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Tag: Governor Jared Polis

The COvid Chronicles April 16–30: From tattletales to tyranny in just 14 days
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The COvid Chronicles April 16–30: From tattletales to tyranny in just 14 days

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board This second installment of RMV’s COvid Chronicles runs longer than usual – for good reason. In just two weeks, civic trust collapsed, state control deepened and neighbors turned on each other. The details matter—because memory fades, because memory fades, but the impact endures. If the first two weeks of April 2020 made it clear to Coloradans their state was forever changed and would not be going back to the way it was any time soon, the later part of the month crystalized just how difficult earning back any God-given constitutional rights and freedoms would prove to be. Much of that had to do with the heavy-handedness of Gov. Jared Polis, elected officials and unelected bureaucrats who weren't keen on relinquishing their newfound regal powe...
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Bill to require CBI employees to report wrongful actions heads to Colorado governor
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Bill to require CBI employees to report wrongful actions heads to Colorado governor

By Marianne Goodland | Denver Gazette Employees at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation who observe misconduct and don't report it could be in for problems of their own under a bill now heading to the governor's desk. House Bill 1275 creates "a duty to report" wrongful actions committed by crime lab employees. It also requires the crime lab director to investigate those actions, and creates a process for individuals to seek post-conviction relief if their case is impacted.  The bill is yet another outgrowth of the misconduct allegations tied to Yvonne Woods, a nearly 30-year employee of the CBI accused of deleting data and manipulating DNA evidence in more than 1,000 instances. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure
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Approved, National, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure

By John Ingold | Colorado Sun There are now only seven days left in Colorado’s legislative session. But lawmakers and other state officials have for weeks been bracing for the possibility of coming back to the Capitol later this year to deal with potential federal cuts to Medicaid likely to be included in Congressional Republicans’ still-being-written budget proposal. “There certainly are a lot of indicators that would suggest that we might end up having to come back in the event that there’s a dramatic cut to Medicaid,” state Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat and member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said last month, as first reported in The Colorado Sun’s politics newsletter, The Unaffiliated. Speaking to a group of health care leaders earlier this mo...
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Clock runs out on social media bill: lawmakers shield themselves and Polis from historic override
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Clock runs out on social media bill: lawmakers shield themselves and Polis from historic override

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Senate overrode the governor’s veto. The House never even had to say no. In Colorado politics, sometimes the clock matters more than the votes. Without casting a single "no" vote, Colorado lawmakers on April 28 killed a bipartisan attempt to override Governor Jared Polis’ veto of a social media regulation bill. Just days earlier, the Senate had voted 29–6 to override the veto of Senate Bill 25-086, marking the state's first successful chamber override of a policy bill in more than a decade.  But when the bill reached the House, members voted 51–13 to lay over the override until after the legislative session ended. As reported by The Colorado Sun, the maneuver guaranteed the bill’s death without a formal vote, allowing lawmakers to av...
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Ganahl: From Superior Elementary to sex camps — Colorado parental rights under attack
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Ganahl: From Superior Elementary to sex camps — Colorado parental rights under attack

By Heidi Ganahl | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In 2018, as a mom of four with three of my children in first and third grade at Superior Elementary, I was shocked to learn that our young students were being exposed to confusing gender identity discussions without parental knowledge.  This was done through a program called Queer Endeavor at CU Boulder, which trained thousands of teachers in the metro area to integrate “queering the curriculum” around “problematic parents.” As a statewide elected University of Colorado Regent at the time, I felt a responsibility to speak out, warning that this was the start of a dangerous trend.  I was called a fearmonger and mocked.  But today, that warning has become a chilling reality. Colorado schools and universiti...
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Free speech or safer feeds? Colorado reacts after Senate overrides veto of social media bill
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Free speech or safer feeds? Colorado reacts after Senate overrides veto of social media bill

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette Several groups on Friday lauded the Colorado state Senate's veto override of a bill that seeks to impose certain regulations on social media platforms in the hopes they would crack down on users who violate their rules, while critics called the bill censorious and argued it would give tech companies "too much power" to "de-platform" people. The Senate voted to override the governor's veto on a 29-6 vote. The state House is expected to hold its override vote next week. Senate Bill 086 would require social media companies to evaluate reports of policy violations within 72 hours. If a user is found to have violated the policy, the platform must remove that person or entity within 24 hours. The bill would also require social media companies to sub...
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Colorado Senate overrides Gov. Jared Polis veto of social media bill
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado Senate overrides Gov. Jared Polis veto of social media bill

By Marianne Goodland | Denver Gazette The state Senate voted 29-6 on Friday morning to override Gov. Jared Polis's veto of a social media bill. The 29-6 vote was five above the two-thirds majority required for an override. It's the first override of a Polis gubernatorial veto of a bill-or any bill from his three predecessors-since the administration of Gov. Roy Romer in 1988. There have been other veto overrides—in 2007 and 2011—but those were directions from the General Assembly to state agencies as part of the budget process. In at least three decades, no governor has vetoed a budget bill or even a line item in a budget bill, although they do veto those legislative directions occasionally. Senate Bill 86 would compel large social media companies to remove accounts engaged in ...
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Montana governor urges gunmakers to ditch Colorado after new weapons ban
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Approved, Fox News, National, State

Montana governor urges gunmakers to ditch Colorado after new weapons ban

By Alec Schemmel | Fox News FIRST ON FOX: GOP Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is launching a video campaign to remind gun manufacturers in Colorado that if they move just a few hundred miles to the north, they can be free of one of the nation's most restrictive gun control bills signed into law earlier this month in their state. "Do you want to move back to America?" Gianforte is asking Colorado gunmakers, after Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed S.B. 25-003 into law earlier this month. The new law, which is slated to go into effect in August 2026, effectively bans the manufacture, sale or purchase of semi-automatic firearms that accept detachable magazines, which include most AR-15s and AK-47 rifles sold in the United States. Some tactical shotguns and a few select handguns wi...
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Polis faces pressure as veto showdown looms on sweeping social media bill
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Approved, KUNC, State

Polis faces pressure as veto showdown looms on sweeping social media bill

By Bente Birkeland | CPR News On November 8, 2020, Chelsea Congdon’s life changed forever.  She and her husband had invited friends over for a backyard party at their home in Old Snowmass. They were building a bonfire when a car from the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Department pulled up.  “The policeman came and found us there and let us know that our son Miles had died in Boulder and his body had been discovered that morning,” she recently recalled to CPR News. “It felt very unreal. And it feels as if your entire life just shatters on the floor and for some reason, you’re still standing. I mean, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s impossible to put together losing a kid.” Her son, Miles Brundige, was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Colorado. He’d grown up big ...
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