Sen. Michael Bennet on High Housing Costs, His 38% Approval Rating, and Gov. Pol [23:08-27:32]

There were three in particular bills that he vetoed that a lot of young people were pretty upset about. People listeners to our show here in Denver, we wanted to hear what you would have done or might do if you were faced with these same bills. So, Bri. Would you sign the Worker Protection Act which would make it easier to form a union? I haven't made a public statement about that. I'm not yet the Governor. I said... Would you make one now? I said at the last time that Polis was considering this that I believe that we should come to a compromise on this and that I thought a compromise was possible. Unfortunately, the deal fell apart and he's going to have the chance to negotiate another, you'll have another opportunity to negotiate this and I think we only have one governor at a time. So, I'm watching it carefully. I'm just thinking about people listening to this and going, how is this going to be different from Polis? How are you going to be different from Polis? I don't know why you keep asking that question because I think that maybe it's because... Because people know what it's like to live here under Polis. We want to know what it would be like to live under a governor Bennett. Well, I've tried to express that during the course of this conversation. Yeah, okay. So, here's another issue. Uber Sexual Assault Bill, which would increase regulations on rideshare companies. He vetoed it after the rideshare companies threatened to leave the market. I would not have vetoed that bill. Okay. The next one on the topic of housing. Some people would call this red tape a regulation or something but there was a bill that's come back now twice to ban products like real page that use algorithms to help landlords set the rent. I don't look at it. Oh. Huh. What about restaurants? Polis was all gung-ho about this bill about lowering the tip minimum wage. Denver restaurants are closing. What we want to know what you think about that bill? I think the much more important question is can we create a set of conditions in our state where we're not losing a quarter of the restaurants in Denver where small businesses aren't being driven out of their business and I think we've got to address that. We're going to have to find ways of dealing with it and I think a bunch of well-intentioned legislation piled up in a way that resulted in there being more closures than during COVID and that's a huge problem. Hmm. I want to ask you about something that Denver rides are going to be voting on here pretty soon and I know you just released a policy platform on childcare this morning. I haven't had a chance to dig in but there is one question on Denver ballots right now that is related to kids which is I wonder how you're planning to vote on this proposal to repeal Denver's ban on flavored tobacco. I believe that we should support the ban on flavored tobacco. But I'm glad you asked that one because I've not actually had a chance to review all of the ballot and so there's more to think about between now and then. Are there any election issues you're watching? I mean, I know it's an off-year election but you vote in Denver, right? Yeah. Okay. I just answered a question on the ballot. Yeah, I don't know. Were there other questions on there that you're thinking about? Or like the bond? I'm thinking about all of the bond. I'm thinking about Mayor Johnson's bond. I'm thinking about all of the ballot initiatives all over Colorado they're trying to make childcare a little bit more affordable for people. I'm thinking about all the ballot initiatives across the state that are starting to think about what do we do about these housing questions. Yeah. Any thoughts on the Broncos stadium? Yeah, I hope it'll be awesome. All right. Senator Michael Bandit, thanks for joining us. Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks a lot for having me. That's all for today here on CityCast, Denver. If you enjoyed this show, want to take a minute to tell Uber Sexual Assault Bill sponsor Jenny Wilford about us. Rate the show wherever you get your podcasts. And subscribe to our morning newsletter and learn more about us at denver.citycast.fm. And don't forget, if you love the show, you can support us and get great perks by becoming a CityCast Denver neighbor today at membership.citycast.fm. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more news from around the city. See you later.