Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Lorena Garcia

Lorena García’s nonprofit took $6.6 million in state money while its lobbyist backed bills she sponsored
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Lorena García’s nonprofit took $6.6 million in state money while its lobbyist backed bills she sponsored

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Before Lorena García was a Colorado state representative, the organization she runs had collected about $13,000 from the state of Colorado in the five years before she filled the vacancy, according to state payment records. That changed when she joined the legislature. The Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition (CSPC) was founded in 1980 by Richard Garcia, Lorena García’s father, who ran it as executive director through 2017, according to the organization’s IRS filings. Lorena García took over as executive director in 2018. Since García was appointed to the Colorado House in January 2023, the nonprofit she leads has received $6.64 million in state payments. That is 99.8 percent of every dollar state payment records sho...
Attorneys No Longer Required to Sign Immigration Certification in Colorado Courts
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Attorneys No Longer Required to Sign Immigration Certification in Colorado Courts

By Nico Brambila | Colorado Politics One year and 12 days. That’s how long a Colorado law requiring attorneys to certify they would not use court data for federal immigration enforcement remained on the books before lawmakers repealed it. Gov. Jared Polis signed the initial legislation, Senate Bill 25-276, on May 23, 2025. That legislation extended to the courts a law prohibiting disclosure of information for the purpose of assisting in federal immigration enforcement. The governor signed the modification to that law via House Bill 26-1276 on June 4. That modification exempted the Colorado courts’ e-filing system from the requirement that users certify they would not disclose information for the purpose of federal immigration enforcement. M...
Colorado Democrats Advance Controversial Prostitution Decriminalization Plan
The Daily Signal, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Advance Controversial Prostitution Decriminalization Plan

By Tyler O’Neil | The Daily Signal Colorado Democrats have filed a bill that could make it the first state to decriminalize prostitution, and critics warn that the bill would make the Centennial State the “Wild West” for purchasing sex and lead to an increase in human trafficking. “We have a billion-dollar budget shortfall here in Colorado, and so there’s a lot of talk about budget and affordability and cost of living,” Jarvis Caldwell, the Republican minority leader in the state House of Representatives, told The Daily Signal in an interview Wednesday. “This isn’t the Republicans’ idea of making things more affordable, by making it easier to sell yourself for sex,” he quipped. Caldwell noted that Colorado had the 10th highest rate of human traffi...
Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Bill To Decriminalize Prostitution
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Bill To Decriminalize Prostitution

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette Battle lines have begun to form at the Colorado state Capitol, where legislators are preparing to tackle a proposal to decriminalize prostitution statewide. Proponents said the proposal — which would eliminate the offense of soliciting for prostitution and the prohibition against patronizing a prostitute, as well as preclude local ordinances from banning “commercial sexual activity” — would result in safer and healthier outcomes for sex workers. Opponents said it would exacerbate human trafficking in Colorado, with one critic warning the legislation could lead to the state becoming a “mecca” for sex trafficking. Battle lines have begun to form at the Colorado state Capitol, where legislators are preparing to tackle a pro...
Newly Released Watergate Files Show Nixon Faced Espionage From Within His Own Government
New York Times, Approved, Commentary, National

Newly Released Watergate Files Show Nixon Faced Espionage From Within His Own Government

By James Rosen | Commentary, The New York Times On July 1, 1975, under gray skies, two Watergate prosecutors arrived in the office of the White House counsel. Also present was the deputy national security adviser, Air Force Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft. They were gathered for a burial. The intended object was a 297-page transcript created the previous week, when eight members of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, joined by a stenographer and two members of a federal grand jury, among others, interrogated Richard Nixon under oath near his home in San Clemente, Calif. Over two days, the ex-president’s grand jury testimony consumed 11 hours. Then came an interview by the prosecutors, undisclosed until now, that lasted an additional two. President Gerald Ford had pardone...
Colorado Democrats Push To Legalize Prostitution Statewide By July
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Push To Legalize Prostitution Statewide By July

By The Denver Gazette | The Denver Gazette A group of Democrats is seeking to legalize prostitution in Colorado, arguing that current penalties “endanger” consenting adults. The proposal, if enacted, would decriminalize prostitution statewide and preempt local ordinances that ban it. If signed into law, it will take effect this July, making Colorado one of two states to legalize prostitution. The other state is Nevada. The bill would maintain the felony classification for pimping, though it would eliminate the word “prostitution” in the state laws and change it to “commercial sexual activity.” The bill — sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Nick Hinrichsen, Senate Assistant Majority Leader Lisa Cutter and Reps. Lorena Garcia and Rebekah Stewart — said repealing pro...
Gaines: Bureaucrats are making the rules—and you’re paying for it
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Bureaucrats are making the rules—and you’re paying for it

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Rulemaking in Colorado.** Rulemaking is the process by which our legislature delegates the task of regulating specific actions and behaviors. In a rough sense it works like this. Say the legislature wants to make a law so that building owners don't scrimp on elevator expenses to the detriment of public safety. The legislature, rather than directly telling landlords what to do, will task an executive agency with a general set of constraints, telling the agency to come up with rules and regulations that "protect the public safety" or other such phrases. The executive agency then sets the actual policy: what does safety look like for elevators, how is it checked? If this strikes you as not being too far from having u...