(The Center Square) – A bill that would have regulated how businesses manage workweek schedules was defeated in a committee Thursday.

Four Democrats joined four Republicans to defeat the measure 8-2. Reps. Sheila Lieder, D-Jefferson, and Javier Mabrey, D-Denver, voted for the bill on Thursday.

House Bill 23-1118 would have required businesses with more than 250 employees and all food or beverage establishments to obtain from employees their desired number of weekly work hours, as well as their days and times available to work. Employers would have been required to provide work schedules no later than 14 days before the first day of any new work schedule.

Employees also would have been given the right to refuse hours or a work shift less than 12 hours after the end of their previous shift. Employers would have been forced to pay 1.5 times the regular pay rate if an employee agreed to work a shift within 12 hours of the previous shift.

The bill’s sponsors pleaded with the committee to listen to worker voices and not corporate lobbying.

“We urge you to think about who you heard from and who has the resources and means to hire representation that can be down here all day, every single day, talking to you and providing their version of what this bill does,” Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, D-Denver, said, adding she was speaking for the Latino community throughout the state.

Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver, and a sponsor, told the committee they didn’t receive accurate information from lobbyists and needed to listen to anecdotal testimony in support.

“We understand that the opposition was strong and that the misinformation spread like wildfire,” Sirota said. “We know first hand that workers need these protections. They need us to fight for them and understand why they are not able to testify or engage in the same ways. It is because they're working.”

Three committee members said they received hundreds of emails per day against the bill.

“I’ve been here 53 days and this is a bill I’ve received the most emails from constituents, roughly 100 a day and 98 of every hundred have been in opposition to it,” Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, said. “Business owners and even employees feel that his would pit employers and employees against each other.”

Rep. Rick Taggart, R-Grand Junction, said the reason for his opposition was the bill would harm an employer’s ability to assist employees.

“It is not the lobbyists who have influenced me on this,” Taggart said. “It’s the business owners who are concerned about their employees. They want the flexibility to do the absolute best they can for their employees.”

Committee Chair Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, also pushed back on what was influencing her vote.

“I came to those conclusions on my own using my experience and knowledge of what it takes to run a business,” Amabile said before the vote. “When I looked at it through that lens, I concluded that this isn’t the policy I can support right now. And I’m really disappointed because I would like for us to make meaningful change for the people who need it in our state.”

Oregon is the only state with a "fair workweek" law, and San Francisco in 2014 became the first local government to adopt the regulation, according to the Colorado chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business.

“I’m glad committee members seriously considered the many harmful effects of this proposal and wisely stopped it, but I wish proponents would stop claiming it would have only affected businesses with 250 or more employees,” Tony Gagliardi, NFIB Colorado state director, said in a statement. “No. It would most definitely have affected almost all businesses and the evidence for that can be found in Section 1 of the bill itself.”