Thank You Colorado Senators

A bipartisan group of Colorado state senators voted to defeat Senate Bill 25-157, legislation that would have significantly raised healthcare costs for families and small businesses. Their leadership reflects a thoughtful approach to policymaking – one that strikes a critical balance between supporting a strong economy while also ensuring strong consumer protections for Colorado residents.

Thank you to the senators listed below for putting Colorado families and businesses first and rising above partisan politics to do what is best for our state.

The bill, the “Deceptive Trade Practice Significant Impact Standard,” aimed to amend the Colorado Consumer Protection Act (CCPA). The current law, passed in 1969, has continued to evolve over its 50 years through legislative and judicial actions. In its current form, the law strikes balance between consumer protection and deterring business with an unfriendly litigious environment. The law serves as a deterrent for unfair or deceptive trade practices by broadly applying across industries in the state with no major gaps or exemptions in its protections for consumers.

It provides strong and robust protections for consumers as well as remedies for those harmed. To establish balance for business given this broad application, consumers are required to demonstrate the broad impact of the unfair or deceptive trade practice, not just the impact to the individual consumer. 

Senate Bill 157 aimed to remove the requirement to show the public impact. If passed, businesses of all sizes could experience a significant increase in the number of Consumer Protection Act claims brought in civil litigation. For entrepreneurs, small businesses, and family businesses, these added risks can be costly, if not catastrophic. For healthcare providers, this change could have resulted in yet another claim opportunity by an individual patient without need to present the impact to all patients.

Currently, individual consumers, or patients, who have experienced an adverse outcome have two remedies, they have the right to bring a civil lawsuit as well as report a provider to the state licensing board. These remedies for patients are necessary and important, as is having access to healthcare services. Striking the balance is critical.

Senate Bill 157 would have tipped the balance making lawsuits easier to file, adding costs to do business and provide needed and necessary services like healthcare to increase, resulting in higher costs on you. A vote against Senate Bill 25-157 was a vote in favor of keeping your healthcare accessible and affordable.