Your Voice at the Capitol

Statewide:

PHCC Colorado advocates on your behalf, protecting your interests at the State Capitol. Working with our lobbyist, Elisabeth Rosen, we actively monitor and lobby bills that are relevant to the industry and impact your business, and closely coordinate with other lobbyists and legislators on key topics of interest to our membership. We also review all proposed regulations for changes that may affect the interest of PHCC Colorado members and convey positions on regulations to the appropriate agency officials.
These are the current bills we are monitoring:

2018 PHCC CO Legislative Bill Tracker


On Wednesday, April 18th, PHCC participated in its 1st Legislative Day at the Colorado State Capitol. We were able to meet with lobbyist Elisabeth Rosen to review the bills we have taken board positions on, and discuss strategy for meeting with legislators.
PHCC members were invited to join legislators on the House floor to have one on one conversations and be able to closely observe the legislative action of the day. Thank you to Rep Michaelson-Jenet (D-Adams County) for reserving seats for PHCC as well as her acknowledgment and introduction of PHCC and our Day at the Capitol to all the 65 members of the Colorado House of Representatives. As you will see from the pictures, PHCC members were able to interact and meet with many legislators across the state of Colorado including Rep Kraft-Tharp (D-JeffCo), Rep Lundeen (R-El Paso), Rep J Becker (R-Ft Morgan), Rep Liston (R-El Paso), Sen Marble (R-Larimer). This day was a success for PHCC and we are already planning and looking forward to a Legislative Day at the Capitol during the 2019 session. 
  
Nationally:
PHCC-National Association’s Government Relations Department provides a voice for the p-h-c industry in Washington, D.C., and empowers members to participate in effective local grassroots activism. Our work includes highly effective representation on the federal, state and local levels.
Click here to view PHCC National's Government Relations page including the Riso Report - regular Legislative and Regulatory updates provided to members.

2018 Legislative Conference, May 22 - 23

Each year, hundreds of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractor members attend the PHCC Legislative Conference in DC to tell their personal stories and lobby members of Congress on the key industry issues.

The importance of these meetings is to keep PHCC top of mind, to garner support for legislation, and to influence legislators opinions in our favor by educating them on the facts and sharing our stories. The best way to do this is by giving them real examples from real members.

There’s a saying, “If you are not at the table, you are probably on the menu.” If we don’t take the time to educate our legislators - who rely heavily on association staff, members and lobbyists, to get the information they need to make informed decisions - then it’s likely they are getting information elsewhere that might not be in our favor.

This year, PHCC Colorado’s delegation included: Kim Gill, Executive Director, PHCC Colorado; Susan Roberts Frew, President, PHCC Colorado; Martin Knieps, Director of Technical Marketing, Viega LLC.; Mark Brodie, Director of Marketing, Viega LLC. The delegation met with staff from the offices of Senators Bennet and Gardner as well as the offices of Representatives Perlmutter, DeGette, Polis, Tipton and Lamborn. They also met personally with Representative Coffman who has family ties to the industry and has always been a big supporter of the industry and PHCC.

Several key industry issues were discussed including:

1) the industry's worsening skilled workforce gap (1M+ needed in all trades)

2) support for the Apprenticeship Task Force recommendations looking to expand and innovate the current apprenticeship programs to help solve the labor market challenges

3) supporting passage of the PROSPER Act, introduced by Rep. Virginia Fox, to reauthorize and clean up the Higher Education Act, including expanding the use of Pell Grants to plumbing-heating-cooling industry-led programs

4) support of the reauthorization of and funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) to provide funding assistance to much needed local and national water and wastewater projects.

If you’ve never attended a legislative conference, please keep it in mind for next year. We need member participation and support at these events to promote our agenda, support our mission and make a difference for the industry!

PHCC Colorado Capitol Hill Day
March 2019
Dates TBD

PHCC Legislative Conference
Spring 2019
Dates TBD

Visit ColoradoPHCC.org to view our calendar with upcoming events and educational programs. 

Questions? Contact Kim Gill, PHCC Colorado Executive Director at [email protected]