The national movement to require paid sick leave came to Colorado yesterday, as HB1307 was killed in the the Senate Finance Committee. And reports from inside the room describe a packed house for this latest Democrat feel-good measure. Here’s more information about the bill, according to the Denver Business Journal:

“The bill would have established a system that would put roughly 1 percent of workers’ wages into a pool that could be used by workers who have been on their jobs at least three months to take as much as 12 weeks a year off to care for themselves and family members while still getting a percentage of their salary.”

For all the noise, professionally printed signs, and protests, the likelihood of people actually using this benefit was slim.

Only 12% of New Jersey parents are using the benefit. Rhode Island and California, two other states with a similar program, are not much better. What it comes down to – and what tone deaf Democrat lawmakers just refuse to get – is simple economics. If a person is just scraping by on $15 per hour, which is $600 a week pre-tax, can they really sustain themselves on the approximate 2/3 subsidy that the family leave insurance pays them? The answer is a resounding “no” for an overwhelming majority of workers eligible for the program.

So this begs another question: where does this all end? Do you really think that the proponents of this measure will not try to take more, incrementally, at any opportunity? Just look at what is happening in New Jersey. A similar program went into law in 2009, and just a few years later there is a movement to expand the “rights” granted under the legislation.

Let’s thank the Republican-controlled Senate for deep-sixing this proposal, just as they have been able to beat back other nanny state bills this year.