How Regulations and Lobbyists Shape Colorado Business Policy

On this Wednesday, May 3, 2023 broadcast, Kim Monson examines how government regulations and special interest lobbying are reshaping Colorado’s business landscape, with HR expert Roger Hays explaining compliance burdens on small businesses and agricultural commentator Trent Loos exposing how activist organizations have influenced food policy for decades.

The Hidden Influence Behind Agriculture and Food Policy

Start listening at 70:39 – Hour 2

Trent Loos, sixth-generation farmer and rancher, exposes how animal rights organizations have shaped food policy while generating massive revenues. Loos reveals that the ASPCA brings in $390 million annually and maintains $575 million in total assets, including $11 million in offshore accounts, yet spends less than 2% on actual animal care. The Humane Society of the United States follows a similar pattern with its half-billion-dollar annual revenue.

The conversation traces the origins of modern environmental activism to Rachel Carson’s 1962 book “Silent Spring,” which led to the banning of DDT despite scientific testimony showing no danger to humans. Loos connects this emotional-over-science approach to the creation of the EPA in 1971 and explains how the same playbook continues today with agriculture policy. When a caller mentions West Nile virus outbreaks in Loveland, Loos notes that DDT could have prevented such mosquito-borne diseases.

Loos critiques Colorado’s recently passed Right to Repair legislation as merely symbolic because modern tractors require proprietary software to diagnose and fix problems. He highlights a Montana company called Big Bud that is building tractors farmers can actually repair themselves, with orders exceeding their production capacity before the first unit ships. The segment concludes with discussion of how Walmart closures in Chicago are creating food deserts, though Loos argues the root problem is consumers abandoning local businesses for corporate monopolies.

“What has always irritated me is the economic development coordinator will champion giving these tax breaks, tax credits to some new big business coming into town, which I think is a wonderful thing. But they don’t do anything to maintain the small businesses that are already in place.”

Trent Loos, Sixth-Generation Farmer and Rancher

Small Business Struggles Under Mounting Regulations

Start listening at 31:50 – Hour 1

Roger Hays, CEO of Passio HR, breaks down the regulatory avalanche facing Colorado’s small and mid-sized businesses. Hays explains how his professional employer organization helps businesses navigate payroll, benefits, and HR compliance so owners can focus on what they started their businesses to do. The conversation turns to how state legislation often conflicts with federal requirements, putting employers in impossible situations where compliance with one law means violating another.

The discussion examines Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and similar legislation that Hays argues undermines the employer-employee relationship. He notes that the legislature keeps adding requirements without removing old ones, creating an ever-growing compliance burden. Hays draws parallels to union shop rules, observing that Colorado has effectively imposed unionized workplace standards on all private businesses through legislation on pay transparency and internal job posting requirements.

Hays reveals how the legislative process actually works: special interest groups and lobbyists draft bills over the summer, then find friendly legislators to sponsor them when the session begins. He estimates that legislators cannot possibly be experts on the 675 bills introduced this session, making them dependent on outside groups for guidance.

“They keep adding more and more legislation multiple times a year, but they don’t ever get rid of anything. So it just keeps building upon what they’ve done the year before, and it builds upon what the federal government does.”

Roger Hays, CEO of Passio HR