Earlier this week, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed ASCA’s model legislation into law.
The ASCA staff and a group of very driven Colorado snow and ice management contractors were able to get our legislation introduced and through both branches of the Colorado General Assembly, and then on to the governor’s desk for signature in a little over a year.
Obviously, we are thrilled with the success. We now have two states (Illinois is the other) that have enacted our legislation. This is a common-sense bill that, in the simplest of terms, prohibits a property owner from passing their liability on to the snow contractor.
We are determined to get this legislation enacted in all the major snow states and, to date, we’ve laid the ground work in many of them.
Currently we have bills before legislators in the following states:
- New Jersey: A3968 and S665
- New York: A6746 and S3703
- Pennsylvania: HB624
- Indiana: HB 1125 and S131
- Massachusetts: HB2369
A is an Assembly Bill, HB is House Bill and S is a Senate Bill.
We also have done a lot of groundwork in other states -- such as Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin -- where we expect progress very soon.
While the ASCA is leading the charge, we also need our members to be active in their home states and help drive this legislation through to completion. This includes writing to your representatives and letting them know how important this legislation is to you as a voter and as a business owner. This is easy to do as most of the representatives have a “Contact Me” button or page on their website. Simply letting them know the bill number and explain that this legislation makes properties safer in winter months and will have a huge positive impact on your business, and especially your insurance rates.
If you are in one of the above snow states, I encourage you to a quick letter to your state representatives in support of the bill. And if your state is not list above, feel free to contact me and we can talk about how to move forward in your state.
