{"id":9860,"date":"2026-04-17T16:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/colorado-shouldnt-risk-cutting-off-access-to-earned-wage-access-opinion-colorado-politics\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:30:16","slug":"colorado-shouldnt-risk-cutting-off-access-to-earned-wage-access-opinion-colorado-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/colorado-shouldnt-risk-cutting-off-access-to-earned-wage-access-opinion-colorado-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado shouldn\u2019t risk cutting off access to earned wage access | OPINION – Colorado Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Print Edition<\/a>
By Tenisha James<\/em><\/strong>
I live and work in Connecticut, not Colorado \u2014 but what\u2019s happening in your state matters to\u00a0people like me. I\u2019ve already seen how policies that restrict earned wage access (EWA) can play out in real life. And I wouldn\u2019t wish that experience on Colorado workers.\u00a0\u00a0
Like many people, I\u2019ve felt the squeeze of an economy where costs keep rising, but paychecks\u00a0don\u2019t. Groceries, rent, medical bills \u2014 it all adds up faster than you expect. I\u2019ve always done my best to budget carefully, but no matter how disciplined you are, life doesn\u2019t wait for payday.\u00a0\u00a0
That\u2019s why I used EWA services. They gave me access to wages I had already earned \u2014 no\u00a0loans, no interest, no long-term debt. If I could wait a couple of days, it costs me nothing. If I\u00a0needed money immediately, I could pay a small fee for instant access. It was simple,\u00a0transparent and most importantly provided me the flexibility and the dignity of managing my\u00a0own finances.\u00a0\u00a0
Then things changed.  
Policies here in Connecticut created uncertainty and barriers around EWA, and providers pulled\u00a0back. Almost overnight, a tool I relied on to manage my finances responsibly was gone.\u00a0And when it disappeared, I didn\u2019t suddenly have better options \u2014 I had worse ones.\u00a0\u00a0
Without EWA, workers are left to deal with financial shortfalls however they can. For many, that means turning to credit cards with high interest rates or payday loans with staggering fees.\u00a0Others risk overdraft charges or late payment penalties that only make things harder the next\u00a0month. These aren\u2019t solutions \u2014 they\u2019re traps.\u00a0\u00a0
And not everyone even has access to those options. Plenty of hardworking people don\u2019t qualify\u00a0for traditional credit or don\u2019t have a financial safety net to fall back on. When EWA went away, it\u00a0didn\u2019t just inconvenience people \u2014 it put them in more vulnerable financial positions. The bottom\u00a0line is not having access to EWA service made my life harder and my finances less manageable.\u00a0\u00a0
That\u2019s why I\u2019m paying close attention to what Colorado is considering because I care about working people.  
From where I stand, the goal shouldn\u2019t be to restrict or push out EWA service \u2014 it should be to\u00a0regulate them responsibly so workers can continue to use them safely. The right approach\u00a0includes clear consumer protections, reasonable limits on fees, and guarantees these\u00a0services remain optional and transparent \u2014 all things that House Bill 1046 includes.\u00a0\u00a0
But lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure workers can access this service and employers can provide it.\u00a0
I\u2019ve lived that reality. I\u2019ve sat at my kitchen table trying to figure out how to cover an unexpected\u00a0expense without the one tool that used to help me do it without debt. It\u2019s stressful, frustrating\u00a0and completely avoidable.\u00a0\u00a0
Colorado has a choice right now. You can learn from what happened in states like mine and take a balanced approach that protects both consumers and access \u2014 or you can risk pushing\u00a0out a service that thousands of workers depend on.\u00a0\u00a0
Take it from someone who\u2019s already seen how this plays out: losing earned wage access\u00a0doesn\u2019t protect workers. It makes life harder.\u00a0Colorado workers deserve better and they deserve access to the wages they have earned.\u00a0
Tenisha James is a sales coordinator, living in Waterbury, Connecticut, and is the mother of six children.<\/strong><\/em>
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