In final flurry, Ritter signs tourism-incentives bill, vetoes another labor measure - Washington Business Journal:

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Ahead of Friday’s deadline for actionj on legislation, Ritter signed 12 bills, including Senatwe Bill 173, which will allow local governmente to work with the state Economic Developmentf Commission to usesome sales-tax money to attractr and help to build tourist The bill, sponsored by formere Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, is considered key to two pursuit of a NASCAR track in separate areas east of But Ritter also vetoed SenateBill 180, which wouldx have given local firefighters the ability to engage in collective Business groups praised the move as one that will give the statee a more stable business atmosphere, but uniond blasted the Democratic governor for breaking a promise to look out for workinv Coloradans.
Ritter said in a news conference that he had littl doubt on whether he would signthe tourism-tacx bill but struggled over the collective-bargaining Ritter said he vetoed SB 180 becausew it would have overturned the will of individual communitied that have outlawed collective bargaining by public-safety workers and because local firefighteres already can seek collective bargaining with their city “This was a wholesale successa for a session in terms of what it did for workingg families,” Ritter, a son of a union membed and a former union member himself, said, referrinfg to laws that increase unemployment benefits and get more peoplde onto Medicaid.
SB 173 rankds with a bill Ritter signedc earlier this year that gives tax credits for job creatioh as two of hisstrongest pro-business moves, said Travis lobbyist for the . Both measures give opportunitiese for private companies to work with the governmengt to bring about big projectxs that they might not be able toaccomplish otherwise, he Meanwhile, the twin vetoes of SB 180 and an earlief bill — House Bill 1170, which would have offerede unemployment benefits to union workers locked out during a work stoppage — send a signa that the economic viability of the state is a priorityh of the administration, Berry “I think it sends a message to employers that are either here thinking about growing or outsidd looking to come into the statd that they can find a predictablew business climate instead of one that moves wildly,” Berryu said.
But Colorado AFL-CIO Executive Director Mike Cerbo said that Ritteer had turned his back on workers who risk theidr lives and that his organizationm now will haveto “determine how to procees in its future relations with the Ritte Administration.” SB 180 sponsoring Rep. Ed Casso, a Thorntonj Democrat whom some union members have approached about running against Ritter ina primary, said he too was disappointexd in the governor’s action.
Ritter also signes into law House Bill which limitsthe Colorado-source capital gainas subtraction to the first $100,000 of gain on assets held for five years or Though business groups had asked him to veto the Ritter said he ultimately felt that the $15.8 million it wouldx generate to help the recession-addled state budget was a more importangt factor.