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Tag: Legislative Session

Colorado lawmakers push for funeral industry regulations after string of scandals
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado lawmakers push for funeral industry regulations after string of scandals

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics As she spread her son David's ashes in Utah, Crystina Page was struck by the extraordinary beauty of the landscape. She was also struck by the memory of being there before — having done the same thing. The ashes she spread last time, however, belonged to a stranger, whom she sardonically calls "grandma Fido" — because she's not completely sure whether they belong to a human or an animal. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Colorado lawmakers reject proposed ban on new oil and gas drilling after 2030
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado lawmakers reject proposed ban on new oil and gas drilling after 2030

By Mark Jaffe | Colorado Sun A bill to ban new oil and gas drilling in Colorado after 2030 — which sparked a spate of industry TV ads with dire warnings — was rejected Thursday by a bipartisan majority of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee after a marathon hearing. The legislation, Senate Bill 159 — sponsored by two Democratic senators, Kevin Priola, of Henderson, and Sonya Jaquez Lewis, of Boulder County —  would have required state oil and gas regulators to stop issuing new drilling permits starting in 2030, with those permits to be used by 2032. Faced with projections of potentially severe impacts of climate change and the Front Range’s continuing struggles to curb ozone pollution, the bill was a necessary step to transition to cleaner energy,...
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CattleWomen call on state lawmakers to suports ag license plate
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Eastern Plains, State, thefencepost.com

CattleWomen call on state lawmakers to suports ag license plate

By Rachel Gabel  | The Fence Post A group of cattle producers left the Eastern Plains for the Colorado Capitol as the sun came up and finally made it home long after it set. Members of Logan County CattleWomen testified in support of HB24-1369 Colorado Agriculture Special License Plate before the House Agriculture Water and Natural Resources Committee. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, and Rep. Matt Martinez, D-Monte Vista, and passed the committee on a unanimous vote and now moves to the House Finance Committee. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE FENCE POST
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Colorado lawmakers adopt cuts, hard choices as state faces $170 million budget shortfall
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado lawmakers adopt cuts, hard choices as state faces $170 million budget shortfall

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Between March 15 and March 21, the six members of the Joint Budget Committee — the group of lawmakers in charge of drafting Colorado's spending plan — found themselves with a problem. With just over a week before the introduction of the state's 2024-25 budget, new revenue forecasts showed they had a hole to plug, with estimates ranging from $160 million to $225 million, depending on which forecast was used. Unlike the federal government, Colorado's budget drafters must come up with a balanced budget. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Colorado lawmakers reject request to hire state lawyers to prosecute gun crimes in federal court
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado lawmakers reject request to hire state lawyers to prosecute gun crimes in federal court

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The Colorado lawmakers who write the state’s budget rejected a request from the governor and attorney general to hire a group of lawyers to be loaned out to the federal government to prosecute gun crimes in federal court. The Joint Budget Committee voted twice earlier this month to reject the proposal, which would have set aside hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire as many as four attorneys, as it finalized the budget for debate before the full legislature in the coming weeks.  The latest vote to sideline the request was 3-3, with Democratic Rep. Emily Sirota of Denver joining the two Republicans on the JBC last week to block the spending. (Tie votes on the JBC result in proposals being rejected.) READ THE FULL STORY AT T...
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Soper: We are making progress on protecting the dead
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Commentary, State, The Western Slope Statesman

Soper: We are making progress on protecting the dead

By Rep. Matt Soper | The Western Slope Statesman As many of you may know, I played a critical role in the Sunset Mesa Trial. After seeing all the hurt caused by Sunset Mesa, I took action. This included raising awareness through multiple documentaries, news interviews, and bringing legislation. I passed two bills that protect the loved ones we have lost. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE WESTERN SLOPE STATESMAN
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Colorado panel finalizes budget plan that boosts K-12, higher education and health care. Here’s what’s in it.
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State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado panel finalizes budget plan that boosts K-12, higher education and health care. Here’s what’s in it.

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun Colorado’s state budget panel early Friday morning approved a spending plan for next fiscal year that would invest heavily in state workers and medical services, eliminate Colorado’s K-12 funding shortfall and limit college tuition increases to 3% for in-state students. But it took a lot of cutting — and some creative accounting maneuvers — to get there. Facing a potential $170 million shortfall at the start of the week, lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee dipped deeply into various state cash funds in order to balance the budget, pulling money out of a number of programs to cover the spending gap. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Legislators push to reintroduce wolverines in Colorado, insisting process unlike wolves
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Legislators push to reintroduce wolverines in Colorado, insisting process unlike wolves

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The North American wolverine — the animal, not the X-Men character — could return to Colorado. Lawmakers are pushing a proposal to authorize the reintroduction of the animal, maintaining it is a completely different set of circumstances than program that brought back wolves to Colorado. The proponents behind Senate Bill 171 also said wolverines would be less destructive. The bill authorizes the reintroduction contingent upon the federal government designating wolverines as a nonessential "experimental population" under what's called the 10(j) rule. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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State Rep. Leslie Herod granted protective order after judge finds ‘sexual assault’ claims are not credible
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coloradopolitics.com, State

State Rep. Leslie Herod granted protective order after judge finds ‘sexual assault’ claims are not credible

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics After a year of social media accusations that she was a "sexual predator," Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, has been granted a restraining order against the spokesperson for state Treasurer Dave Young with a judge ruling the evidence does not support the claims. The restraining order is against Sheena Kadi, the public information officer and communications director for Young. Kadi is a longtime Democratic political operative and the the vice chair of public relations and marketing for the Colorado Democratic Party. Kadi did not respond to a request for comment. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Study: Colorado ban on oil and gas drilling will take a toll on education, destroy jobs, cut GDP
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Colorado Springs Gazette, State

Study: Colorado ban on oil and gas drilling will take a toll on education, destroy jobs, cut GDP

By Scott Weiser | Colorado Springs Gazette A bill introduced in the state senate to end oil and gas drilling poses a catastrophic threat to Colorado’s economy, according to researchers from the Common Sense Institute. Senate Bill 24-159 would require the state to cease issuing new oil and gas drilling permits by 2030. The bill was set to be heard on Thursday by the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee but was postponed because of a snowstorm. A hearing has not yet been rescheduled. “It's horrible on every front because it claims to be about CO2 emission reduction, which it's not,” said CSI Energy Fellow Trisha Curtis. “It's beyond detrimental and devastating to the economic state of Colorado and it really doesn't appreciate the economic realities at all." READ THE FULL...
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