Even with Gov. John Hickenlooper selling it in person, a proposal to privatize Pinnacol Assurance — the state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance fund — got a cool reception Tuesday from a special panel.
The Pinnacol Assurance Stakeholders Task Force didn’t take an official vote on the proposal, but a straw poll of the panel members in attendance — a group composed of civic leaders as well as representives from business associations, labor unions and nonprofits — showed that more than half were either opposed or neutral.
Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has been pushing hard on the privatization deal, which would turn Pinnacol, a quasi-governmental entity that is a political subdivision of the state, into a mutual-assurance company with the option to become a common-stock company.
The original proposal from Pinnacol called for the state to receive an ownership stake worth 40 percent, with a $340 million face value, of what would be the new mutual-assurance company. Hickenlooper is now recommending that the state’s share be increased to $350 million and that a $22 million injured-workers fund be created. That fund would be paid over 20 years, with annual payments of $1.1 million. Tim Hoover, The Denver Post
