Colorado 2024 Regular Session

Colorado House Bill HJR1023 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	Second Regular Session
2	2	Seventy-fourth General Assembly
3	3	STATE OF COLORADO
4	4	INTRODUCED
5	5
6	6
7	7	LLS NO. R24-0527.01 Caroline Martin x5902
8	8	HJR24-1023
9	9	House Committees Senate Committees
10	10	State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs
11	11	HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 24-1023
12	12	C
13	13	ONCERNING GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES101
14	14	WITH FORCED LABOR COMPONENTS .102
15	15	WHEREAS, Many electric vehicles are being made with1
16	16	components created through the use of forced labor, including materials2
17	17	mined by Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China's Xinjiang3
18	18	region; and4
19	19	WHEREAS, An electric vehicle is a motor vehicle which is5
20	20	propelled to a significant extent by a motor which draws electricity from6
21	21	a battery which is capable of being recharged from an external source of7
22	22	electricity; and8
23	23	WHEREAS, Forced labor is work or a service that is (i) obtained9
24	24	by force, fraud, or coercion, including by threat of serious harm to, or10
25	25	HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
26	26	Winter T., Armagost, Bottoms, Bradfield, Bradley, DeGraaf, Evans, Frizell, Hartsook,
27	27	Holtorf, Pugliese, Taggart, Weinberg
28	28	SENATE SPONSORSHIP
29	29	Liston, Baisley, Pelton B., Pelton R., Rich, Simpson, Will
30	30	Shading denotes HOUSE amendment. Double underlining denotes SENATE amendment.
31	31	Capital letters or bold & italic numbers indicate new material to be added to existing law.
32	32	Dashes through the words or numbers indicate deletions from existing law. physical restraint against, any person; by means of any scheme, plan, or1
33	33	pattern intended to cause the person to believe that if the person did not2
34	34	perform such labor or services, the person or another person would suffer3
35	35	serious harm or physical restraint; or by means of the abuse or threatened4
36	36	abuse of law or the legal process; (ii) imposed on the basis of a protected5
37	37	characteristic; (iii) not offered or provided voluntarily by the worker; or6
38	38	(iv) produced through oppressive child labor; and7
39	39	WHEREAS, Oppressive child labor is a condition of employment8
40	40	under which any person under the age of fourteen years is employed in an9
41	41	occupation hazardous for the employment of children, such as10
42	42	manufacturing or mining; and11
43	43	WHEREAS, Concerns about the use of forced labor to create these12
44	44	components and materials prompted the federal government to pass the13
45	45	Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) with overwhelming14
46	46	bipartisan support; and15
47	47	WHEREAS, Under the UFLPA, there is a rebuttable presumption16
48	48	that any product manufactured in whole or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur17
49	49	Autonomous Region was produced by forced labor; and18
50	50	WHEREAS, The United States Department of the Treasury19
51	51	recently restricted the application of its newly created tax credits for20
52	52	electric vehicles in a press release dated March 31, 2023, so that21
53	53	"[b]eginning in 2024, an eligible clean vehicle may not contain any22
54	54	battery components that are manufactured by a foreign entity of concern23
55	55	and beginning in 2025 an eligible clean vehicle may not contain any24
56	56	critical minerals that were extracted, processed, or recycled by a foreign25
57	57	entity of concern"; and26
58	58	WHEREAS, The federal government recently proposed a27
59	59	regulation for another act that any company subject to China's jurisdiction28
60	60	will be defined as a "foreign entity of concern", which would prevent29
61	61	federal tax credits from supporting sales of electric vehicles made with30
62	62	battery components from Chinese entities; and31
63	63	WHEREAS, Many electric vehicles are being made with32
64	64	components created through the use of oppressive child labor, most33
65	65	notably, through cobalt ore mined in dangerous conditions by thousands34
66	66	of young children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sent to35
67	67	China for use in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries; and36
68	68	HJR24-1023
69	69	-2- WHEREAS, According to a 2022 report from the United States1
70	70	Department of Labor, "downstream products containing lithium-ion2
71	71	batteries may be produced with an input produced with child labor, such3
72	72	as electric cars"; now, therefore,4
73	73	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the5
74	74	Seventy-fourth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate6
75	75	concurring herein:7
76	76	(1) That the state of Colorado opposes the use of forced labor and8
77	77	finds that forced labor is repugnant and deplorable, violates basic human9
78	78	rights, constitutes discrimination, and damages free and fair competition;10
79	79	and11
80	80	(2) That the state of Colorado will take steps to ensure that12
81	81	taxpayer dollars are not being used to pay for electric vehicles that may13
82	82	have been partly manufactured through forced labor.14
83	83	HJR24-1023
84	84	-3-