DENVER In a year when top legislators say their priority is jobs, jobs, jobs, one vote at the Capitol has led to a temporary shutdown of many small businesses.
The state government sent out letters Feb. 27 telling 160 towing businesses to shut down immediately, following the failure of Senate Bill 49 by Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango.
The letter has already forced one La Plata County tow company out of business and caused layoffs elsewhere.
And for one independent businessman, it has forced him to spend money he was saving to buy his son a wheelchair.
Roberts wanted to overturn a 2011 law that required towers buy a $50,000 bond, and officials from the Public Utilities Commission were waiting on the bill and hoping it would pass, because they did like not the bond, either.
But the Senate Transportation Committee killed Roberts Senate Bill 49 on Feb. 21, and the panels chairwoman, Sen. Evie Hudak, gave the PUC a tongue-lashing for not enforcing the bond law when it took effect on Jan. 1.
I sort of reprimanded them at the end of our hearing about choosing not to enforce a law based on the perception that there would be a bill and it would pass, which is inappropriate, said Hudak, D-Westminster.
Six days later, the PUC sent a letter to about 160 towing companies, telling them to immediately cease operations because they do not have a bond on file. The PUC scheduled a hearing Monday morning in Denver when companies can state their case for why they should not lose their permits.
Joe Guerra of Lakewood got one of the letters. Hes also heard legislators rhetoric that their first task is to create jobs.
Hows this helping create jobs? This is taking away jobs, Guerra said.
Guerra opened Franks Towing last summer. He named the business in honor of his 11-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.
Frank has outgrown the chair he has used since age 2, and Guerra needs to save $6,000 to buy Frank a new, custom-fitted chair.
My kid, he doesnt know what a bond is. All he knows is Im trying to get him a wheelchair and I cant get him one, Guerra said.
Many towing operators were able to buy their $50,000 bonds from insurance companies for as little as $500. But Guerra was first quoted a price of $5,000. He finally bought one this week for $1,325.
Others didnt bother with a bond.
The owner of Nugget Towing near Durango Mountain Resort planned to surrender his towing permit this week and go out of business.
As a part-time business, Nugget Towing hardly made enough profit last year to cover the cost of the bond, said the owner, who did not want his name used in the paper.
The bond has proved to be a hardship for towers with bad credit, or people who prefer to pay cash and dont go into debt.
A lobbying group for many towing companies, the Towing and Recovery Professionals of Colorado, pushed for the bond last year. It passed as part of a long bill about the PUCs powers.
TRCP officials argued that shady towing operators were flouting the law and then dodging PUC fines by shutting down their businesses and reopening under a different name.
The $50,000 bond is meant to insure that fines are paid even if the business shuts down, Hudak said.
If its a hardship, thats very unfortunate, but the whole purpose of the bond is to make sure the state can get its money and the people doing the towing are capable of handling the costs that might occur, Hudak said.
But Guerra said he didnt have bad credit, he just had very little credit history. He doesnt like using credit cards.
How is it right that in order to be in business you have to get into the credit game? Guerra said.
Hudak, though, said credit can be important.
People who make a choice to not have credit, thats their choice, but there are things that are not available to people who do not have credit, she said.
Roberts bill could be reincarnated this year. Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, plans to introduce a version in the House very soon. However, it would not help towers like Guerra, who already spent their money on a bond.
Coram said he is working with the governors office, the PUC and the TRPC on the bill.