Committee Spikes Pinnacol Privatization Bill

Wednesday, March 24, 2021 | 0

Colorado lawmakers killed a bill that would have required state-chartered Pinnacol Assurance to convert to a mutual insurance holding company.

Rep. Matt Soper

The State, Civic, Military & Veterans Affairs Committee in the state House of Representatives on Monday voted 10-1 to postpone House Bill 1213 indefinitely. The bill, by Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, would have required Pinnacol to transition to a mutual carrier by the start of 2023.

The committee’s vote does not appear to come as a surprise to observers. The Denver Business Journal reported before the committee hearing that the bill was going to die on Monday.

“I was able to get the business community on board, which was a major hurdle,” Soper told the Denver Business Journal. “Now, I wasn’t able to get the unions on board.”

The newspaper reports that the Colorado AFL-CIO opposed the proposal over concerns about how injured workers would be treated by a for-profit company as opposed to one that is tied to the state. At the same time, House Speaker Alec Garnett, a Denver Democrat, reportedly said the state does not have as pressing of a need for new revenue as it did when Soper first started working on the bill in June.

The bill would have required Pinnacol to pay the state $305 million as a condition of converting to a private carrier. Pinnacol would also have to remove its workers from the state’s pension plan, which would cost between $40 million and $234 million.