Colorado COVID presumption bill stalls

A Colorado bill that would have made it easier for essential workers to receive workers compensation for contracting coronavirus has stalled in committee.

S.B. 216, introduced by Democratic Sen. Robert Rodriguez, would have created a rebuttable presumption for essential workers who were diagnosed with coronavirus that they believed was contracted on the job.

The bill would have extended this presumption to first responders, 911 operators, corrections officers, health care personnel, home health workers, custodians cleaning in facilities that treat coronavirus patients, utility workers, technicians or maintenance workers conducting work in facilities treating patients with coronavirus, food processing workers, grocery store workers, mass transit drivers, airline workers and food service and catering workers.

The Colorado Senate’s Committee on Appropriations indefinitely postponed discussion on the bill Wednesday.

On Saturday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the Colorado legislature that detailed the business organization’s concerns about the bill.

“No other state has expanded workers ’compensation coverage so broadly,” wrote Glenn Spencer, senior vice president of the chamber’s employment policy division. “S.B. 216 would … place enormous stress on the entire system at a time when most employers are only just beginning to recover from the nationwide shutdown of our economy.”

More insurance and workers compensation news on the coronavirus crisis here.