Five new Colorado laws went into effect in the new year.  Of particular note for local business, Colorado’s minimum wage automatically increased from $8.23 per hour to $8.31 per hour.  The minimum wage for tipped employees also increased from $5.21 to $5.29 per hour.

The Colorado Constitution requires the Colorado minimum wage to be adjusted annually for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index used for Colorado.

Check out the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Minimum Wage webpage to be sure that your business is compliant with these new requirements for 2016.

Other laws that that went into effect on January 1st include:

• A future pay raise for state and county officials (implementation to come in 2019)
• More oversight for child-welfare investigations
• A new 24-hour reporting requirement for children missing from foster care or other out-of-home placement;
• And two transportation related measures – one modifying a special fuel excise tax and another adopting standards to make temporary vehicle permits more readable.

Learn more detail about all these changes at The Denver Post.