CO ballot measures to hold execs personally liable for corporate "misdeeds," prohibit layoffs except for "just cause"

The Wall Street Journal:

A labor-union campaign in Colorado to tighten restrictions on layoffs and crack down on corporate fraud could put Democrats in an awkward position as they gather here in August for their presidential convention.

Unions are pushing to get a total of six measures on the fall ballot, all of them opposed by small-business owners and corporate interests.

"If they pass, it would be like putting a big 'Do Not Locate Your Business Here' sign on Colorado," said John Brackney, president of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce....

One measure would make Colorado only the second state in the union, after Montana, to require that employers prove every layoff is for a "just cause." A second measure holds executives personally responsible if they fail to prevent their firms from committing misdeeds, such as polluting a river or cooking the books. Backers said this would be the strongest corporate-fraud law in the nation, subjecting executives to both criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits....

Meanwhile, another union representing food and commercial workers is pushing four additional ballot measures. They would require all employers to give annual cost-of-living raises, mandate health coverage at any business with more than 20 employees, permit injured workers to sue outside the workers' compensation system, and raise property taxes on businesses.

Each initiative needs the signatures of 76,000 registered voters by early August to get on the fall ballot. That is a relatively low bar compared with other states.

Manny Gonzales, of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 7, said the measures are "strictly focused on protecting Colorado's middle class." But others said they would impose an unprecedented burden on businesses of all sizes. "I think they would turn the lights out in the state," said Ray Hogler, a professor of labor law at Colorado State University.

For their part, business interests are pushing a right-to-work initiative, which would let workers in union shops opt out of the union. That measure recently qualified for the November ballot.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, also a Democrat, said he plans to vote "no" on all the measures.

Good idea.