A bill for an ordinance adding a new Chapter 58, Wages. Amends the Denver Revised Municipal Code to add a new Chapter 58, Wages, creating a citywide Denver Minimum Wage. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 11-12-19.
11 eyes countable. 1120 has passed. Thank you very much. All right, Councilman Hines, will you please put counts, Bill? One, two, three, seven on the floor? I would love to, Mr. President. I'd like to take a moment of personal privilege. And in addition to board member elect Tim Anderson, I would also like to welcome State Senator Jesse Danielson to the attendance tonight. Thank you very much for coming. I and Mr. President, I move that council bill 19 1237 be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Thank you, Councilman. It has been moved. And second urn and Councilman Hines, before we jump into it, you have a motion to amend? Yes, Mr. President, I do. I move that council bill 19 desk, 1237, be amended in the following particulars. One on page a, page two line seven ad. Whereas, the city has a long history of embracing equal pay for equal work and finds that it is in the interest and the best interests of the city and workers that all persons be paid not less than the minimum wage, regardless of age or disability or ability, but that where minors are enrolled in a certified youth employment program that meets the criteria established by this ordinance, and ditto they are receiving valuable educational training and or career development benefits to justify up to a 15% reduction in the minimum wage paid only to youth under the age of 18 enrolling in such certified programs, and that no person other than such minors shall be exempted from the requirement that all workers be paid the minimum wage for work performed. Thank you, Councilman. That has been moved and seconded questions or comments on the amendment by members of council and Councilman Hines. Thank you, Mr. President. The Colorado State statute granting local excuse me, local governments power to enact a city wide minimum wage. States that, quote, all adult employees shall be paid not less than the minimum wage enacted by the local government. End quote. This the ordinance conforms to this guidance to treat all employees the same, and it does so by defining worker broadly as any person performing work without distinguishing between or creating any exception for any class of worker. The proposed WHEREAS Statement affirms the legislative attempt to create a uniform wage for all workers and highlights the fact that no exception for those of differing ages or abilities is provided other than the own. The one very narrow exception for an emancipated minors and a certified youth employment program. The statement also provides the rationale for the narrow exception for an emancipated minors under the age of 18 in certified programs. I bring forth this amendment to provide additional clarity about our legislative intent for the minimum wage ordinance. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman. Thank you, Mr. President. As the lead sponsor of the bill, I just want to thank Councilman Hines for working so collaboratively to find a way to affirm our intent and underlying it, if you will. And I just wanted to encourage my colleagues that I'm in full support of this amendment, and we're happy to have it move forward . Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. All right. See no other questions or comments on the amendment. Madam Secretary, roll call on the amendment. Black Eye CdeBaca. Hi, Lynn. All right. Hinds. Hi. Cashman. Cannick. I. Ortega. I. Sandoval. I. Sawyer. I. Torres. I. Mr. President. Hi, Madam Secretary. Please close the voting, announce the results. 11 eyes. 11 eyes. The amendment has passed. Councilman Hines. We now need a new motion for Council Bill 1237 to move, as amended, placed upon final consideration, and do pass as amended, if you will. I move that council bill 19 1237 be placed on final consideration and do pass as amended. Thank you very much. It has been moved and seconded. All right. All right. The courtesy public hearing for Council Bill 1237, as amended, is now open. May we have the staff report? Do we have separate? Are you taking us? We do. Mr. President, thank you for your forbearance, colleagues. I know that we had this in committee a couple of times, but because we want a complete record and we have folks from the community who may not have heard all the details, we are going to give a brief summary of the bill to make sure we all know what we're voting on tonight. So and also, I want to thank I'm sharing this presentation on behalf of my other lead sponsor, Mayor Hancock, and his team. And I want to thank the co-sponsors who've worked with us on this bill, in addition to Councilman Haines, Councilwoman Ortega, Councilwoman Torres, Councilman Flynn. And she could not be here tonight, but is in strong support co-sponsor Stacey Gilmore. So see if I can work my technology here. So we under the state law that gave us the authority to consider this bill tonight has some legal requirements for outreach to the following sectors that you see here local governments, businesses of various types , labor unions and community groups. And we did complete outreach to each of these groups. You guys got all of the numbers in committee and they are in the appendix of this presentation. But that was robust input and it was influential input. This is a summary of some of the changes that were made to the bill based on feedback and advice that we got from the community, the businesses that engaged first and foremost. We'll talk about wage levels in a minute, but we made changes and updates to the enforcement options that will especially help the auditor help to enforce the bill where there are particularly vulnerable workers who may not be comfortable making a complaint. We have improved data reporting for this council to be able to monitor how enforcement is going more time to find workers if there are unclaimed wages that are found before those expire to the general fund, and also a certified employment training exception for minors who are getting something of value other than just doing the job. So all of that feedback helped make this a better bill. Principally you've heard this around a month ago, but we heard really strong feedback that it was important to slow this down just a bit, to allow businesses more time to plan and adjust, but that it was very important to workers to still begin right away because they were so far behind the cost of living in Denver. So you see here that our final proposal has wages of 1285 in year one. That's $0.95 less than the original proposal, but still impacts 50,000 workers in year one. So still strong impact, but a little bit easier for businesses to adjust to on a short time frame. And then two steps, 1477 and 1587 to catch up with how far we are behind the cost of living in our city. But then we use the Consumer Price Index to keep up. So you see that we made significant changes to the proposal based on stakeholder feedback. You also will recall that we added a exception for use in those certified employment programs that Councilman Haynes's amendment spoke to, who may be paid not required, but maybe paid up to 15% less. And they in order to get that reduced wage, those employers will have to really meet standards set out by the Department of Economic Development and Opportunity. And we have Deborah Cameron here from that department tonight to answer any questions. But first, they'll seek a certification. Second, those programs that qualify will be required to maintain a curriculum that actually identifies what it is those youth are learning with that, including job competencies, career paths that that job can lead to. And then also, they will be required to have meaningful training outside of working hours. So it's not just that you learn on the job. You have to be getting classroom training or some other training of value to justify paying the lower wage during those working hours. And then you will need to be recertified annually. We did hear significant feedback about the TIP credit throughout the process. But just a reminder, we are not legally able to make any changes to the TIP credit under state law. So that is why there is no change in this bill for that particular tip credit. It was and remains $3.02 per hour for those who are food and beverage workers receiving tips. There is a really robust enforcement regime in this bill. I would call it best in class, modeled after many of the cities across the country who've gone before us. And it includes both a process for the auditor to enforce on behalf of the people of Denver and recover wages and enforce. But it also includes a private right of action for a worker who has been lost wages under this law to be able to sue directly and get redress through the courts. So it has two important pathways. This bill will have a significant impact on the people of Denver. Even in its revised form. We will be giving a raise to 90,000 employees who live and work in Denver. Who live and work in Denver. Additional workers who commute in will benefit as well. This is an overwhelmingly adult population. I think some of us have a nostalgic sense that the minimum wage is jobs held only by youth. But the truth is that the majority, 95% of the folks in our city doing this work are adults. They're parents with kids. They're single or they're married, they're single parents. It also disproportionately will benefit women and people of color, including African-American and Latinos. So this bill represents not just race and gender equality and advancing those goals, but income inequality overall. We have several staff members who will be here during the question and answer portion for council members if there's anything that you need covered. So Sky Stuart is here from the mayor's office and Evan Dreier. They particularly can answer questions about the outreach process if any of those arise. I mentioned Deborah Cameron's hear from Dito, and then Frank Romans was our lead drafter. But of course, cursing Crawford, our legislative council was involved as well. With that, Mr. President, I turn it over to our public. Thank you, Councilwoman. All right. We have 23 individuals to sign up. This are signed up to speak this evening. We have a one hour courtesy hearing. So I will ask I'm going to call five at a time up to this front bench. So as soon as I call your name, you can step right up to the microphone instead of fighting through from where you're sitting. So I'll call you five at a time. And then if the speaker speakers before you have said what parts of what you were going to say, feel free to reiterate what they're saying. But if anybody can leave a little bit of time on the clock, then we'll try and fit as many people into our hour as possible. All right. So the first five, if you could come up to this front bench right here. I hope Lewis, Laurie Tabak, Betsy Murray, Patrick Horvath and Curtis Chong. If you could come up and app Lewis, you are up first. Thank you, Mr. President. Allen Lewis. Allen. Natural Grocers here to answer questions. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Laurie, talk. One might have been left over from the other one. Sorry about that. All right. Betsy Murray. Get your. I was first. My name is Betsy Murray. I'm a former 30 year resident of Denver. In fact, Washington Park. So I appreciate the discussions this evening. I do currently live in Parker, Colorado. I'm here this evening representing the Home Care Association of Colorado. And I want to thank Councilwoman Kennish on making those adjustments that they did on the first year to adjust to the wages situation, especially as it relates to Medicaid in the home care industry. That first year, we still haven't had mass approve the final Medicaid rate, but we're hoping to have that by January one. So that will be enough to cover those costs. And this is the kind of night that providing services can be rather challenging for home care workers. We appreciate their service, and we're concerned about meeting the needs of clients with personal care services and homemaker services for January 2021, which is the second year. We ask for your help in securing those Medicaid funding rates for January 2021 with the almost $2 increase in minimum wage. This funding would be approved in the 2020 Colorado legislature, which is what is of concern to meet those needs in January 2021. And health care policy and financing. And the governor currently not asked for a adequate funding to cover the Medicaid rates for that second year. I've been working for almost 30 years in the industry, and the original rates were $7.88. So we have come a long way, but we have more to go for sure. But that's that's the rate. That's how long this program has been around. And it's an extremely valuable program for keeping people in their homes. Uh, in a continuum of care. This impacts approximately 4200 clients in Denver, according to health care policy and financings numbers and 57 agencies that provide Medicaid services. Again, support in raising the Medicaid rate would be appreciated. I'm sorry. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Patrick Horvath. Good evening, council members. My name is Patrick Horvath. I direct the Economic Opportunity Program at the Denver Foundation. The Denver Foundation in 2020 will be serving the seven country metro Denver region for 95 years. We're located in Council Member Hines Perfect ten. We're actually moving in June to another part of his district from Cherry Creek to Capitol Hill. So pleased to be here and pleased to have supported this committee for so many years in our community grantmaking program. We focus very narrowly or very with with great energy on the most vulnerable people in our community. The people our most marginalized people live in historically oppressed communities. And we do that through a lens of core values, to core values that are very important to the Denver Foundation. One that people excuse me, who are directly affected by an issue are the people who should be involved in designing the solutions to that issue. And the second that everything we do must advance racial equity in our community, these guide our grantmaking and they also guide our policy advocacy when we apply these core values to our attempts to make our resources available to the community and to take action on policy issues, it's very easy to see how they come down on this issue. What would our community partners say about this? We've heard it at public hearings that Councilman Kanis and the mayor have held for the last several months. They've shown up in droves. They've shown up with energy and enthusiasm, and they've indicated their strong support for this bill. And secondly, what would be the impact of this on racial equity in our community? Advancing racial equity in the Denver community, half of the Latin community workers in in Denver City and county and 40% of black workers would get a pay hike through this bill. Centuries of systemic oppression and institutional racism have locked people of color in our communities at the very bottom of our wage economy. This would begin to saw a few to put a little bit of a dent in that lock and to begin to provide opportunities to combat some of these structural issues that have so deeply affected our communities of color and our partners in our in our lowest income communities. The Denver Foundation enthusiastically supports this bill, and we urge the council to vote in favor of it. Thank you. Next up is Curtis Chong and I'll call the next five up, Tyler Fox, Berhanu Yali, Jessy Danielson, Roble Work. Who and the honorable Terry Anderson. Go ahead. If you'll forgive me, Mr. President. Um. I'm not able to see the clock up there on the wall. So if you could give me a 22nd. Warning, we'll do my time. My name is Curtis Chong. I am speaking representing the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado. And we support the notion. That the minimum wage. Regardless of who sets it and regardless of whether there is one, if there is going to be a minimum wage, it must apply to everyone, including people with disabilities. Including the blind. In our federal government, there is a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Section 14 C, which when I was a teenager, enabled me to earn a whopping $5 for 16 hours of work at a time when the minimum wage was a dollar 60. This kind of situation for people with disabilities must not occur. And we applaud the city of Denver for. Supporting the concept established by the state which says the minimum wage applies to everyone and we interpret that to mean everyone , including the blind and other people with disabilities. If that is, in fact, what this bill is intended to do. We support it. And I thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Tyler Fox. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for your time. My name is Tyler, folks, and I'm a member of Colorado People Alliance. In 2007, I graduated high school and stepped out into a failing economy, would know with no other option or with no other option or hope for a future. I joined the military. My time in the army was well paid, but the cost of. My mental health has been great. I was discharged after being diagnosed. With PTSD, the effects. Of which make it difficult to hold a steady job. Despite this, I'm currently using utilizing my GI Bill to get a higher education without incurring debt. I am thankful for this opportunity, but these days the college degree doesn't necessarily mean. Higher wages or a. Secure job. Since I've been out, I've worked three minimum wage jobs and once again, my graduation is looming. And I see I'm stepping into an. Economy that is destined as to poverty. I ask you, how can a government that fails to care for its people be considered legitimate? How can I talk to my son about the usefulness of government when nothing is being. Done to guarantee the well-being of folks it supposedly represents. When nothing is being done. To secure the futures of our children. Council members, I am calling on you to show us your worth by demanding we be paid ours. Workers cannot afford to live in the city and the. Entire state is harmed when people are. Not given our fair share of the massive profits. Being made by businesses in our community. It is our labor that has built the facilities. And things that we can enjoy. So I'm asking you to vote yes on this minimum wage increase. To take a stand for workers rights and an economy that works for all. Of us and not just the wealthy few. Thank you again. Thank you. Next up for Hannah Aly. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, counselor members. My name is Barahona, where I work at the airport as a personal service agent for the Prospect Company. And I want to thank you for passing the minimum wage for airports, contractors and city workers early this year. And I know my almost all my coworkers are very happy and we are really very glad that we convinced you. You have heard our voices and that gave us a lot of confidence. And we see that now we have a little bit more money in our pocket at the end of the month. And it has a good impact. I mean, we see the improvement, the climate, the condition and, um. We have also more incentive to work more. And. We know that we if we ask something, our question will be heard and and answered in appropriate way. And this was not only restricted in the area of the airport, but it is also good if it is extended to the other part of the country as the city. Thank you very much. Thank you for hearing. I thank you. Thank you. Next up, Jesse Dennison, the honorable Jesse James. Thank you. I'll be brief because there's such a big community turn out. I think their stories are very powerful and you should hear them. My name is Jesse Danielson. I serve in the state senate. I represent Jefferson County. But I just. Came here tonight because I wanted to thank Councilwoman Kenney, the mayor's team, and each and every one of you who helped with this effort. I was the. Lead sponsor, along with my colleagues in the legislature. That carried the bill through to allow local jurisdictions to set the minimum. Wage as they see fit. And so, again, thank you so much for your time and consideration and your hard work. Having the city and county of Denver move forward in such a significant historic way for the workers. In this area means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot. To the 100,000 workers that you're going to help fairly. Immediately. So I'll just conclude by saying again, it was my intent as a sponsor of the bill. To remove. The barrier that the state has in place for local communities to see what's right for the workers that they represent. To give you. The power as local leaders to decide what the minimum wage should be and thus. What the workers should earn in order to live where they work and thrive. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, Rochelle Walker. Thanks for your time tonight, y'all. My name is Robe. I'll work who I use him, his pronouns. And I'm an economic justice organizer at Colorado Peoples Alliance. Thanks to Councilwoman Venetian Mayor Hancock for co-sponsoring this effort that will have over 90,000 workers here raised in our city. This has been a long time coming. The fight for 15 has been ongoing for six years in the state to change the narrative around wages and drive this particular demand that started with a McDonald's strike back in 2013 in North Platte. And continuing here tonight and 2016, Copa co-chaired a successful effort to raise Colorado's minimum wage to $12 by 2020, which included a broad coalition of community and labor groups, including together Colorado, SEIU, United for New Economy, the AFL-CIO, the Policy Center, KLP, the Colorado Educators Association, 9 to 5. We, along with our allies, understood then that 12 was a positive and achievable step, but wasn't enough for the workers in our state that came. That campaign was both about immediately improving material realities for our communities and setting us on a trajectory to fight for more. In 2018 and 19, Kopel led the work here Thrive Here, a coalition which includes our allies from the AFL-CIO, SEIU Together Colorado and Good Business Colorado. We worked together to start shifting the narrative around local control and wages back in 2018. And we're successful in passing local wage option with Senator Daniel Danielson earlier this year, making us the first state in the country actually to repeal preemption over wages. After passing this legislation across the street, we are excited to learn that folks here in this building are ready to move with urgency to give workers a raise. Again, we had a strong partnership between community and labor groups, including ourselves. Some familiar faces together Colorado, SEIU, Denver Area Labor Federation, the Working Families Party towards Justice, the Painters Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Unite here in the Bill Policy Center. This coalition connected with thousands of supporters across the city on this issue and generated hundreds of emails and calls to the mayor and city council. And I think a lot of you all probably heard some of these messages. The culmination of these efforts is what you have in front of you here tonight, an increase in the minimum wage to 1587 and enforcement mechanisms that ensure that folks are paid the wages that they are owed at its core. Increase in the minimum wage is an issue of racial justice. We heard some numbers earlier about how this will disproportionately impact black and brown workers. But beyond the stats, it's about the humanity of those whose labor built and maintained the city on a daily basis. This is neither the first nor the last step toward shifting our economy to prioritize the needs and rights of working people. We tout our city as having a strong and growing economy, but we should take even more pride and responsibility in ensuring that our city works for all people and not just corporations and the wealthy few are more. Simply put, we're not free until all of us are. Our vision is for a city and state that recognizes, protects and promotes the inherent dignity of all of our lives. When we shift wealth, we shift power, and that's the only route to justice. So with that, on behalf of the coalition to urge you all to vote yes tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Anderson and our call. I'll call the next five up, Adam Alman, Bonita Bok, Pedro Correll, Matt Hayden, Walter Murphy, Marianne and Benjamin Elwood. And I know that this is a very emotional and important night for a lot of people. I will ask that in our chamber. This is a place where people disagree and people need a safe space to talk to us, their representatives about this. We're also trying to get through and get to everybody if we can. So we'll ask if you can hold your applause while we move through so that we make time for as many people to speak and to feel safe speaking here in this chamber. Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you. I am here on behalf of not only just my capacity as a Denver school board member elect, but also as the youngest African-American to ever be elected to public office. And the reason why I say that is because young people have a place in society and they matter. And so I don't want anybody on this on this dias to think that it is okay to exclude young people from this equation or to say that young people should make a less wage than than if they were 18. So I just want to make sure that's clear. I also want to make sure that we are talking about fighting for our educators in our school system. As somebody who has been a Denver educator that's worked under $15 an hour at $15 is great to get to. But I'm going to be totally blunt with you. It is too late to already talk about $15 an hour. We need to start talking about what's next after 15, because right now, Denver is not a city where our educators can live and teach in their city. And so although our teachers may have got an increase, our hourly wages have not. And we have to make sure not only just as a city council, but in partnership with our school system, that we are fighting for every single one of our employees. And so that's my charge to you all this city council, this. Yes, let's pass this. Let's get there. But also, I want to make sure that we revisit this conversation in saying where are we going to go in the future so that we are fighting for everybody to show that Denver is not just a place for the top 1%, it's a place for everybody. For single mothers, for homeless teens. For people. Will that do not have the ability to go anywhere else or cannot afford to go anywhere else because Denver is their workplace. And so we want to make sure that every employee, not just our educators, but those who are sustaining our city on a daily basis, have it has a have a livable wage where they can live and thrive in their city. Once again, 15 is great. I hope that you pass it, but 15 is too late. We're ten years behind. $15 an hour should have been talked about years ago. But now as a council, you have the authority and the obligation to making sure that everybody in the city and county of Denver, including our Denver educators, is paid a livable wage. Yes, starting at 15. But now it's time for us to start talking about what's next. And so thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Adam Aliment. Thank you very much. It's a privilege to be able to speak in front of you. And I own the game lounge in Park Hill and am very supportive of raising the minimum wage. And I'm glad that you've brought this forth and I urge you all to vote yes. I think it's a boon for businesses to increase the minimum wage. I have tipped workers at my place and I'm not worried that their wages are going to go up. It means more money in the pockets of more people, which means more money will be spent at my restaurant. And, you know, that's basically why it benefits me. But I think it also benefits our community. I mean, it's it's good when you raise wages. We and I agree with say, you know, 15 is is is going to be rough in two years still. I mean, it's it's tough for people to make it out here. And so I appreciate that you're doing something. And obviously, there needs there are other community needs that need to be addressed. But thank you for doing this. And I. Could could you state your name for the. Record? Adam Almond. Thank you. Yes. Have a great night. Thanks. Next up, Benita Bok. Evening. I'm Reverend Benita Bok, and I live here in Denver, and I'm a ELCA Lutheran clergy person as a volunteer. With Together Colorado. And Together Colorado is a statewide faith based community organization representing 220 congregations and faith leaders with a 40 year history in Denver and in Colorado of bringing faith voices to issues of human dignity. We have been a leader in raising wages in Colorado and Denver. We've co-chaired the successful statewide effort to raise the state minimum wage in 2016 and helped pass legislation this year that allowed Denver to raise wages for Denver workers. And we supported the effort to raise wages at Denver International Airport with our. Labor and community partners. As you heard earlier, we commend the city council and the mayor for taking this bold stance. To support Denver's. Lowest wage workers and urge you to pass this. Ordinance before you. To raise the minimum wage of Denver. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Book of Exodus, it is written. The Lord said, I have seen how my people are suffering and I have heard them beg for my help because of the way they have been mistreated. In my. Christian tradition, we. Have seen God's. Work on our hands during this Thanksgiving week. We are thankful that you have heard the cry of the people and that you are exercising your ability and using your authority to respond to the cry of the people. You are helping to create a moral and a communal economy with the passage of this ordinance as persons of faith and. Members of together Colorado. We believe that our economy should reflect our values that cause us to thrive together. And we support your efforts to do the same in this cause. We have a copy for each of you of a clergy letter of support of this ordinance that we emailed last week and now have 93 clergy, bishops and lay leaders. From Denver. Congregations and others representing parishioners living in Denver that I would like to. Present to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, Pedro Carrillo. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you all our city council members, grocery stores. I want to speak in my languages. Spanish so this could happen to me. Numerous Pedro Carrillo. Your trabajo para la compania much grander Olympus other Colorado case. Commercial cleaning systems. Trabajar ebony occupy capoeira Merida Propuesta Perla Concert Hall the last year that parliamentary salary. Your meaning more akin to dollars. Borrowed in Denver como janitor me trabajo isn't the nearly peerless edificio de estadio de la rather Denver. De la corporatism must. Prosper as investors strategy that these companeros the trabajo are not intimate bazaar PERALTA all without us for last year that contra mental illness. Risk is our ampersand rostro salado minimal no Podemos. No Podemos I surrender into custody. B There is more Dificil We live in separateness. Transforming less is more epochal, probably case or whatever. Iraq, Basra. English. Hi, my name. Is Pedro Curiel and I'm a janitor working at CHS. I've come here to stand in support of the City Council's proposed measure to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Denver as a janitor whose job it is to clean the buildings of the wealthiest corporations in our city, my coworkers and I feel overlooked, forgotten by a city whose out of control, rising rent and cost of living make it our affordable for us to survive. I know. Well, we're raising wages to more livable standards means to workers in our community. I'm proud to be a member of SEIU Local one of five, and to have a union in my workplace that allows me and my coworkers to fight for better wages and working conditions for all of us. My coworkers and I are so proud to support this measure as it would raise the wages of 400 union janitors in our city, giving families the hope of an opportunity to continue living in Denver. This will not fix all of the problems janitors are facing in Denver is a step in the right direction. We're excited to see the impacts that growing living wages will have in our community and how the City Council will continue to tackle inequality by making it easier for workers to join unions so we can all thrive in our city. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Mad Walter Marion. Thank you. My name is Daniel. Tomorrow I'm an airport worker at the VA. And a union member is how you look. I don't know if I have come here to stand to support the city council, to propose measures to raise the minimum wage for workers in the city of Denver. My union coworkers are. And I. Our proud to have been a part of leading the way in addressing rising inequality in our city by standing up for $15 minimum wage at Danbury Airport, a measure that passed this council early this year. Airport workers at the, however, continue to face many issues, including unpredictable schedule entry to workplace safety. Establishing a livable wage is an essential step in ensuring we can continue to work and in the city we call home. Additionally, workers are doing very important. Great access to a fundamental freedom to join a union. I just wanted to address this issue as we working in this area property. We are facing a lot of problems there because this might not have like individual right or a choice to be a member of a union or not. But when we try to be a member of our union, we just get like unfair treatment. So we work in the city property. So I'm asking you guys. To give us the power to negotiate the better wages and working conditions with the companies who profit off our labor. We are proud to stand in the support of rising wages and look for our to build a strong community by empowering all workers to join together in the union. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Benjamin Ellwood and I call the next five up Chelsea Stallings, Dawn Howard, Jessie Parris, Donna Quan and David Roybal. Good. Good evening, City Council. My name is Ben Howard. And while I would ordinarily introduce myself as the current co-chair of the Public Policy Committee for the Democratic Party of Denver, today I stand before you only as an engaged citizen. I have lived in Colorado for a grand total of 14 months now, having moved extensively throughout my twenties. But I consider Denver to be a place that I call home in no small part due to its potential as a proving ground for progressive and inventive policies that could shape U.S. politics for years to come. Its rapid growth in recent years is testament to American's desire to embrace Colorado, its rising economic, political and cultural status. However, no city is without its challenges and indeed, a rapidly growing economy has brought, with its rapidly growing costs of living and housing, threatening to strain the resources of both new and old residents left unchecked. Denver may find itself an ironic victim of its own rising prosperity if many of those living here cannot be provided with some additional means to compete in the workforce. Fortunately, one possible recourse is recourse has presented itself today. Raising the minimum wage, in my opinion, will allow working class families to maintain a living in the city they call home and will help to curtail wealth disparities that adversely affect the lower class and by extension, minority communities. Our federal government has set an unfortunate example by allowing the minimum wage to stagnate for a decade while the cost of living in the nation's most populous areas continues to climb. Colorado, however, has managed to distinguish itself as one of the handful of states that has taken up the slack to promote just in bold legislation. Now, our beloved city of Denver has a chance to carry the torch even further. There are, of course, those who are understandably concerned about the economic effects of raising our minimum wage to such levels. Whether or not wage increases have demonstrated long term effects on an economy and what exactly those effects are is still a matter of debate. It will take courage to wait and see how this policy plays out in the near future. But I am reminded of a quote by one of our nation's greatest leaders, FDR, who said, It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it, frankly, and try another. But above all, try something. Let Denver earn a reputation for political innovation by implementing this bold strategy. Let the working class know that this is a city that is willing to take risks to see thousands of its residents find relief in the midst of their struggles with the gentrification . Let our city be on the right side of economic history. City Council, I thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Chelsea Stallings. Thank you, Mr. President, and members of the committee. My name is Chelsea Stallings, and I'm the. Advocacy manager at Healthier Colorado. We are a statewide nonprofit based in. Denver, focused on policies that. Address our state's most pressing health issues. I am here because the research is. Evident that income has one of the biggest impacts on an individual's physical and mental health, as well as the health of their children. Many of us. Take for granted the ability to take time off from work to seek treatment when we're sick. A 2011 study found that an increase in minimum wage was strongly associated with a decrease in reporting of workers. Unmet medical needs. Raising the minimum wage also provides workers with more purchasing power and more income to obtain previously unaffordable basic needs and services to have access to living healthy lives not only as a person's physical, health and well-being connected to income, but one's mental health is as well. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, those considered low income are 2 to 5 times more likely to suffer from mental health disorders than those in the higher socioeconomic group. However, there is hope. Research shows that increased wages can improve mental health outcomes. A 2019 study published in the American journal Preventative Care showed increased minimum wage is associated with slower growth rates of suicide. The mental stresses connected connected to financial hardship in adversity is also believed to have harmful physical effects on the body affecting one's hormones and immune system. Overall, wages are inherently connected to one's ability to access housing, housing, basic needs, medical care, and have and have an impact on one's overall physical and mental health. As Denver boasts a booming economy, hard working Denver rates who work full time and part time jobs need and deserve wages that at the very least allow them to live with dignity, make ends meet and access the full range of services they and their children may need to be holistically healthy. We believe this current proposal is an essential step in the right direction to provide more Denver sites, the opportunity to live a healthy life. And we strongly encourage you to support the ordinance to raise the minimum wage in Denver. Thank you. Next up, Don Howard. Hello. But stupid that the members of the council. My name is Todd Howard, director of community organizing for the Call of the Cross. That's a political issue. CDC Works for Social Justice Table. Colorado wins with the superlatives. C, c, d. C. Blue believes all opioids have the right to equitable, fair workplaces. All employees deserve to be paid at least minimum wage. The two tiered system about paying people with disability to sub minimum wage is unjust, but too long worked by people with disability to build the values. I encourage you to vote for to avoid paying people with disability to minimum wage hits, including those. Individuals who have guardians and are not considered adult and because they have guardians. So I. I encourage you to vote yes for the proposed amendment and proposal. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Jesse Paris. Good evening. Members of council, members of the audience, those watching at home. My name is Jesse Larson, Paris, and I'll be your next mayor in 2023. And I just got down running for city council at large with almost 15,000 votes with no money. And the slogan still stands Justice for the Poor People over profit. And I represented for several of the partners of those that have already spoken Denver Homeless Salau Blackstar some more for self-defense, positive action, commitment for social change as well as Unity Party of Colorado and a UAP universal African People's Organization. And we have a show called My High Notes took us on our YouTube Facebook. In regards to this proposal, I've been involved in this process every step of the way. As you already know, I'm a regular here. I have a better attendance record than those up here, and I was an approval of it. I still am in approval of it, but as my colleagues have spoken already, it is not enough. Currently you have to make at least $25 an hour to afford to live in Denver. That's not even surrounding suburbs. That's just Denver. So $15 an hour by 2022. By then, you have to make $35 an hour. So I know it's up to the state to actually get some rent control in the state because it's a two way decision is the reason why we don't have rent control in the States. So this next legislative session, we need to get our legislators at the State House to get that actually passed. But in the meantime, it's a step in the right direction. We still have a massive housing problem and it is very hard to afford to live here. We are one of the most richest, most expensive cities in the whole United States of America. And that is ridiculous because I'm a native. I grew up here. It was very cheap at one time to live here. But this is planned out. Know this didn't just pop up. This is planned out about 20, 30 years. So I'm looking to that if you want to no further. But in regards to this, of course, I'm going to say it's approved. You already made your minds what you're going to do before we were coming to the chamber. So we already know you're going to approve this tonight. So you have heard the voices of the community. You have heard the workers from the workers that are most affected by this. But keep in front of your mind, in 2023, we'll have a new council and a whole new mayor. So make sure you get loud, get registered, get involved, engaged. We start early. 2024. If you could stay on the subject of this hearing, please. Please vote yes on this. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Donna, cool on. Thank you, Mr. President. I've got nervous and put in my dead name. My name is DC Cullen. My pronouns are he him and his and identify as male. Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you to Mayor Hancock and Robin King. Thank you so much for working on this proposal. I really hope that Denver will be the first as it states here to go ahead and move this ahead of what was originally planned. And maybe we can get this thing to 1380 by 2020. I hope we can. That would be amazing. Denver likes to be the first at doing things, and I'd really like to see you do that for all the citizens of Denver. We appreciate the hard work you've all put in on this. We just really want to make sure that, number one, I would like to see the word minimum wage go away and living wage in its place, because it is not a minimum wage. It is a living wage. People have to make this no matter how young they are, how old they are, no matter what, they have to make this money to live in our city. Please do not become San Francisco. I saw this on the news the other night. Their medium rent is 30 $700 and I do not want to see Denver move in that direction. Growth is a wonderful thing, but growth on the backs of those that keeps a wage low is not good. So I do thank you for all your efforts. Thank you, Robin. Thank you, Mayor Hancock, we appreciate everything that you're doing. I am here representing Metro Caring tonight, and I appreciate your time. And please, one more thing to remember, all of you and I thank you for listening to us. I really do. But not about us. Without us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up, David Roy before he left. All right. We have Laurie and Mills and Ms.. And Hughes. If you could come up to the front. Laurie and Mills, you're up next. And. First of all, what a privilege. And with Metro caring also I am minimum wage. I have been exploited for as much as to 13. If you could, you could a little bit closer to my country have been. Exploited for as little as to 13 and or been working 40 years. What you're doing is amazing for women, for people of color. And I'm going to hurry this up. But living wage got to change the language. The CPI, my big pet peeve. It's all well and good to fill that shopping cart. But if you don't add rents and mortgages into that. You just got a shopping cart and I can look out my window every day of Josephine in Colfax and see that. The irony is no escaping me. You guys. I'm sorry. It's overwhelming because I finally see where I don't have to work as hard. I'm like, Mr. Chong, Miss Howard, I'm disabled. I'm kind of capped at my income, so I have to kill myself just to keep up. Thank you so much. And we're really but look what you've done. You've heard a lot of hey, you know, you guys, thank you for listening to us, for understanding that we need to be able to live here, to go down the block and see that movie, to buy that sandwich from that little local coffee shop. I want to be. The citizen. That's engaging in my economy. I want to know. I have to go to food. Banks. As much anymore. I'm so grateful they're there. But thanks to every bit of your efforts and you're listening and you're really working this lady here. I just I am honored, humbled and so grateful to live in such a great state and with such great, great representation. Again, I'm with Metro Caring. Thank you. Could you state your name for the record, please? My name's Florian Mills. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Hughes. Of Oregon. Hi, I'm Mrs. with Mitchell Carey. We just renamed our group. It's called Voices in Action. This is a. Meaningful opportunity to improve the. Lives of the people. Working in Denver. Again. The minimum wage has not been raised since the Reagan era. We are playing catch up. Except that. 1023. Years ago, a living wage. Would would work $20 in 2021 with the one bedroom apartments in Denver. Being 1660. Vote yes. Vote yes on the maximum amount. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our speakers. I want to thank everyone here for helping make sure that we had time to get to every single person who signed up to speak. Now we're going to move from speakers to questions from members of council. Are there any members of council have questions on this item this evening? All right. Seeing no questions. The public hearing for Council Bill 1237 is closed. Now we're going to move to comments by members of the council. Council. Would you like to go first? Thank you, Mr. President. Yes. Thank you to everyone who came out and testified as the snow is falling outside and to the hundreds who aren't here tonight, but who attended meetings and engaged throughout the last few months. Everyone had valuable feedback and very different perspectives. I want to thank my partner in this endeavor, Mayor Hancock. For both of us, this conversation was rooted in rooted in pretty deep values. And he did not miss a beat. We partnered to raise wages for those doing business with the city in the spring. He was at the legislature testifying in behalf of the bill that made tonight possible. And then he jumped in with me to work on this bill before we were even done with our post-election vacations. Thanks. And our apologies to the staff team that has supported us before their vacations were over. But to Skye Stewart and Evan Dreier, thank you. Frank remains to my aide Chris Lowell and our legislative counsel, Kirsten Crawford. I also want to thank the work here, live here, the coalition. And I think that they described themselves best, Robel did with the nonprofit Faith Labor members for having faith that the arc of history bends toward justice and not giving up and to at caring for bringing the voices of those who are impacted to the front and making sure that you were in every conversation to those from the disability community tonight. Thank you for being present. I am proud that our bill at no point had a carve out for people with disabilities and I am happy to underline that fact tonight. But everyone who does the job gets paid the same under this bill, and I'm very proud of that. And I appreciate you making sure that you, too, were visible in this bill and in this conversation. So we're 20 years in the making for the history that we're making tonight. It was April of 1999 that the state legislature eliminated local control for wages just as cities across the country were starting to think about whether or not they could act in the face of a one size that did not fit all federal minimum wage. Here in Colorado, we had families living in poverty who were building power and trying to engage to hold local government accountable. And because of the state law, they could not pass a bill for everybody here in Denver. But they did pass Denver's first living wage ordinance. They covered for job categories 20 years ago. But here we are. The people of Colorado took matters into their own hands. So the state said, it's our job. And the people said, okay, do your job. And they said, Let's raise the wage in 2006. And then again, the people of Colorado came together and said, let's we raise the wage in 2016. Now, a lot of people in metro Denver were disappointed when the state raised the wage to $12. It's going to get there on January 1st, 2020. But if you think about our vast and diverse state, you can imagine that finding the right wage for Denver and Rifle and Grand Junction and lineman. I don't know that that's hard. I think it might be impossible. Our cities are so different. And so the legislature made history when they said, we see that. We see that our state is diverse. You need this local power. And they gave it back. They gave it back. And we heard Senator Daniels and the other sponsors, Dominique Moreno, Jovan Melton, I'm sure I'm missing a sponsor. But to all those legislative sponsors, so our residents, they face the demands of cost of living here. They have to pay wages here. So now they need our help here and we have the power to do that. So we can't cover the full history of wage stagnation tonight. But if we can all acknowledge that it's real and that especially for those in service sector jobs, someone used the word irony tonight in their testimony. And I think that's right on every new high tech job we create here in Denver creates five additional jobs and three of them, three of them are low wage service jobs. So in our city, like so many other cities, we cannot have economic success attracting high wage jobs without attracting these sister jobs. And they're going to disproportionately in our in our city and others be filled by women and immigrants and refugees. Folks, we've heard from tonight Latin X and African-American residents. So while we can and we should move to work individuals and train them out of those jobs into better opportunities, there will still be someone who comes along to work those jobs. That's the way our economy is built. And so we have only one option. We have to transform the jobs. We have to transform the economy. It has struck me so many times during these months that we've been working on this bill, that this is so much like the climate discussion. Our economy is hooked on cheap labor, like it is hooked on cheap oil. And we have to transform our economy off of cheap oil to save our planet. And we have to transform off of low wages to save our communities. And that is transformation. That is not going to be easy. Now, we didn't have a lot of speakers with concerns tonight, but we have heard from them throughout this process. And I think that it's really important that we recognize that we are not. We may have a really bold and strong audience before us tonight, but for better or for worse, we're not the first. And this is not unprecedented or untested. So what we know is that the economic research tells us that in cities that pass wages like this, there are still restaurants to eat out. There are still people employed at about the same rate as counties or cities next to them that didn't raise the wage, that there are still firms doing business. So what I know, though, is that an economics study never changed the mind of anybody with a deeply held value. It doesn't work in climate and it doesn't work in wages. Some people really deeply believe that higher wages will destroy businesses in spite of 20 years of studies that are peer reviewed by economists. The studies are not going to change folks values. And I also know that studies are an aggregate of an overall economy, and they do nothing to predict what will actually happen to one person's business. So it was very important to us to listen to each of the stories, particularly from our locally owned businesses that, you know, are not huge corporations, but our members who probably look a lot like those of us in this audience today working hard to make ends meet and meet payroll. So I'm proud of how many small businesses we have in Denver. I appreciate what they contribute. I appreciate that they wrote and visited and called, and I appreciated that we improved this proposal to make it a little easier for them to transform. But I do think it's important to underline that transformation is necessary. I don't believe that our businesses are any less resilient than Chicago or D.C. or Seattle or the other places that have gone before us. I have faith that they can and will evolve and transform. But I acknowledge it may not be easy, and I thank them in advance for stepping up because our city and the families of their employees depend on us figuring out how to do this differently and better. So I said that, you know, this this process was very personal and based on deep values. And, you know, my parents worked very hard and only because they made decent wages that their unions fought for. Life wasn't easy. But I always had a roof over my head and I always had food to eat. And it's personal for me because when I join Denver's movement for economic justice, raising wages wasn't an option. It was illegal, or the other strategies we had were so politically impossible, they might as well have been illegal. I only started working on affordable housing because I could not figure out how to raise wages. I knew nothing about affordable housing and during that time I started to work on what I call the other side of the equation, which was lowering the cost of living. And we've heard throughout this process about both sides of the equation. Folks want us to work on lowering the cost of living and raising incomes. And tonight, what we recognize is that we lost ground in the 15 years that I had to only work on affordable housing because I couldn't work on jobs. Things have gotten worse, inequality has gotten worse. When we started the conversation during my start in the movement. We were talking about poverty, about families having poverty. We still have that, but now we're talking about losing entire communities that might be displaced. We're talking about schools closing because some of our neighborhoods have lost so many families with children. Minimum wage parent, working families with children that the schools are no longer viable. So the stakes have gotten so much higher. And tonight is about catching up, right? It is about catching up on that income side of the equation. It's about acting before it gets worse. You know, I've had folks say during this process, you know, I can't believe we're looking at wages that are like San Francisco or like Seattle or name your city, right. Name whatever big coastal city that people love to hate on. And they say we don't need wages that high. And and they say, you know, look at the cost of living there. And I say, we don't want to wait. So we're the big coastal city. Tonight is about stepping up before it gets that bad. I don't care what the wages are in those cities. We set our wages based on two things state law. Our wages conform with state law, and they do not. By the way, for the record, stop at $15. The wage in 2022 is $15.87. And it will grow every year with the Consumer Price Index. It will go to $16. I can't tell you what year, but it will go there and then it will keep growing. So tonight's about acting before it gets worse, before we rise from the 28th, 20th, least equitable city in America. We don't want to get any higher on that list. This is a list where we'd prefer to not be listed at all. The most inequitable cities in America, where 20 tonight is about getting parents a few extra hours with their kids. It's about getting them a couple of hours off work to go to the doctor and catch something early before it becomes untreatable. It is about. Making ends meet. It's about the chance to stay in your city that you love. And it also happens to be history. And so with great gratitude to my entire colleagues and all the time you spent learning about this and being here tonight, I will be enthusiastically voting yes to raise Denver's minimum wage in 2020 . Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Canete. Next up, Councilman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. So that's kind of a tough act to follow, right? Councilwoman Kenney is very eloquent in just covering so many different aspects of why this is so important. And when you see all of the wealth building that is happening in our city, it has not been trickling down to benefit everyone. And, you know, we have had many conversations among city council to look at what are those policy issues that we need to shift the needle on to make sure that there there is actual benefit to people in our communities who are struggling, who are having to leave our city because they can't afford the price of housing, whose jobs have not been affording them the ability to stay in our city. And I want to say a big thank you to Councilwoman Quinn, each for her leadership role in and her tenacity in in staying the course to move this needle, along with Mayor Hancock, who has has been unwavering as well in this process. I'm honored to be one of the co-sponsors of this effort, because I think it's a step in the right direction. It's one of many steps. As you know, we have worked to ensure that our big contracts in the city now have a commitment to local hires, making sure we've got language in the contracts and not just local hires, but commitments to apprenticeships, so that we're continuing to make sure that people have access to livable wage jobs. The work that Councilwoman Kenney did with Councilman Brooks in bringing forward a dedicated revenue stream for affordable housing and work that is happening right now with DHS playing a role in accelerating a number of projects by being able to bond those funds, a number of which are moving forward right now. So it's not just that this is the only piece that is being looked at in terms of what we need to do as a city to raise that bar for everyone. It's it's that in combination with a number of other things that are still being talked about. As you know, our environment is also critical, and we know that changes that are happening have an impact on low income and minority communities. And what are we doing to make sure that we're closing the gap on food deserts and access to healthy food? Those are just some of the additional things that are being talked and talked about and worked on the issue of mental health. And as you know, the voters were very they were supportive of the the initiatives that passed last November that create additional resources to assist us in dealing with some of those issues as well. And so I just think that the the work that has transpired with input from so many of you who were champions and really for your advocacy in coming to the public meetings, for making phone calls to our offices, for writing letters and just being there as well to express the importance of this. And I just want to be clear that that input was not just from workers. There were lots of businesses who came forward. And I want to thank Councilwoman Kenney for the work that was done in listening to that input, because we had some small businesses who were concerned they'd have to lay off workers. And so there were some changes that were made that reflected those concerns as well. So the bill before us tonight really is is from listening. To the input from everybody, from all of those public meetings. So again, I'm just happy to be one of the co-sponsors and look forward to putting this into action. So thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilwoman Kenney for her leadership on this critically important issue and for taking public input to heart in crafting this historic wage proposal. I want to thank Matt Hancock and his staff as well. While I recognize that mandating these increases in salaries will challenge some small business owners, asking our workers to exist on less than is being proposed tonight has challenged them for far too long already. With the proposed increases, we're getting closer to the point where two people working full time at minimum wage will be able to meet the basic monthly financial needs of a couple with two young children. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer. Unfortunately, even with these changes, a single wage earner with a dependent child falls far, far short of meeting those needs. I did want to say on a personal note that I know I'm privileged at this point in my life to have a job where I can pay my bills, where I can put a little bit away. But as a young man, I was a single father with two small children, and I was not in that position. I was not earning enough money to meet my bills. And I know what that feels like to worry about paying rent, to not have enough food in the refrigerator, to not be able to send your kids to school wearing the clothes that they would prefer to wear. And I know the embarrassment that comes with that. And I know government food programs and making that drive. So. This is long overdue. And as has been said by several people, it's only a start. Finally, Mr. President, you know, I had the privilege a few weeks ago to visit Atlanta, Georgia, and spend a few hours at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. And I spent about 3 hours reading documents and looking at movies about people like Dr. King and Andrew Young and Gandhi and Eleanor Roosevelt and people who made their lives of civil rights and human rights work. And the last document that we looked at before we walked out the door, I want to read a paragraph from that. It says, After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many civil rights organizations shifted their focus to education, social welfare and employment issues under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SLC framed inequality as not limited to racial discrimination, but as the result of income disparity. The SCLC partnered with labor unions for fair wages and safe working conditions and formed Operation Breadbasket, a nationwide campaign to ensure fair employment practices. The organization then launched the People's Campaign. It's the Poor People's Campaign, its most ambitious campaign for economic equality, and the second phase of the civil rights movement. I'm sorry that so many years later we have not moved further down the road to equity and equality. But as I said before, I am pleased that we're taking this step to move closer to that goal. And thanks again to the sponsors for this hard work. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Hines. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to also thank the people who have come before me and spoken tonight. I won't rehash some of the same things that have already been spoken. I definitely want to thank Councilwoman Cage. She is still there. She's hidden behind the president's computer. I want to thank her for all her hard work and her months of hard work and her willingness to to support the amendment that that I brought forward tonight, basically. And I want to thank the mayor as well for for your consideration and support of making sure that the people in Denver have the chance to try to make a living wage are close somewhat. We're moving towards a living wage. Basically, if you're hired for an honest day's work, you should receive an honest day's wage. This isn't my first choice, Bill. Frankly, you know, it isn't the bill that if I were king, I would make it. But I also refuse to let the the perfect be the enemy of the good. I think that this is a great move in the right direction. I'm proud to be a co-sponsor of the bill. I think that I think that there were people you know, if I were king and I were to make a decree, maybe I wouldn't have been perfect. And and it was good that we went through the stakeholder process. And it's good that we went through the thought process. And we heard from a lot of different people. I would say I was a little surprised that I mean, I guess not everyone listens to me and every opportunity when I'm on television. And so I said a couple of things personally in committee that I want to repeat just. For the record, I, I grew up an only child of a single mom, and my mom never made more than $26,000 a year. She currently makes $8.10 an hour. She doesn't live in Denver. Denver's perfect ten. I tried to get her to move here to Colorado. She's. She's stubborn. I got my stubbornness from someone. It's my mom. And. When I was when I was 18, I asked my mom, why do we move around so much? It's because we got evicted because we couldn't afford to pay rent. And my mom sheltered me from that. And she what she did for me, what I could not do for myself. She wanted a better life for me than she could have for herself. And I was so excited that she could come up for inauguration. She lives in rural Texas. It's hard for her to get out of town and she's got a bunch of dogs. She's in Tard Rescue, but different story. And but she came up here for inauguration. And inauguration was in the morning of July 15th. And then between inauguration and my first Denver city council meeting, which was right here the evening of the same day, she lost her front tooth. And she refused to come here tonight on the 15th. She had already lost the rest of her teeth in her mouth and could not she she was too proud to come to council because she didn't want to embarrass me. But the reason she couldn't. She lost her front tooth is because she couldn't afford dental care. She hadn't been to the dentist in decades. She made that sacrifice for me, for her own child. And I can only imagine all the single moms here in Denver today and all the people here in the city today, the 100,000 people that this bill will affect just the people who live and work in Denver Light. If I get, I don't know, the 100,000 people, but if you are a 10th, the person that my mom is and I'm sure that you are. I am so proud to help you get closer to being able to survive in this city. And the last thing I'd say is Denver's leaving the leading the way in Colorado. And we're I'm proud that we're part of the National Movement for Disability Rights. I want to say this as someone with a disability, we're the first in Colorado to do so, and we're the first city nationwide to eliminate sub minimum wage for people with disabilities on the first try. As soon as we were able to do that, we with as Councilwoman Kennicott said, it was always part of the plan. The amendment makes it explicit and clear that that's what we're doing. Denver is once again leading the way. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Guzman. Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. I. I want to, first of all, thank Councilwoman Cain each for allowing me to come on Isaac as a co-sponsor of this. When I looked at the a few months ago when the proposal was made, it had been long been in my mind that even before the legislature acted to allow us to do this, that the the way to address the high cost of living in this city and the income inequality was too heavily weighted on us up here. The last four years that I've been here, at least we have spent. Tens of millions. I didn't actually tabulate at all. Maybe it's in the hundreds of millions. On subsidizing the social costs of having low wage jobs in the city. And it was it was all well, not all, but primarily on the public sector. And it came home to me in a few votes that occurred on housing, on subsidizing some housing programs that I remember saying on one of them and one which I voted no, that I thought it was ridiculous for the city to set up a fund into which employers contributed money to subsidize rents for lower income workers that they employed, that we would subsidize the rents that landlords were demanding for vacant apartments. I said, that's wrong on two ends. If the vacant if the apartments are vacant, the landlords should gradually lower the rent until they fill them. And instead of the companies contributing to our fund so that we can subsidize rents that are too high. They should put that in your paycheck so that you then can go out and get it on your own. I want to acknowledge something that I think has been referenced by a councilwoman, Kenny, and I remember Councilman Cashman as well, and again in a letter that I got from a constituent in my district who operates a small business. This is going to be difficult for small business. And I think we need to acknowledge that it's going to be a difficult thing for small business. Not every employer in this city is, you know, name your your big multinational corporation. In fact, the base of employment in this city is small business, and this is going to be hard for them. But you know what? The costs of subsidizing the social costs, the price of subsidizing the social costs that we've been doing up here for at least in my first term, they've been pretty difficult also. My homeowners and my property owners, all property owners in Denver pay a half mil on your property tax to subsidize the cost of continuing to pay you below $15 an hour. And I think that's it's time today to bring everybody into the solution. And this bill, I think, goes toward doing it. And with that, I'm very happy to co-sponsor this and to support it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Torres. Thank you, Mr. President. Thanks to Senator Danielson and those at the state who helped us get here tonight, but also to because I'm seeing so many friends in the audience from labor. Pedro choreographs this house. Then he says companeros they SEIU are you Pat Lazaro her daughters who have fought for this as long as. They have as well. So thank you all. I want to commend the work of councilwoman can each the mayor's team on both a strong bill and a comprehensive process. We can't be blind to the income struggles of our residents, and we have to recognize the overwhelming pressures and take deliberate steps to assist those who currently make less than $15 an hour are more likely to be people of color, women, and those without a college degree. And if we approve this tonight, 50% of Latinos, 38% of African-Americans working in Denver will get a raise. We're struggling to find enough housing for our residents. We cannot meet our needs solely through housing funds, through fractional inclusion of 80% Army units, Section eight vouchers, public housing, senior housing. These are all limited. There are waitlists. Our residents have to earn more across the board. A perpetual conversation exists in Denver. I've been in the city for 19 years. It's been there that long and probably decades longer than that about resident representation in city meetings and civic conversations and relates directly to this conversation. Residents in District three have multiple jobs to live and survive in this city. They are working their second or third job when the R.A. meets. They're working when the neighborhood group takes votes of approval or opposition. They are working when we have town halls. They are working all the time. And we have a responsibility to support our families and support community wealth building efforts. This includes increasing the minimum wage, but it will also include wage theft protection and increasing asset ownership. I thank all of our speakers here tonight, all of the community and those who wrote me in either support or concern. I believe that this bill represents all of those narratives and those needs, and I look forward to voting in favor of it tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Sawyer. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank Councilwoman Kenny tonight for her leadership on this issue and her willingness to be open to community feedback. I think Councilwoman Ortega said it best earlier. This was truly a collaborative process. I know that even though there weren't they weren't very many. There weren't many or any, I think small business owners. I'm here to speak out against it tonight. There are a lot who are concerned about this proposal, and they have spoken out to a lot of us in writing via email previously, and they're concerned about their businesses . And and that's an important part of the conversation. These are big and tough conversations to have, but we have an opportunity tonight to do something bold for our most vulnerable communities, to combat displacement and gentrification in a real and meaningful way in the city of Denver. In most cities in America, there are strategies that we can employ to help support our workers better, when we might have more flexibility with housing options and other costs of living. But Colorado's kind of a unique state, and our state level legal structure leaves us with sort of few ways as a municipality that we can actually take action to support our workers. So I also want to thank our state legislators who are here tonight, some of them, and who are working to make those changes on a state level. And I want to urge all of you to help support them in their fight to make some of these changes on the state level as well , because that's where many of these things need to happen. We as a municipality are doing what we can, but there is actually very little that we can do. There are a lot of state level guardrails that we need your help in advocating with. So is this bill a perfect solution? No. For some of you, it's too much too soon. For some of you, it's not enough. It's not a perfect bill. Right. But it is a reasonable, actionable thing that we can do. We can do something to make the lives of the people in city of the city and county of Denver better. I've said this in this chamber before. It's a motto I live by. And I think it fits this bill. And this evening, perfectly imperfect action is always better than perfect inaction. So tonight, I'm thrilled to act, to do something to help our most vulnerable community members. I'm so excited to be supporting this, and I'm proud. So thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Sandoval. Thank you, Mr. President. I also would like to thank Robin. Councilman Robin Kimmich. I always talk about seven generations that the work I'm up here, I'm just a conduit to the next seven generations. My father's from Denver. I'm from Denver. I'm raising my kids in Denver. So I'm raising a third generation. And I just want you to know that this will impact the next seven generations. So it's an honor to be supporting something that has such great impact that I won't be able to see, but hopefully my kids and my grandkids will. And thank you for the mayor to the mayor to take such a bold stance and to support such an initiative. I know he's from Denver. He's a Denver native, and I know he cares deeply about the minimum wage and these issues. So growing up and a small business in La Casita that my family started in 1975, I understand what minimum wage is. I grew up with the letters. I grew up with generations of family letters. And I understand when employees are paid well, they enjoy a better mental state. And then physical state where employees are healthy, they improve, their. Performance is improved. They are happier and they're motivated to work on behalf of you. When business owners have happy employees, the company runs better. And this is why many companies, even in industries where low wages have historically been the norm, will voluntarily pay minimum wage to their workers. Motivated workers may also be more likely to pursue a career advancement in their current workplace rather than departing. And they also enables employers to train and promote workers from within. So for me, as a small business owner in Denver, as my family has been a small business owner since 1975, the conversation of the impact of this minimum wage is real. It's we don't make tons of money. We're just a small local tamales shop that we sell tamales. And talking about this at my family's restaurant and the impact that it would have. Are some of the people who have historically lived in northwest Denver and worked at like I said, I might be able to afford the rent and continue to work at La Casita and some of the kids who my parents, my children's parents who there work minimum wage jobs. Their kids might be able to stay at North High School and stay at Skinner and stay in Bryant Webster because Northwest Denver historically was a low working class, hard working class neighborhood. And it has changed and that has been very challenging for me to see personally. And so this is maybe one step in the right direction. And I keep hearing my colleagues talk about a perfect bill. There's no perfect bill. This is democracy, and this is democracy at your finest. Look how many people are here in these pews on a cold, snowy night. That's democracy. And democracy is not perfect. But I will tell you that you have leaders up here who are hearing the voice of the people. So on that note, I'll just end with a quote. I love Dr. Martin Luther King. He gives me inspiration. And as a leader, sometimes it's hard to find inspiration when you hear complaints all day. So you have to go to some sources, right? You have to continuously find inspiration in this job to keep you going. So Dr. Martin Luther King said all labor has worth it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages. It is a crime to have people working on a full time basis and a full time job getting part time income. And with that, I will be proud to vote in favor for this tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman CdeBaca. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you to our state. Legislators who made this conversation. Tonight. Possible. Thank you to all of you in our audience for coming out on a snowy night to fight for a city. That's accountable to its most vulnerable workers. We are well aware of all of the reasons we should be reducing the burden of poverty on all. Of our residents. This bill is a step in the right direction. But I must share my frustrations. With the. Constraints of our ultimate. And our ultimate impact. And highlight why our work here has only just begun. This is the second time we've fought for 15 in the last five years, and we still won't hit 15 for another two. I've run a. Small business myself and never would have even considered paying anyone below $15 an hour. That is not responsible business. Of our 700,000. Plus residents in Denver. Only 6.9% or 50,000 individuals will benefit in this first year. Area median income in Denver is $65,000 for one person at 1285. An hour, 40 hours a week and 52 weeks per. Year. An individual working full time would still only make $26,728 a year before taxes. That's less than half of the army. Unfortunately, even with this increase and the going rate for rent at at least 1500 dollars a month, a minimum. Wage worker will still. Be severely rent burdened. More than half of Denver renters. Are cost burden, meaning they are spending more than 30% of their income just. On rent. The Consumer Price Index. Is not a complete cost of living index. And it is a conditional cost of living. Index. Because it doesn't quantify all of the factors that affect our cost of living. A minimum wage. Disconnected from critical contextual. Elements like average rents or a complete. Cost of living index. Means we will always fall short. Of meeting the needs of. The workers who keep this city functioning. I've heard the cry of the people and they are. Asking for wages. To be tied to a cost of living, not political negotiations that are reliant on the political. Ambitions and political debts and fears. Of politicians. A living wage would put us well over. $26 an hour for wage workers. While I wish we were. Making much more meaningful. Gesture to the workers we rely on. I realize the contextual limitations of this increase and will support this symbolic incremental increase with the hopes that we recognize and brace ourselves for continued and a more robust movement to demand that our economy work for all of us. We must face the reality that we will never catch up at this rate. Our economy isn't just hooked on cheap labor. We were built on free slave labor. While we fight in this paradigm for survival. We can never forget that this economy was built to chew up and spit out our wage workers. And our work has to transcend. Fighting for scraps in the paradigm that exists. If we want free people, we need to simultaneously begin to imagine and build. A new economy that doesn't. Rely on exploiting cheap labor for someone else's profit. So in the vein of Councilman Hines and his comments about being king and councilwoman. Comments ending with a quote. I plan to go home with the words of the great. Poet Nas in my. Ear, inspiring me to build on his lyric how if I wrote. The World's, I'd free all my. Sons. And I hope you take this snow day to do the same and get back on this in this struggle to do even more in 2020 at the local and state level. Thank you. Thank. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Gilmore was unable to be here tonight. She was very sad that she couldn't be here for this. So she asked me to read the following. These are her words. Thank you, Councilwoman each and Mayor Hancock, for your leadership. And my colleagues will support this legislation tonight. Thank you to the community for your strong advocacy to raise the voices of our citizens who every day make Denver a wonderful place to live and work. More than 90,000 Denver workers will see higher wages from this proposal, allowing residents to reduce significant cost burdens of housing, transportation, childcare and utilities. We must begin to address the wage gap, and this is a tremendous step forward to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to make a living wage and begin to stabilize and build wealth. I'm honored to be a co-sponsor of the Minimum Wage Ordinance and companion bill setting up the Unclaimed Minimum Wage Special Trust Fund to create a streamlined process for workers to lodge complaints and seek compensation through this fund managed by the auditor. This is an important milestone in Denver's history. I look forward to continuing this conversation to ensure everyone thrives in our great city. All right. Seeing no other comments. Thank you all so much for coming out, for sitting in these hard benches, for braving the weather to be here tonight instead of me giving another speech here. How about we vote and give you something that you can really clap and cheer for? Madam Secretary, roll call on 1237. Black eye. CdeBaca. I. Flynn. High. Hines. I Cashman. Kenny Ortega. Hi. Sandoval. I. Sawyer. I. Torres. I. Mr. President. Hi, Madam Secretary. Please close the voting. Announce the results. Long awaited 11 eyes. 11 eyes counted. 1237 has passed. All right. Unfortunately, we're not done yet. We have that companion bill that we delayed. Councilman Hines, will you please put House Bill 1232 on the floor?