when you can’t attract corporate headquarters to the state.
To top it all off, Amendment 53 extends the same liability to non-profits. Thinking of volunteering as a director of your favorite charity? Are you sure?
Amendment 55 is designed to appeal to voters who might be uneasy about possibly losing their jobs. It would require a business to get the state’s permission to lay someone off. That type of job security can sound nice in an uncertain economy like this, but it’s deceptive. Think about it this way: if you owned a business, would you hire that next employee if you knew that if he or she didn’t work out, you’d be stuck with them until the all-powerful state deems your reasons for firing them are acceptable?
Amendment 56 is similar to Amendment 55 because it is a terrible policy disguised as a “feel good” mandate. Amendment 56 would amend the constitution to require businesses to provide health insurance to employees. If they don’t, they have to pay a fine to a newly-created “health insurance authority.” Amendment 56 is an unfunded mandate that will raise the cost of doing business in Colorado and create a new state bureaucracy. Those higher costs will then be passed on through higher prices, lower salaries and fewer new jobs.
Amendment 57 would eviscerate our existing Worker’s Compensation system. Right now, employers pay into the Worker’s Compensation system. Those funds are then used to help support workers who are injured on the job. The reason we have such a system is so that claims can be quickly processed and companies can save money on insurance premiums and legal fees – they don’t have to defend themselves against every claim in court. Amendment 57 would eliminate all of the benefits and safeguards of our existing Worker’s Compensation system by giving injured employees the right to go outside of the Worker’s Compensation system and sue. Companies would need to carry more insurance, they’d get bogged down in endless court cases, and they’d be spending their capital on lawyers.
It may sound simplistic, but a lot of this can indeed be simplified with the old axiom: “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Someone always pays. If it costs a business more to create each job, fewer jobs will be created. If it becomes more difficult to fire someone, fewer people will be hired. If a company has to spend more and more money on insurance, legal fees and unfunded mandates, that’s less money that can be spent on salaries and benefits and more money you’ll be asked to pay at the checkout counter.
The backers of Amendments 53, 55, 56 and 57 would like you to believe that government can continue to drive up the cost of doing business in Colorado without there being any consequences for employees.
There are always consequences.
