A proposed policy that Republicans said would turn Colorado into a union paradise will now apply only to employees of one state department, its author said Friday.

The guidelines, put forth by Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration Director Rich Gonzales, would have required the state to provide employee organizations with e-mail addresses of all employees, use of state mailrooms and space to hold meetings.

But after receiving legal counsel this week, Gonzales said he learned that he did not have the authority to institute the policy statewide. It will therefore apply only to his department, he said. Republicans praised Gonzales.

"There's a lot of outrage over this policy, so taking a step backwards is certainly a step in the right direction," said Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita.

Penry and other Republicans said the proposal amounted to a back-room maneuver by a Democratic administration trying to pay back the public employee unions that helped elect Gov. Bill Ritter. Democrats defended the draft policy as a sensible interpretation of state law.

According to State Personnel Board rules, which have been in place since the Bill Owens administration, "Employees have the right to associate, self-organize, and designate representatives of their choice. . . . The employee's representative may confer, with prior consent from the supervisor, on employment matters during work hours."

Gonzales, an appointee of Ritter's, said he had written the proposal in response to confusion expressed by several state department directors over how to deal with requests by union organizations to communicate with state employees.

Earlier Friday, before he learned that Gonzales had changed the policy's scope, Secretary of State Mike Coffman sent Gonzales a letter, arguing that Gonzales had no authority to mandate that other departments follow the policy.

"We're glad they are doing the right thing by abandoning this policy as a mandate to every state agency." Coffman's spokesman, Jonathan Tee, said later.