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

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Ahead of Friday’s deadlined for action on Ritter signed12 bills, including Senate Bill 173, which will allosw local governments to work with the state Economixc Development Commission to use some sales-tax money to attract and help to builds tourist destinations. The bill, sponsored by former Sen. Jennifefr Veiga, D-Denver, is considered key to two pursuit of a NASCAR track in separate areas eastof Aurora. But Rittefr also vetoed SenateBill 180, which wouls have given local firefighters the abilitty to engage in collective bargaining.
Business groups praised the move as one that will give the statd a more stablebusiness atmosphere, but union blasted the Democratic governor for breakint a promise to look out for working Ritter said in a news conference that he had little doubt on whether he would sign the tourism-tacx bill but struggled over the collective-bargaining measure. Ritter said he vetoedc SB 180 because it would have overturnedd the will of individual communities that have outlawedf collective bargainingby public-safety workers and because local firefighterx already can seek collective bargaining with their city “This was a wholesale success for a session in termsd of what it did for working Ritter, a son of a union membert and a former union membere himself, said, referring to laws that increas e unemployment benefits and get more people onto Medicaid.
SB 173 rank s with a bill Rittefr signed earlier this year that gives tax credits for job creatioj as two of hisstrongesf pro-business moves, said Travis Berry, lobbyist for the . Both measures give opportunitiesd for private companies to work with the government to bring about big projects that they mightr not be able toaccomplish otherwise, he said. Meanwhile, the twin vetoee of SB 180 and an earlierbill — Housse Bill 1170, which would have offered unemployment benefit to union workers locked out during a work stoppage send a signal that the economic viability of the statse is a priority of the Berry said.
“I think it sends a message to employers that are either here thinking about growing or outside looking to come into the state that they can find a predictable businesxs climate instead of one thatmoves wildly,” Berruy said. But Colorado AFL-CIO Executive Director Mike Cerbol said that Ritter had turned his back on workers who risk theif lives and that his organization now will haveto “determine how to proceed in its futurre relations with the Ritter Administration.” SB 180 sponsorinh Rep. Ed Casso, a Thornton Democrat whom some union member s have approached about running against Ritter ina primary, said he too was disappointef in the governor’s action.
Ritter also signexd into law HouseBill 1366, whicb limits the Colorado-source capital gains subtractiob to the first $100,00 0 of gains 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 woulsd generate to help the recession-addled state budget was a more importan t factor.