May 2025 Executive Director’s Update

Hello CRMCA Members. 

Memorial Day is already over and we are officially in the full swing of summer.  I hope your summer season is off to a great start as I know things are in full swing regarding construction, material supply, and mining.  Below is a brief update regarding recent and future priorities and activities at you ready mixed concrete association.

Getting summer off to a strong start. As you know, the Legislative Session has recently wrapped up earlier this month on May 7^th.  We took aggressive stances for and against many bills, thanks to the input and guidance of our Legislative Sub-committee and the hard work of our lobbyist, Totsy Rees and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman, Chris Oestreich, with Burnco Colorado.  As we met virtually every Tuesday morning to review the growing list of bills, we discussed important strategies on bills that impact the ready mixed concrete and mining industries.  One of the bills we fought against was SB25-005.  While it did pass legislation, we applaud Gov. Jared Polis’ veto of the SB25-005, as we and many other groups lobbied for this outcome.  The bill would have upended Colorado’s Labor Peace Act by removing the second vote currently required to allow the union to bargain for ‘union security’ which mandates all employees in the bargaining unit pay dues out of their paychecks whether they wish to belong to the union or not.  This is just a sample of the important work the dedicated group in the Governmental Affairs do, much of it behind the scenes.  Thank you, group, for all you do for the industry!

• Additionally, since the session is over, I need to again thank Tom Hesemann and Fred Charles with Tetra Tech for their involvement with our association and hosting the Monthly Legislative Luncheons at the Tetra Tech offices in downtown Denver.  These luncheons were greatly attended, showing the interest on legislative laws in all our businesses.
• You will recall our Legislative Luncheon speaker at the April 23 meeting, Jimena Sanchez, Special Projects Manager with the Common Sense Institute.  In an effort to learn more from this organization, I attended one of their events on May 13^th in Denver.  The guest speaker was the Wyoming Governor, Mark Gordon, who shared his insights on the future of mining.  As mining is a major part of Wyoming, he is very interested in what we do.  He has a great big picture view, which I enjoyed hearing.  There is a recording of the session if anyone is interested.  Please reach out to Emma if you haven’t seen it and would like to.
• Regarding another great networking opportunity with producer and associate members, we have a Spring Networking Event on April 22 at ACE Eat-N-Serve in downtown Denver.  The event was greatly attended in an effort to hold robust business discissions between purchaser and product suppliers.  Thanks to our sponsors and to Emma for organizing another great event.

Looking Ahead

• Don’t forget about the Concrete Driver Championship that will take place June 7th at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.  In additional to seeing the best drivers in the state, we will have food, drinks and a few other events that will take place. You can register a driver here or as a volunteer!  Visit the website and come by.  You will not regret it as it is a fun event.
• Our Summer Conference is just around the corner.  It will be July 23 and 24, with the association board meeting and strategic planning overview held on July 25.  These will occur at the beautiful Vail Hyatt in Vail, Colorado.  The registration link is available, so make sure to sign up for this great annual event.  See you there!

Thanks to all our members for your support and participation!