The backlash against the Polis administration has been brutal since we reported their plans to radically restrict how workers can commute through elimination of free parking and demands that employers dictate who drives and who takes public transportation.
Now 9News reports the state is revising their plans to move forward instead with a voluntary plan.
Last time we checked, voluntary is still how we live our lives every day in America without the government’s permission, thank you very much.
So what is the state Public Health and Environment Department (CDPHE) really up to?
A letter from CDPHE to stakeholders said it aims to require large employers to survey employee driving habits instead.
“This new proposal is based on the recognition that lasting and meaningful success will require strong buy-in from employees and employees who are subject to the program, and a pilot phase will facilitate our understanding of real world implementation and success,” the CDPHE memo said.
So while 9News is reporting the all clear — the program’s been shifted to voluntary so no need to worry — that’s not at all what the state is saying in their letter.
They’re not walking back their authoritarian plan at all.
The state plans to ease us in when we’re not looking by phasing it in with a voluntary pilot program first, in which they will gather evidence to support their commuting code they still plan to enact once the public is lulled back into complacency.
Here’s the letter.
Businesses in high-ozone areas with more than 100 workers will have to limit by 25% how many employees are permitted to drive by themselves to work, and the state is demanding they take away free parking for the rest.
Employees can either work from home, take public transportation or the company can provide shuttles.
By 2024, only 60% of workers will be allowed to drive to work. Unless they can afford an electric car, then they’re exempted.