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