Alma, Colorado Small Business Owner Sues State For Discrimination

(CBS4) – A high country business owner says Colorado’s grant to help businesses recover from the pandemic violates his constitutional rights by giving priority to minority-owned businesses. On Tuesday, a judge agreed.

For Alma-based business owner Steve Collins, the law still didn’t work. He said it still gave priority to minority-owned businesses, so he filed the second lawsuit against the program.

On Wednesday evening, the Office of Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) filed a motion to dismiss.

“Every applicant who meets the criteria established by the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) will receive a grant. Plaintiffs thus have suffered no injury from the provisions of Colorado law they challenge here. Additionally, because race played no role in OEDIT’s funding decisions, no individual or business has suffered any injury from those provisions.”

Stephen E. Collins, a white man who owns event-planning company Resort Meeting Source, filed a lawsuit earlier this month after applying for aid through the grant program. He argued that the race-based criterion disadvantaged him and was unconstitutional. Martínez initially agreed with him, blocking the state from awarding grants on the basis of minority ownership through Oct. 26.

But the Colorado Attorney General's Office responded that Collins had actually been approved for a $10,000 grant through the program, as had every other qualified business. The program is actually undersubscribed, and none of the 11 award recipients ended up being a minority-owned business. Because Collins had not suffered an injury and got what he wanted, the state asked Martínez to dismiss the lawsuit.