As businesses and workers across the nation grapple with new and sweeping regulations, the Colorado state legislature is pushing a new kind of transparency law aimed at the group of people keeping small businesses like mine afloat – gig workers. Instead of benefiting this industry, Senate Bill 98 would impose a range of requirements that would harm Colorado’s restaurant owners and delivery workers by achievig a level of transparency neither would benefit from.

As co-founder and president of the Hispanic Restaurant Association here in Colorado, an association that represents hundreds of owners and thousands of workers, I know firsthand the challenges our industry faced during the pandemic are still present today. Rising costs of ingredients, rent hikes, labor shortages and inflation have prevented restaurants from seeing a full return to normal. In 2022, delivery was up more than 5%, and platforms like DoorDash were as important as ever for keeping Colorado’s restaurants in business. That’s why I implore our lawmakers to consider the full scope of the proposed gig work transparency bill’s impact on the dedicated servants who have kept our industry alive.

One of restaurant owners’ biggest concerns is for each delivery order, the bill would require platforms to disclose to both customers and drivers any payments a merchant makes to the platform, including commission rate or amount and frequency of any flat fees. As an industry, we are at an inflection point where partnering with third-party delivery platforms has transformed the way we spend money to drive more business. This is sensitive information no small business owner should have to disclose, not to mention it is in no way informative to either the customer or driver.

Another major drawback to SB 98 is the fact it restricts delivery platforms from offering rewards and incentives for those workers who take more orders. Not only is that bad for those working the hardest on delivery platforms, but it is also likely to result in negative service impacts for restaurants and their customers. This is particularly true for restaurants that experience lower order volumes or are located in rural parts of the state.

Finally, the bill restricts platforms’ ability to remove delivery workers from the platform. This makes it challenging for platforms to effectively and efficiently stop offering deliveries to workers who consistently provide low-quality service or pose a potential safety risk. Studies show 62% of customers who have a bad food delivery experience blame both the delivery service and the restaurant itself. It’s unfair to restaurants to force platforms to continue offering deliveries to workers who repeatedly show carelessness in providing service or are bad actors. Preventing platforms from monitoring quality delivery drivers would be catastrophic for Colorado’s restaurants.

I am disappointed our elected officials are failing to take into account the nuances of the delivery work that is so crucial for the survival of our state’s restaurants. Their attempt to impose blanket legislation that treats all gig work platforms the same will only end up hurting the very workers they are aiming to protect while making it harder for restaurants to do business. I urge the legislature to consider what SB 98 would mean for the 260,000-plus workers that make up Colorado’s great restaurant industry.

John Jaramillo is the President of the Hispanic Restaurant Association.