Denver, CO – On April 16, 2026, the Colorado House passed SB26-121, legislation that rolls back overtime protections for agricultural workers. Eleven House Democrats voted yes: Speaker McCluskie, Majority Leader Duran and Reps. Carter, Feret, Lukens, Martinez (the bill sponsor), Mauro, McCormick, Smith, K. Stewart and Valdez.
Colorado already treats farmworkers as second-class employees. Most workers in the state qualify for overtime pay after 40 hours per week. Agricultural workers, however, do not qualify until they work 48 hours — or 56 hours during the harvest season. That disparity has long been unjust. This bill, if signed by Governor Polis would cement that inequity into law.
While proponents cite economic pressure on farmers, shifting those costs onto farmworkers only deepens existing inequities rather than addressing the underlying challenges in the agricultural economy. These votes are the direct consequences of federal policies supported by many of the same agricultural interests now seeking relief.
This is not the only hit these workers are taking this session. Colorado has also moved to cut healthcare coverage for immigrants, the same population that forms the backbone of the state’s agricultural workforce. On one end, the legislature has stripped access to care. On the other, it has extended the hours workers must log before fair compensation begins. These are not unrelated decisions. Together, they represent a sustained and coordinated squeeze on some of the most vulnerable members of Colorado’s economy.
CIRC’s Political Director, Christopher Nurse said after the vote that, “It is shameful that eleven House Democrats voted with Republicans to pass what is quite literally injustice and political patronage masquerading as legislation. CIRC and other organizations worked tirelessly to put protections for farm workers into law, only for some of the same legislators who voted for those protections to essentially tell migrant farm workers today that their labor is expendable. The Colorado House of Representatives chose to hurt agricultural workers today, and today’s vote will be a lasting stain on the legacy of the General Assembly.”