DENVER—A Democratic idea to help consumers find locally owned businesses on their phones appears to be hitting a roadblock, with Republicans asking: Isn’t there already an app for that?
The Democrat co-sponsoring the bill tried to appease Republican opponents on Thursday by watering down the bill to let the private sector decide whether to create an app and directing the state to simply compile and provide the data on businesses.
The bill, delayed for a committee vote until Monday, is a tough sell to House Republicans who control its fate.
Holding up his smartphone, Republican Rep. Jim Kerr asked why the bill is necessary.
“Google. I can find just about anything almost anywhere in Colorado and the United States and even the world,” he said.
Democrats in the Senate narrowly passed the bill earlier this month with no Republican support. At the time, Republicans said apps like “Yelp” already accomplish what the bill tries to do.
In its original form, the bill would have let businesses pay $10 annually to be listed in a state-created database and app. The state’s Economic Development and International Trade office would create the online database of businesses by Jan. 1, 2014, and also develop an app for smartphones.
Supporters of the idea say it’s a way to boost local economies.
Democratic Rep. Dan Pabon, carrying the bill in the House, said he understood concerns from Republicans that the state government should not duplicate what businesses are already doing.
“The business of having state government actually create a database is probably not the business the government should be in,” he said.
He said it should be up to the private sector to create such an app, and the government should just take information already available from different state agencies, and put it in an easily accessible, downloadable format.
The Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry shared some of the same concerns as Republican that the proposal is duplicative and unnecessary.
“Buy local” apps are not unusual in the country. Nonprofits, businesses and cities around the country have created them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But the group has not tracked whether states have done so by introducing legislation like Colorado.
———
Find Ivan Moreno on Twitter:
