A statement from Pinnacol Assurance President and CEO, Ken Ross, April 28, 2009

An amended version of Senate Bill 281 was sent back to the Senate last week for reconsideration. The amended bill includes: 1) provisions for performance and financial audits to be conducted by the state auditor and paid for by Pinnacol and 2) an interim committee to study the Colorado workers' compensation system and Pinnacol and make recommendations on future operations.

We believe this bill language lacks clarity, is redundant with current state law and that mechanically it cannot be implemented.

Late yesterday, SB 281 as amended was voted on in the Senate -- and the result was a tie vote: 16 - 16. A total of 18 votes is needed to approve the amended bill. Procedurally, this means the bill has been laid over and will come up for a vote again, but we don't know when. Most likely it will be in the next day or two.

You can help by immediately contacting the following senators, thanking them for voting against this bill, and asking them to vote NO when SB 281 comes up again:

DAN GIBBS
Colorado State Senator, District 16
Capitol Phone: 303.866.4873
E-mail: dan.gibbs.senate@state.co.us

PAULA SANDOVAL
Colorado State Senator, District 34
Capitol Phone: 303.866.4862
E-mail: paula.sandoval.senate@state.co.us

GAIL SCHWARTZ
Colorado State Senator, District 5
Capitol Phone: 303.866.4871
E-mail: gail.schwartz.senate@state.co.us

AL WHITE Colorado State Senator, District 8
Capitol Phone: 303.866.2586
E-mail: al.white.senate@state.co.us

This letter, sent last week from Tony Gagliardi, the state director of the NFIB, provides more details about why we think this bill is bad for Colorado. Gagliardi's letter, and this sample letter, may provide some language that you can use in your own contacts to these senators.

We know this has been a long and frustrating process for our supporters, however we have come a long way since these bills were originally proposed. With your help, we have defeated SB 273 and some of the most damaging language has been removed from SB 281. With your continued support, we hope to completely defeat SB 281.Thank you./p>