The Colorado Legislature has approved a bill that raises the penalties for employers who don’t pay wages owed to workers.

Rep. Jonathan Singer

House Bill 1267 was approved by the Senate on Wednesday on a 33-2 vote. The House passed the bill on April 10. Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign the bill, Bloomberg Law reported.

Under the bill, a person who intentionally pays less than minimum wage would be committing theft, which would be considered a felony if the amount is more than $2,000. Wage theft is now a misdemeanor in the state, regardless of the amount owed.

The bill would remove an exemption from criminal penalties for an employer that can’t pay a worker because of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or other court action limiting the employer’s control over its assets.

“What actually happens in some situations is that we have dishonest actors that put honest employers at a competitive disadvantage. We have folks out there who will hire people and then not pay them,” bill co-sponsor Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, said during a House Judiciary Committee meeting this month, Westword reported.

Latino workers, including those who are undocumented or speak little English, are most often the victims of wage theft in Colorado, Westword said, and wage theft also may be part of human trafficking schemes.

In a survey of day laborers in the Denver area, University of Denver researchers found that almost two-thirds had been victims of wage theft.