republic-os/legislation/us/states/co/2021a/sb-21-039.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elimination Of Subminimum Wage Employment"
description: "Beginning July 1, 2021, the act prohibits an employer from paying an employee whose earning capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental disability, or injury less than minimum wage if the employer does not hold a special certificate issued on or before June 30, 2021, by the United States department of labor that authorizes the employer to pay wages below minimum wage to those employees. The act phases out subminimum wage employment for employers that hold a special certificate and by June 30, 2022, requires each employer that holds a special certificate to submit a transition plan to the department of health care policy and financing (department) detailing how the employer plans to phase out subminimum wage employment by July 1, 2025. On and after July 1, 2025, an employer is prohibited from paying an employee with a disability less than minimum wage regardless of whether the employer was issued a special certificate.The act requires the employment first advisory partnership in the Colorado department of labor and employment (partnership) to:Develop actionable recommendations to address structural and fiscal barriers to phasing out subminimum wage employment and successfully implementing competitive integrated employment; and"
jurisdiction: "us/states/co"
legislature: "Colorado General Assembly"
session: "2021A"
identifier: "SB 21-039"
citation: "Colorado SB 21-039 (2021A)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dennis Hisey", "Rachel Zenzinger", "Rod Pelton", "Yadira Caraveo"]
version_count: 12
action_count: 16
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2021-02-16T07:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-06-29T06:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5bd61b57-b4fa-485a-a170-c62a2ad1d1fa"
source_url: "http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-039"
source_hash: "d22f7ca684b9d27b445f5698fae432df144c6c596914e1b4a436a39272ce7260"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-co"]
---

# Colorado SB 21-039 (2021A) — Elimination Of Subminimum Wage Employment

Beginning July 1, 2021, the act prohibits an employer from paying an employee whose earning capacity is impaired by age, physical or mental disability, or injury less than minimum wage if the employer does not hold a special certificate issued on or before June 30, 2021, by the United States department of labor that authorizes the employer to pay wages below minimum wage to those employees. The act phases out subminimum wage employment for employers that hold a special certificate and by June 30, 2022, requires each employer that holds a special certificate to submit a transition plan to the department of health care policy and financing (department) detailing how the employer plans to phase out subminimum wage employment by July 1, 2025. On and after July 1, 2025, an employer is prohibited from paying an employee with a disability less than minimum wage regardless of whether the employer was issued a special certificate.The act requires the employment first advisory partnership in the Colorado department of labor and employment (partnership) to:Develop actionable recommendations to address structural and fiscal barriers to phasing out subminimum wage employment and successfully implementing competitive integrated employment; and

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_sb039_h_pbh_001.pdf)
2. **Engrossed (04/23/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039_eng.pdf)
3. **Final Act (06/11/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039_enr.pdf)
4. **Introduced (02/16/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039_01.pdf)
5. **PA1 (03/04/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039sblt_01.pdf)
6. **PA2 (04/23/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039sbltsapp.pdf)
7. **PA3 (05/06/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039pbh_01.pdf)
8. **PA4 (05/21/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039app.pdf)
9. **Reengrossed (04/26/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039_ren.pdf)
10. **Rerevised (05/28/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039_rer.pdf)
11. **Revised (05/24/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021A/bills/2021a_039_rev.pdf)
12. **Signed Act (06/29/2021)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_039_signed.pdf)

## Votes

- BILL — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- BILL — **47–13** (pass) · lower
- REPASS — **35–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dennis Hisey — primary (person)
- Rachel Zenzinger — primary (person)
- Rod Pelton — primary (person)
- Yadira Caraveo — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-06-29T06:00:00+00:00** Governor Signed `executive-signature`
- **2021-06-11T06:00:00+00:00** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-11T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the Speaker of the House
- **2021-06-10T06:00:00+00:00** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2021-06-01T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Considered House Amendments - Result was to Concur - Repass
- **2021-05-28T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-25T06:00:00+00:00** House Third Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments
- **2021-05-24T06:00:00+00:00** House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2021-05-21T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-04T06:00:00+00:00** House Committee on Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-26T06:00:00+00:00** Introduced In House - Assigned to Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services `introduction`
- **2021-04-26T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-04-23T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee
- **2021-04-23T06:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-03T07:00:00+00:00** Senate Committee on Business, Labor, & Technology Refer Amended to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-16T07:00:00+00:00** Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Business, Labor, & Technology `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5bd61b57-b4fa-485a-a170-c62a2ad1d1fa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Colorado legislature records).