11 Comments

Breaking News: Colorado Finance Committee Passes HB 1193

Jan 28, 2010
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Despite Overstock’s maneuvering and the local efforts of Colorado affiliates organized by Brian Fox, Senior Director of Business Development at  Adperio, the Colorado House Finance Committee has passed HB 1193 (pdf). The motion passed with a 6-5 vote and with only a slight amendment, mostly in reference to appropriation.

The bill was introduced on January 22nd, 2010, by Colorado State Representative John “Jack” Pommer, who is also Chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Rollie Heath. If fully ratified the bill is expected to commence on March 1, 2010.

To find out more about HB 1193 visit either the Performance Marketing Association here, or Affiliate Advocacy here. Both are great resources. There is still time to impact the outcome of this legislation.

Filed under: Affiliate Marketing + Civic Responsibility + Legal Issues + News Briefs
  • http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com Rebecca Madigan

    Thanks to the 110 affiliate marketers that showed up at the hearing tonight. That amazing showing made a big positive impact in this fight.

    Even though the committee approved the bill, it has a ways to go, and we saw a lot of doubt appear tonight. The bill passed by a 6-to-5 vote, and 2 of the yes votes were very apprehensive and want to learn more before their final house vote. This is great news!

    I do have a serious concern: one bookstore owner who testified said she was advised by the California booksellers association's policy person. That means they're watching what we're doing, like they did in California.

    So for future tactics and planning, we're taking this 'underground'. Most people at today's hearing have registered their support with the PMA. We'll communicate next steps in the fight, in private to that group. If you haven't registered yet, you can do so on our site: http://performancemarketingassociation.com/advoca…

    Thanks to everyone (lots of people recruited people!)!

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  • http://bblmedia.com/ Franklin Banker

    I am so sorry I missed the opportunity to be at the Capital yesterday. I did begin my letter writing last night after determining who my state senator and rep are. I also posted my opinions of all this on my blog.

    Does anyone, anywhere have an idea of how many affiliate marketing companies and individual businesses we have in Colorado? I don't think there is a category for us to specifically our industry in the material we submit to the state each year for our annual reports. How can we prove the real economic impact of our industry?

    There is a real possibility that Colorado will end up with a net loss revenue if this passes, but proving it is the answer. If lawmakers can be shown the real numbers they might back off this proposal.

    My blog article here:
    http://affiliates-make-money-online.blogspot.com/…

    I have to admit that I did not see this coming here in Colorado. I imagined our state to be more forward thinking, but the revenue shortfalls have made people desperate. The proposal in Mississippi is even worse than ours.

    Apparently many want to return to the dark ages. This is going on in a lot of state right now.

  • http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com Rebecca Madigan

    Update:

    I'm still at the capitol to meet with legislators this afternoon. We were supposed to have meetings this morning, but the finance committee session lasted until 2:30AM, and they didn't finish hearing all the bills. So the legislators weren't up to meetings this morning.

    This long session was unprecedented, especially this early in the session. It has changed their schedule on everything so we're waiting to hear what is what.

    Our lobbyist told me this: every comment they made last night has something to do with some other higher goal. So more than ever, we need to be strategic and coordinated, so we can continue to be heard, and hit the points important to them. Stay tuned, if you're on the Colorado team, we'll share next steps to that team.

  • http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com Rebecca Madigan

    I have to comment again. The 'captcha' for this next comment box is "sizable governments." Must be contextual captchas!

  • http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com Rebecca Madigan

    Franklin,
    The testimonies yesterday talked a lot about job loss and potential income loss to the state. But the reality is there is a lot of political jockeying going on, and you’re right, they’re desperate. Two of the committee members are running against each other for the same senate seat. That will definitely impact their voting.

    And the mid-term elections impact everything, especially since the governor, who is a democrat, is not running again.

    That being said, being involved makes a huge impact. Our hearing was the only one with such a huge turnout from the business community.

    There are 2 more steps this bill has to go through, but the process changed a bit last night. I’m waiting to hear some next steps. We have a team of lobbyists helping us navigate this.

    One last thing: the bill language in a state doesn’t necessarily indicate the outcome. The political situation gives much bigger indication of the likelihood of passing.

  • Chris

    So, I had emailed all the people related to the committee, my local district and the sponsors.

    Does it make sense now after the vote to email again to the same and to express the disappointment and to reiterate the possible impact to the local economy? Or wait for more direction from PMA (I am registered on the support list)?

  • http://prescinct368cor.wordpress.com Theresa Niel

    America wake up and enterprise.

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  • http://www.ThreeMoneyMethods.com Jonathan Kraft

    There's a petition started to oppose this stupid thing…

    Whatever good the petition will do, I don't know… But here's the link.

    http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/OpposeHB119…

    Please contact all the reps. in the state and let them know your displeasure with this going into law.

    Jonathan