House advances bill to give cities local control over tip offsets amid heated debate over worker pay

The Colorado House on March 18 advanced legislation to let local governments set the amount that employers may credit tips toward required hourly pay, a move sponsors said would give cities flexibility to respond to restaurant closures and opponents said could depress pay for low-wage tipped workers.

Representative Woodrow, the bill's prime sponsor, told the House he and co-sponsors brought what they called the Restaurant Relief Act to address steep restaurant losses in Denver and other cities and to give local elected officials tools to account for the tip offset tied to local minimum wages. “It is an honor to stand before you and present HB 25 12 o 8, the Restaurant Relief Act,” Woodrow said on the floor.

The bill would remove a statewide, static approach to tip offsets and permit local governments that set a local minimum wage above the state level to determine the method…