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Despite concern over specific provisions, legislators advance wage-theft bill without changes
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State, The Sum & Substance

Despite concern over specific provisions, legislators advance wage-theft bill without changes

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Sponsors of a bill to ramp up penalties for businesses committing wage theft promised to make changes to it Thursday but weren’t yet ready to offer specific amendments, leading to a partisan split as the bill advanced out of its first legislative committee. House Bill 1001, authored by House Majority Leader Monica Duran of Wheat Ridge and fellow Democratic Rep. Meg Froelich of Greenwood Village, seeks to attack the crime in a different way than their 2024 legislation, which Democratic Gov. Jared Polis vetoed. Rather than focus solely on the construction industry and seek compensation from general contractors when subcontractors fail to pay workers, the new bill takes aim at employers in all sectors, seeking specifically to punis...
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Natural gas export rule changes may increase domestic gas prices in Colorado
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denvergazette.com, State

Natural gas export rule changes may increase domestic gas prices in Colorado

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette According to a December 2024 Department of Energy report, Coloradans could pay as much as 31% more for their natural gas by 2050 if the federal government allows liquified natural gas exports from the U.S. to places like Asia and Europe to increase. The report notes residential consumers nationwide could pay as much as $122.54 more per year for natural gas and electricity by 2050, and industrial sector costs could increase by $125 billion from 2020 to 2050. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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CPW has kept wolf parasites causing Hydatid disease, which can be lethal to humans, secret from public
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

CPW has kept wolf parasites causing Hydatid disease, which can be lethal to humans, secret from public

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer. Rocky Mountain Voice As if there aren’t enough controversies around the consequences of wolf reintroduction in Colorado — impacts to livestock growers, impacts to deer, elk and other ungulate herds — there is another danger that has gone mostly unspoken by wildlife officials. This danger is to humans, predominantly children, transferred to them by their beloved pets, after being exposed to the parasite. Echinococcus granulosus is a parasitic tapeworm that transfers to deer, domestic cattle, domestic sheep, elk and moose, along with domestic cattle, sheep, domestic pets and humans. Interestingly, infestations of the parasites are relatively benign to wolves, but for the ungulates wild and domestic, and pets, the risk of transfer to humans in...
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HB 1113 would task Colorado cities, counties with limiting amount and type of grass allowed around homes by 2028
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State, The Colorado Sun

HB 1113 would task Colorado cities, counties with limiting amount and type of grass allowed around homes by 2028

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Local governments across Colorado would be required by 2028 to enact or update ordinances limiting the amount and type of grass that could be planted around new or redeveloped residential property under a bill before the state legislature this year. House Bill 1113 would leave it up to counties, municipalities and local districts to determine how to limit turf grass and how to define redevelopment. The measure would also extend a prohibition on the installation of nonfunctional turf to new and redeveloped condominium and apartment complexes. It would go into effect in 2028, building off a bill passed by the legislature last year prohibiting local governments from installing nonfunctional turf on medians and right-of-ways. READ THE FULL STOR...
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Advance Colorado ballot measure would end Colorado’s sanctuary state policy
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State, The Center Square

Advance Colorado ballot measure would end Colorado’s sanctuary state policy

By Derek Draplin | The Center Square  A proposed ballot measure would require law enforcement in Colorado to cooperate with federal immigration detainer requests. The measure, filed by the conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado, is in response to Colorado’s so-called “Sanctuary State” status protecting illegal immigrants. "State and local law enforcement must cooperate with federal requests to notify the Department of Homeland Security prior to release and detain inmates if: (A) the inmate is charged with a crime of violence as defined by C.R.S,; or (B) the inmate has been convicted of a prior felony,” the measure reads. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE CENTER SQUARE
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State’s failure to pass through federal funds to firefighting agencies is putting SW Colorado operations at risk
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

State’s failure to pass through federal funds to firefighting agencies is putting SW Colorado operations at risk

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Emergency responders and firefighting agencies in Southwest Colorado are sounding the alarm and calling for immediate resolution to unpaid invoices going back, in some cases, to July 2024, because of, some say, utter incompetence by the State of Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control’s (DFPC) billing processing office. In a Jan. 27 meeting at the Upper Pine Fire District in Bayfield, county emergency management personnel, regional fire district leadership teams, representatives from multiple counties and state and local officials met to discuss the dysfunctions that could lead to an all-out crisis as the 2025 fire season approaches, because of a huge backlog in getting collective invoices for payment processed. ...
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Colorado tuberculosis cases hold steady, as a major outbreak rocks Kansas
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado tuberculosis cases hold steady, as a major outbreak rocks Kansas

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun Colorado is not seeing an unusual uptick in cases of tuberculosis, despite an ongoing outbreak next door in Kansas, the state Health Department says. The Kansas outbreak, focused in the Kansas City area, started last year, and it has since grown to be among the largest in the country since at least the 1950s. (You may have read that it is the largest in U.S. history, but that is erroneous.) Two people are reported to have died. Here in Colorado, cases of tuberculosis are more or less in line with recent historical averages, even though the number of cases reported in Colorado last year exceeded the number of cases reported so far in the Kansas outbreak. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Colorado GOP adjourns online meeting without considering controversial bylaws amendments
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado GOP adjourns online meeting without considering controversial bylaws amendments

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics It took just over an hour and a half for the Colorado Republican Party's state central committee to decide it wasn't going to conduct any business on Thursday night. About 90 minutes into an online meeting of the committee, state GOP Chairman Dave Williams declared that he was going to adjourn after members voted narrowly to require Republicans on the Zoom call to verify their identities with government-issued ID's — something Williams conceded would be impossible to accomplish on short notice. "Even though everyone already knows that we're all here, who we claim to be, there's no way we can think of in the moment to do credentialing, so I will go ahead and adjourn the meeting," Williams said as other Republicans attempted to speak, including U...
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HB25-1005 offers $34M in tax credits to attract Sundance Film Festival to Boulder
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State, The Sum & Substance

HB25-1005 offers $34M in tax credits to attract Sundance Film Festival to Boulder

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Colorado’s film-incentive program has generated division among legislators since its inception. The state’s effort to attract the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder, however, is getting near-unanimous support. The House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on Wednesday approved the creation of a new incentive tax credit to draw what is arguably America’s most prestigious film festival away from its long-time home in Park City, Utah. Having outgrown the 8,400-person town, the 11-day festival that attracts some 70,000 annual attendees has narrowed its search for a new home to three locations: Salt Lake City (in conjunction with Park City), Cincinnati and Boulder. Under House Bill 1005, sponsored by House Majority Leader Monica Duran of Wheat R...
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Colorado bill looks to limit student cell phone usage during school
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kdvr.com, State

Colorado bill looks to limit student cell phone usage during school

By Gabrielle Franklin | KDVR-TV Fox 31 News Getting young people to give their devices a break can be a challenge. Colorado lawmakers say schools are having a hard time getting students to put their phones down, too. A new bill at the capitol looks to improve the situation. A bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday looks to give districts across the state some guidance to keep students off their phones when it’s time to learn. Students are using their phones in class. READ THE FULL STORY AT KDVR-TV FOX 31 NEWS
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