Gov. Polis Vetoes Colorado Legislature’s Attempt to Repeal Modified Right-to-Work Law

At a Glance

• Gov. Jared Polis vetoed Senate Bill 5, which would have rolled back the modified right-to-work requirement of Colorado’s Labor Peace Act that 75% of bargaining unit employees vote in favor of a union security agreement between their union and employer.
• Had this law been enacted, Colorado would have joined Michigan as only the second state to recently repeal its right-to-work law.
• While Gov. Polis’ veto cannot be overridden since the legislative session is over, legislators have already indicated the bill will be reintroduced in the next session — a likely sign of things to come across the country as more states consider adopting their own laws to supplement the National Labor Relations Act.

On May 16, 2025, Gov. Jared Polis vetoed Senate Bill 5 (SB 25-05), which would have significantly amended Colorado’s Labor Peace Act and made Colorado only the second state to repeal its right-to-work law in the 21st century, after Michigan’s enactment of its landmark 2023 legislation doing the same.

The Taft-Hartley Act and History of Right-to-Work Laws

As originally enacted in 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) permitted union security agreements, leaving the issue to be bargained for between employers and unions. As such, employers might agree to be “closed” shops (only hiring union members), “union” shops (requiring employees to join the union after hire), “agency” shops (allowing employees to refuse to join the union formally, but still requiring them to pay for the cost of representation), “open” shops (allowing employees to refuse to join the union or pay dues). However, under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, Congress amended the NLRA, outlawing the closed shop and giving states the authority to adopt laws prohibiting other forms of union security, like union shop or agency shop agreements. Since the Taft-Hartley Act, states have accomplished this through the enactment of “right-to-work” laws; and in many states now, employees cannot be required to join a union, and/or be required to pay union dues or costs, as a condition of their employment.

Twenty-seven states, including Arizona, Florida, Indiana and Texas, currently have right-to-work laws in some form, while the remaining states, including California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania, do not.

Colorado’s Approach to Right-to-Work: The Labor Peace Act

Colorado’s 1943 Labor Peace Act tackled the issue of union security differently. The Labor Peace Act did not outlaw union security agreements; rather, it permitted them only if 75% of the bargaining unit employees voted in favor of it in a second election following a majority vote in favor of union representation. SB 25-05 would have abolished this modified right-to-work requirement, thereby allowing unions to freely bargain over union security with employers in Colorado.

SB 25-05 met strong support in the Colorado legislature, passing out of the state Senate with a vote of 22 to 12 and the state House of Representatives by a vote of 43 to 22. However, it ultimately met the same fate as a previous piece of legislation that would have similarly amended the Labor Peace Act, which was vetoed in 2007 by then-Gov. Bill Ritter. Now that the legislature is out of session, Gov. Polis’ veto cannot be overridden, but legislators have already indicated they will continue to press the issue in the next legislative session. Gov. Polis maintained opposition to the bill, but expressed an interest in a compromise solution, which was ultimately never reached. Gov. Polis reiterated this position in his veto letter as well as a willingness to reconsider such legislation in the next session if a compromise could be reached.

Takeaways

While labor law is primarily shaped by the federal government, significant activity has been occurring at the state level, typically to the benefit of organized labor. In addition to these developments around right-to-work, states like California and Illinois have recently enacted bans on captive-audience meetings (with Gov. Polis also vetoing similar legislation in Colorado in 2024).

Although this trend began in the Biden administration and under the then-much-more pro-union National Labor Relations Board, employers should be mindful of these state law developments in not only Colorado, but across the country. The anticipated shifts in federal labor policy in the second Trump administration could lead to a further uptick in these efforts.