By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun via KUNC
Colorado lawmakers reversed course on Wednesday and decided to keep in place a 20-year-old program that gets teens involved at the Capitol — with a big caveat.
The Colorado Youth Advisory Council will no longer have the power to draft bills for the legislature’s consideration.
The General Assembly planned to ax the Colorado Youth Advisory Council — known as COYAC — to save $50,000 annually as lawmakers try to close a $1.2 billion budget hole. Republicans also complained that the council had become too liberal.
Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, attempted Wednesday on the Senate floor to keep the council operating as-is, but an amendment she offered to Senate Bill 25-199, which will end a number of interim committees to save money, failed.
Winter then huddled with Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Monument Republican, landing on a compromise that the program would continue without bill-drafting power.