The Colorado state legislature adjourned Wednesday, May 11th. The 2016 session ended with little progress on issues that lawmakers in both parties claimed were top priorities in January. Dubbed as a ‘do nothing’ session, many of the bills introduced were political messaging bills crafted with the election – and control of certain legislative districts – in mind. In total, the legislature saw 686 bills introduced, with more than half of them garnering bipartisan support. As an industry, we closely watched about 25 bills – fewer than is typical.

The ALCC/GreenCO legislative priorities fall into four basic categories: water policy, business practices, budget and tax policy and infrastructure investment policy.

No doubt that by now you’ve heard that last week the US Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule regarding overtime for white collar workers. Despite some revisions from the rule change proposed last fall, the new rule might have a big impact on employers. Landscape company employers should review their current employees' status to determine whether they need to make changes in order to comply.

The final rule applies to overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees. The salary threshold for exemption is lower than previously proposed, but it is still more than twice the previous threshold. Employers may also use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentives (including commissions to satisfy up to 10% of the new salary level—provided those bonuses are paid quarterly or more often. In other words, year-end bonuses will not apply.