Building in a Coal Town? You Might Need to Hire Former Miners First.

What This Bill Actually Does

Colorado is in the middle of a massive energy transition, winding down its legacy coal-fueled power plants and mines. While the state's clean-energy economy is booming—employing nearly 70,000 workers—the phase-out of coal leaves behind highly skilled workers in very specific regional pockets. SB26-052 is designed to ensure those workers aren't left behind by forcing new industries moving into those towns to look at local talent first.

Starting January 1, 2027, the bill establishes a mandatory hiring preference for a qualified coal transition worker. If a company sets up shop in a coal transition community and operates in specific heavy industries—namely constructing or operating railroads, utilities, energy generation facilities, or advanced manufacturing—they are classified as a covered business. When these businesses have an open job, they must offer it to a former coal worker who meets the minimum qualifications before offering it to anyone else. You can only hire an outside worker if no qualified coal worker applies, or if the ones who do apply turn down your job offer.

The legislation also tackles a major financial hurdle for the towns themselves. Under current state law, local governments are heavily restricted in how they can invest public funds, generally limiting them to highly secure, low-yield depository accounts (like banks). This bill creates a massive carve-out for payment or settlement funds that a town receives to offset the socioeconomic impacts of a coal facility closing. It allows these public entities to hand those specific settlement funds over to an investment firm to invest in a broader range of financial instruments, like equities and the stock market, as long as it aligns with the town's approved investment policy. This gives coal communities a fighting chance to replace their lost tax base through higher investment yields.

What It Means for You

If you are a coal transition worker—meaning you currently or previously worked at a coal facility or in its manufacturing and transportation supply chain—this bill provides a tangible safety net. You already possess highly technical, safety-sensitive skills. Whether an outside company is coming to town to build a new solar array, upgrade a utility substation, or expand a rail network, your resume gets pushed to the absolute front of the line. As long as you meet the minimum job qualifications, you won't have to compete against out-of-state laborers or general applicants for these roles.

If you are a taxpayer living in a coal transition community like Craig, Hayden, or Pueblo, the investment side of this bill is a sleeper provision that could heavily impact your local services. When a coal plant closes, the local government loses a massive chunk of its property tax revenue, which funds your schools, fire departments, and roads. By allowing your local government to invest closure settlement money into higher-yielding stock market portfolios rather than standard bank deposits, your town has a much better shot at generating the wealth needed to keep local taxes stable. The trade-off, of course, is that your town's financial cushion will now carry standard market risk.

Here is what you can do right now to stay ahead of these changes:

• Get on the state's radar: If you are a transitioning coal worker, connect with the Colorado Just Transition Office today. Businesses will be relying on this office to find you when they need to fill their hiring quotas.
• Ask about the investment strategy: If you live in an impacted town, attend your next city council or county commissioner meeting and ask how they plan to utilize this new investment authority for settlement funds. Demand transparency on their risk tolerance.

What It Means for Your Business

If you are a general contractor, energy developer, or advanced manufacturer eyeing projects in rural Colorado, SB26-052 fundamentally changes your HR pipeline. Beginning January 1, 2027, if you meet the definition of a covered business operating in a designated coal transition community, you must make a "good faith effort" to hire qualified coal workers first. You cannot simply post a job on a public job board and call it a day. The law explicitly requires you to consult with the state's Just Transition Office, local coal plant operators, and worker organizations to actively identify and recruit these individuals.

The state is also going to require you to prove your compliance. If a qualified coal transition worker applies for a position, your business is mandated to file an annual report with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE). You will need to disclose the exact titles of positions filled by coal workers, the total number you hired, the number of non-qualified workers you hired instead, and detail the specific efforts you made to recruit from the legacy coal workforce. Note that there are a couple of practical exemptions: you do not have to use the preference if you are just transferring an existing employee to a new role, and the preference does not override the terms of an existing union collective bargaining agreement.

To ensure you are not caught flat-footed, take these steps this week:

• Audit your 2027 project pipeline: Identify any planned construction, utility, or manufacturing bids located in known Colorado coal transition zones. If you are a subcontractor, figure out if the general contractor expects you to handle this compliance.
• Update your recruitment protocols: Start building a relationship with the Just Transition Office now. You will need their network to verify who actually qualifies as a "coal transition worker" to stay legally compliant.
• Review your union contracts: If you utilize union labor, sit down with your legal counsel to review your current collective bargaining agreements to understand how they interact with this new state mandate.

Follow the Money

According to the nonpartisan Fiscal Note, this bill is remarkably efficient for the state to implement, requiring $0 in new state appropriations for the upcoming budget year. The only cost to the state is a minimal workload increase for the Just Transition Office within the Department of Labor and Employment, which has to design the new annual reporting system for businesses. The department will absorb this minor administrative cost into its existing operating budget.

For local governments, the financial impact could be massive, though it is entirely dependent on local decisions. By legally permitting municipalities and counties to invest their coal plant closure settlements into the broader market via third-party investment firms, these towns could see significantly higher investment income compared to traditional public fund depositories. The state fiscal analyst notes that this is too variable to put a specific dollar amount on, as returns will depend entirely on broader stock market performance and the specific investment policies drafted by local city councils and county commissioners.

Where This Bill Stands

This bill is on a glide path to the Governor's desk. Introduced in late January 2026, SB26-052 cleared the Senate completely unamended, passing its final third reading with zero roadblocks on February 11. It has heavy bipartisan backing from rural and transition-community lawmakers, including prime sponsors Senator Dylan Roberts and Representative Meghan Lukens.

The legislation has now crossed over to the House, where the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee already referred it unamended to the House Committee of the Whole on February 19, 2026. Because it carries no state price tag and enjoys broad bipartisan support, it is moving exceptionally fast. If you have business operations in a coal transition community, you should operate under the assumption that this will become law and begin planning for the 2027 effective date.