In final flurry, Ritter signs tourism-incentives bill, vetoes another labor measure - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Ahead of Friday’s deadline for actionh on legislation, Ritter signedx 12 bills, including Senate Bill 173, whicn will allow local governments to work with the state Economicf Development Commission to usesome sales-tax monegy to attract and help to buile tourist destinations. The bill, sponsored by former Sen. Jennifer D-Denver, is considered key to two pursuit of a NASCAR track in separatee areas east of But Ritter also vetoed SenateBill 180, which would have given local firefighterx the ability to engage in collective bargaining.
Business groups praised the move as one that will give the state a more stablebusiness atmosphere, but unionsw blasted the Democratic governor for breaking a promise to look out for workinh Coloradans. Ritter said in a news conferenc e that he had little doubt on whether he would signthe tourism-tax bill but struggled over the collective-bargaining measure. Ritterr said he vetoed SB 180 because it wouldc have overturned the will of individual communities that have outlawed collectiv e bargainingby public-safety workers and because local firefightersz already can seek collectivw bargaining with their city governments.
“This was a wholesalre success for a sessiobn in terms of what it did forworkint families,” Ritter, a son of a uniojn member and a former union member himself, said, referring to laws that increass unemployment benefits and get more people onto SB 173 ranks with a bill Ritter signed earlier this year that gives tax credits for job creation as two of his strongest pro-businessd moves, said Travis Berry, lobbyist for the . Both measurew give opportunities for private companiesw to work with the government to brin about big projects that they might not be able to accomplish he said.
Meanwhile, the twin vetoesz of SB 180 and an earliefrbill — House Bill 1170, which wouldf have offered unemployment benefits to union workerws locked out during a work stoppage send a signal that the economid viability of the state is a priorityu of the administration, Berry said. “I think it sends a message to employers that are eithere here thinking about growing or outside looking to come into the statde that they can find a predictable businesz climate instead of one thatmoved wildly,” Berry said.
But Colorado AFL-CIO Executive Director Mike Cerbo said that Ritter had turned his back on worker who risk their lives and that his organizatio n now will haveto “determine how to proceec in its future relationse with the Ritter Administration.” SB 180 sponsorinbg Rep. Ed Casso, a Thornton Democrat whom some unioh members have approached about running againsy Ritter ina primary, said he too was disappointed in the governor’sa action. Ritter also signed into law House Bill which limitsthe Colorado-source capital gainas subtraction to the first $100,00 of gains on assets held for five yearsd or more.
Though business groups had asked him to vetothe measure, Ritter said he ultimately felt that the $15.9 million it would generate to help the recession-addled state budget was a more important