The Colorado Initiative Title Setting Review Board upheld its prior decision to set a ballot title for Initiative 283, which would establish 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, with payroll premiums split between the employee and their employer.

Kelly Brough, the president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, objected to the title that voters will see on grounds that it should include tax increase template language required by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and also that the new division to administer the program is described as an “enterprise.” Under Colorado law, enterprises are government-owned businesses that receive no more than 10% of their revenue from state and local sources and are exempt from revenue caps.

“The Division as contemplated will have significant enforcement, regulatory and rate-setting powers which are inconsistent with the ordinary understanding of a business,” Brough wrote in her objection. “No ordinary business has the ability to regulate and police its competitors.”

Martha Tierney, the attorney for the initiative’s designated representatives, defended the enterprise designation by arguing that Colorado’s unemployment insurance program works in a similar way. Jason Gelender, a board member representing the Office of Legislative Legal Services, asked Brough’s attorney, Christopher Murray, what he thought about the comparison.

“I’m not entirely sure that it is constitutional,” Murray cautioned, referring to unemployment insurance. Nevertheless, he said that the paid leave proposal presumes that individuals will “buy” their leave from the government-sponsored program, unless the government authorizes private plans.

Board Chair Theresa Conley, representing Secretary of State Jena Griswold, referred to a legislative memo from 2019 that analyzed whether a proposed paid leave program would qualify as an enterprise. Legislative staff deemed that an enterprise “pursues a benefit and generates revenue by collecting fees from service users,” and therefore the answer was yes. The memo further argued that the relationship between fees collected and services provided was stronger in the proposed paid leave entity than with unemployment insurance, which also operates as an enterprise.

Board members unanimously dismissed the objection. Brough is challenging the titles of two variations on the paid leave proposal in the Colorado Supreme Court on similar grounds.