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Minority whip’s report details long bill, ‘good and bad’ bill hearings on tap in House this week
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Minority whip’s report details long bill, ‘good and bad’ bill hearings on tap in House this week

By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice Final approval was looming Monday for the "Long Appropriations Bill" in the Colorado House, and Minority Whip Richard Holtorf said Saturday he would be in opposition to the proposal to increase spending by more than $2 billion. Republicans were able to pass a few amendments "aligning with pressing needs of our constituents" to improve the spending bill, a statement in the weekend "Mighty 19 Minute" newsletter reads. The adopted Republican amendments included $2 million for a ninth-grade success grant by Rep. Rose Pugliese, $6.1 million for senior services by Rep. Mary Bradfield, $434,783 for the Colorado Access to Justice Cash Fund by Rep. Matt Soper, $1.0 million for the Veterans Service-to-Career Program by Rep. Anthony Hartsook and Hol...
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Cooke: Oppressive EPA emissions standard will cost Coloradans plenty
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Approved, Commentary, completecolorado.com, State

Cooke: Oppressive EPA emissions standard will cost Coloradans plenty

By Amy Oliver Cooke | Complete Colorado There’s so much gaslighting in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently announced vehicle emissions standards, it may be guilty of expanding the Biden Administration’s carbon footprint simply with the news release. The EPA’s announcement claims its “strongest-ever” emissions standards will: Expand consumer choice in clean vehicles Protect Public Health Address the Climate Crisis Save Drivers Money The reality is that the new standards won’t do much, if anything, for the environment. They will cost consumers more money, reduce vehicle choices, and harm public health. Most egregious is the dictatorial nature of Washington, D.C. deciding for Americans across our vast nation how they can exercise their mobility freedom....
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No April fools, Monday’s gas price ranges from $2.94 in Broomfield to $4.82 in Pitkin County
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

No April fools, Monday’s gas price ranges from $2.94 in Broomfield to $4.82 in Pitkin County

AAA projects an uptick in spring pricing related to market conditions, Ukraine targeting of Russian oil infrastructure By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice The trip to the grocery store or from the Western Slope into the mountains for a getaway could cost you a bit more than anticipated this spring, AAA is projecting in an April 1 report. In Colorado, a gallon of regular gasoline was priced at an average of $3.07 on Monday, about the same as a week prior and 13 cents higher than a month ago, data on the AAA gas price monitor reads. Those with diesel vehicles presently are getting a little bit of a break, with the current average of $3.69 coming in at 9 cents below the month-ago average. “Uncertainty of the impact of Ukraine’s targeting of Russia’s oil infrastructure like...
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House Bill 1363: Does it make charter schools more transparent, or is it a ‘blatant attack’?
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

House Bill 1363: Does it make charter schools more transparent, or is it a ‘blatant attack’?

By Erica Breunlin | Colorado Sun A bill from a group of liberal Colorado Democrats aimed at increasing transparency and accountability at  charter schools has sparked major opposition, including from Gov. Jared Polis, bipartisan education groups and parents and students. The lawmakers who introduced House Bill 1363 this month say they value charter schools and simply aim to hold them to the same level of scrutiny that public schools face. “School choice is rooted in informed decision-making,” said Rep. Lorena Garcia, a bill sponsor and a Democrat from unincorporated Adams County. “If charter schools are not willing to be open and transparent and support informed decision-making within the parent population, then it begs the question of, what are they actually trying to h...
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Sharf: March has become wage-gap myth month for Colorado media
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Approved, Commentary, completecolorado.com, State

Sharf: March has become wage-gap myth month for Colorado media

By Joshua Sharf | Complete Colorado Every March, it’s the same story – literally.  Local media run a series of lazy stories about the alleged gender pay gap, mixing up aggregate and individual statistics, and mentioning–then discarding–career and life choice differences. This year, the Colorado Sun’s Tamara Chuang adds a new twist, the pandemic, which they manage to include with a typical lack of curiosity and critical thought.  The article is a mass of logical inconsistency, internal contradictions, and what looks for all the world like a failure to read her own work. First, she uncritically repeats the claim that the 13-cent difference between men’s and women’s earnings constitutes a meaningful “pay gap.”  Then, she quotes at length an economist who...
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Modified Colorado bill bans firearms in state Capitol, including for lawmakers
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Modified Colorado bill bans firearms in state Capitol, including for lawmakers

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado lawmakers substantially modified a proposal that originally listed nearly 20 places where a person would be prohibited to carry a firearm — even with a concealed weapons permit — to only a handful of areas, notably including higher education institutions. In narrowing down that list, the legislators added a new place where guns would be banned — the state Capitol. And, under the modified bill, that ban would apply to legislators.   The amendments allowed Senate Bill 131 to secure the support of Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Summit County, and ultimately the approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 3-2 party-line vote.  READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Colorado lawmakers propose $2 billion budget hike
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado lawmakers propose $2 billion budget hike

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado House lawmakers on Thursday spent their day wrestling with the state's 2024-25 budget, and there was plenty to fight about. Lawmakers have begun reviewing the state's spending plan for the next fiscal year in the face of tight revenues and a budget deficit — even as policymakers are pushing for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding requests.  All told, the draft budget for fiscal year 2024-25 expects to spend $40.6 billion — $2 billion more than last year, driven by bigger allocations for health care, a significant expansion in the state's workforce and more money for schools seeing increased enrollment of immigrant students.     The fight in the House started with some of the measures that accompanied...
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Colorado lawmakers push for funeral industry regulations after string of scandals
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Approved, 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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Approved, 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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Auto accident prevents Fabbricatore from competing for nomination in special election
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Auto accident prevents Fabbricatore from competing for nomination in special election

By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice HUGO -- The Republican Congressional Vacancy Committee convened here Thursday evening with nine candidates vying to be nominated to a place on the 4th District Congressional special election ballot. But, there should have been 10 candidates. John Fabbricatore was unable to participate when he was involved in an auto accident on the way to Hugo, reads a social media post he wrote. "I was involved in a vehicle accident that disabled my vehicle and kept me from making it to the event in Hugo, before the first round of votes were cast," he wrote. The committee ruled he must be in attendance for his nomination to be entertained, Fabbricatore wrote. Nine candidates were nominated, and he would have been the 10th. His campaign manager a...
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