By Tenisha James

I live and work in Connecticut, not Colorado — but what’s happening in your state matters to people like me. I’ve already seen how policies that restrict earned wage access (EWA) can play out in real life. And I wouldn’t wish that experience on Colorado workers.  

Like many people, I’ve felt the squeeze of an economy where costs keep rising, but paychecks don’t. Groceries, rent, medical bills — it all adds up faster than you expect. I’ve always done my best to budget carefully, but no matter how disciplined you are, life doesn’t wait for payday.  

That’s why I used EWA services. They gave me access to wages I had already earned — no loans, no interest, no long-term debt. If I could wait a couple of days, it costs me nothing. If I needed money immediately, I could pay a small fee for instant access. It was simple, transparent and most importantly provided me the flexibility and the dignity of managing my own finances.  

Then things changed.  

Policies here in Connecticut created uncertainty and barriers around EWA, and providers pulled back. Almost overnight, a tool I relied on to manage my finances responsibly was gone. And when it disappeared, I didn’t suddenly have better options — I had worse ones.  

Without EWA, workers are left to deal with financial shortfalls however they can. For many, that means turning to credit cards with high interest rates or payday loans with staggering fees. Others risk overdraft charges or late payment penalties that only make things harder the next month. These aren’t solutions — they’re traps.  

And not everyone even has access to those options. Plenty of hardworking people don’t qualify for traditional credit or don’t have a financial safety net to fall back on. When EWA went away, it didn’t just inconvenience people — it put them in more vulnerable financial positions. The bottom line is not having access to EWA service made my life harder and my finances less manageable.  

That’s why I’m paying close attention to what Colorado is considering because I care about working people.  

From where I stand, the goal shouldn’t be to restrict or push out EWA service — it should be to regulate them responsibly so workers can continue to use them safely. The right approach includes clear consumer protections, reasonable limits on fees, and guarantees these services remain optional and transparent — all things that House Bill 1046 includes.  

But lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure workers can access this service and employers can provide it. 

I’ve lived that reality. I’ve sat at my kitchen table trying to figure out how to cover an unexpected expense without the one tool that used to help me do it without debt. It’s stressful, frustrating and completely avoidable.  

Colorado has a choice right now. You can learn from what happened in states like mine and take a balanced approach that protects both consumers and access — or you can risk pushing out a service that thousands of workers depend on.  

Take it from someone who’s already seen how this plays out: losing earned wage access doesn’t protect workers. It makes life harder. Colorado workers deserve better and they deserve access to the wages they have earned. 

Tenisha James is a sales coordinator, living in Waterbury, Connecticut, and is the mother of six children.