Though a bill banning forced arbitration in legal disputes has no chance of becoming law for the foreseeable future, some Colorado Democrats applauded the passage of the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act Friday by the U.S. House.

The bill passed Friday by a vote of 225-186.

The bill that would bar mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts and bans limits on class-action lawsuits, a boon to consumers but especially to trial lawyers.

Opponents in Colorado have successfully argued that an open door to litigation equates to shuttered doors for small businesses.

Only one congressional Republican, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, sponsored the House bill, and Friday the legislation picked up one other Republican vote, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey.

The bill has 222 Democratic co-sponsors in the House, including all four Colorado Democrats.

Republicans, of course, control the Senate and the White House. A similar bill in the upper chamber has gone nowhere since it was introduced in February, and neither of Colorado’s senators — Republican Cory Gardner of Democrat Michael Bennet — have signed on to support it.

“Coloradans don’t have adequate protection when trying to resolve disputes with big corporations that force workers, consumers and small business into private arbitration that the corporation controls, even when it has engaged in illegal conduct,” U.S. Rep Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Boulder, said in a statement Friday.

“The FAIR Act would end the practice of forcing Colorado families, elders and small businesses into one-sided arbitration proceedings that bind them long before there’s any harm while allowing both sides to voluntarily agree to arbitration once there is a dispute,” he said.

A coalition of groups that oppose mandatory arbitration noted in a press release Friday that the Colorado legislature has tried and failed to pass state levels changes to mandatory arbitration.

The press release said state lawmakers would try again in the next session, which begins in January.

“Coloradans usually get the short end of the stick in arbitration when facing off against powerful interests who have done them wrong,” state Rep. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, stated Friday.

He said he would introduce a bill to “ensure the integrity of arbitration by preventing the kind of conflicts of interest that benefit the powerful at the expense of consumers and workers.”

Added Rep. Dominique Jackson, D-Aurora: “All we want is for working families in Colorado to have a fair shot at justice when they’ve been harmed by a corporation.”

Weissman sponsored the Colorado Arbitration Fairness Act in 2018, which passed the Democrat-led House 35-26 but was killed by a Republican-led Senate committee. Jackson sponsored the Arbitration Services Provider Transparency Act, which also passed the House and was killed by Republicans in the Senate.