§ 24-92-302 — Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly hereby finds
and declares that:

(a) The energy industry in Colorado is undergoing a historic transformation
to address threats posed by climate change, which includes efforts to diversify
capacity, promote the development of renewable and other clean, non-carbon
generation sources, and electrify major segments of the state's economy;

(b) These developments will require massive investments of resources from
the state and public utility companies, which will ultimately be paid by residents
through future taxes and utility bills;

(c) The safe and cost-effective delivery of these projects is vital to the public
health and welfare of residents and the economic security of the state, and critical
to ensure that adequate power is provided to Colorado homes and businesses;

(d) Deficient planning of these resources can result in escalating utility bills
and dangerous power outages if power supply is not maintained in sufficient
capacity to meet future, growing demand. For these reasons, appropriate measures
must be taken to protect future energy investments, promote successful
construction delivery, and prevent errors in the planning and delivery of new
facilities.

(e) One of the most challenging aspects of energy facility construction is
ensuring that projects are supported by capable craft labor resources. It is
essential for these projects to be staffed by a reliable and adequate supply of
properly trained workers in all applicable trades and crafts required for these
facilities.

(f) Energy sector public works projects built by or for the use of regulated
utilities, like traditional public projects, are often built for the collective benefit of
all citizens and residents of Colorado. These projects are often funded through
public tax dollars or through the collective resources acquired through Colorado
utilities billing customers. Like tax dollars, these resources acquired through utility
rates should demand a higher standard of public benefit back to the consumers and
communities from which the resources were collected.

(g) Extensive research shows that prevailing wage laws are effective in
attracting better qualified workers to projects and promoting critically needed
investments in apprenticeship training required to ensure adequate craft labor skill
levels and productivity. Likewise, the use of registered apprenticeship training
programs and project labor agreements has been proven to be the most effective
strategy for providing high-level skills training and ensuring needed qualification
credentialing for workers in the construction industry.

(h) By providing project owners, developers, and contractors unique and
unparalleled access to an adequate supply of well-trained, highly skilled craft labor
in affected project areas, craft labor standards promote successful project delivery
goals, including quality, safety, timeliness, and cost-efficiency, by providing
effective quality control over craft labor supply capabilities, as well as risk
avoidance to prevent disruptions and other labor performance problems caused by
inadequate craft labor capabilities;

(i) For these reasons, incorporating prevailing wage standards and
apprenticeship requirements and encouraging project labor agreements for public
utilities and other energy facility planning and construction is necessary to protect
and promote the public's interest in these projects;

(j) By incorporating well established quality contracting procurement tools,
such as prevailing wages, apprenticeship utilization requirements, and project labor
agreements into our energy resource planning, the state of Colorado will have the
capabilities to better protect its energy investments, improve construction project
delivery in the energy sector, fully document and evaluate the directives set forth in
section 40-2-129, and create a clear set of standards for enforcement to achieve
the law's intent for the benefit of Colorado workers and the communities where
they live;

(k) Use of these quality contracting tools is already incorporated into
Colorado's traditional public procurement law as prevailing wage and
apprenticeship policies adopted in sections 24-92-115 (7) and part 2 of this article
92. In addition, project labor agreements have been successfully used in Colorado
in the past for projects in the energy sector and the broader private sector
construction industry. These agreements have also been upheld by the courts, for
example, in Bldg. & Constr. Trades Council v. Associated Builders & Contractors of
Mass./R.I., Inc. , 507 U.S. 230, 231 (1993), due to their ability to help secure reliable
craft labor staffing and promote timely project delivery.

(l) Due to their benefits in promoting successful project delivery in projects
assisted by federal grants and tax credits, the federal government is strongly
encouraging the use of these quality contracting tools generally, and especially in
the energy sector, where major federal assistance programs under the recent
federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Pub.L. 117-169, are providing
approximately three hundred seventy billion dollars in funding to promote clean
energy sources across the country.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that because cost-effective, safe, and efficient generation, transmission, and distribution systems in
the energy sector are vital to the state's economy and the public welfare and
safety, quality control and risk avoidance measures are necessary to ensure that
the construction of projects necessary for these systems are adequately staffed by
properly trained and qualified craft labor personnel.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2023: Entire part added, (SB 23-292), ch. 247, p. 1349, � 1, effective January 1, 2024.