Bringing New Energy to Colorado
For those of you who subscribe to the Week In Review, you will see the content below. However, I wanted to reinforce the accomplishments of our Democratic leadership. In a recent interview, my counterpart on Republican side said that Democrats had done nothing this cycle. I beg to disagree. In fact, the legislature and the Governer have in fact responded to many of the major concerns of voters in the state. So here it is again.
Bringing New Energy to Colorado
The House Majority Communications Office of the Colorado House of Representatives has issued a great progress report on legislation passed in the four major areas Colorado voters identified as the most important to them.
Curbing the cost of Health Care: 1) Cutting drug prices for seniors and the uninsured - SB 07-001 has been passed by the both the House and Senate and signed by the Governor. 2) Governor Ritter also signed an executive order to have Colorado join a multi-state pharmaceutical pool. 3) HB 07-1301 passed the House Health and Human Services Committee and protects women from the most common cause of cervical cancer. 4) A bill to boost coverage for children, mental health, drug treatment and indigent care, SB 07-097, passed the House, Senate and was signed by the Governor. 5) Both the House and Senate have passed SB 07-079 to help insurers, providers avoid disputes.
Strengthening our Schools: 1) HB 07-1048 which track will track students’ academic progress passed the House and Senate and was signed by the Governor. 2) SB 07-199 was approved by the Senate and the Education Committee of the House, which will expand early childhood education. 3) Both the House and Senate have passed a bill to make college more affordable - SB 07-148. 4) A bill to streamline accountability reports, HB 07-1345, passed the House Education Committee.
Energize our Economy: 1) Both the House and Senate passed and the Governor signed a bill to double Renewable Porfolio Standard, HB 07-1281. 2) SB 07-100 will enhance energy-transmission capacity and was passed by both the House and Senate. 3) The House passed HB 07-1169 to promote homegrown power. 4) The House and Senate passed a bill to provide “Wind for Schools” - HB 07-1087. 5) A bill to bring biofuels to market, HB 07-1060, was passed by the House and the Senate Finance Commmittee.
Conserve our Reserves: 1) A bill to safeguard forest health passed the House and Senate, HB 07-1168, and another, HB 07-1130, has passed the House Agriculture Committee. 2) HB 07-1037, will improve energy efficiency and has passed the House and the State Affairs Committee. 3) A bill to preserve water quality, HB 07-1132, passed the House, Senate and was signed by the Governor. 4) HB 07-1302, to increase the rainy-day fund, passed the House and the Senate Finance Committee.
Congratulations to our hard-working Representatives, Senators and Governor
April 6th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I had the privilege of meeting with Governor Ritter early in his race, before those with major
financial resources had decided to back him. It was instantly obvious that this was a man who,
unlike many of our Republican counterparts, was utterly free from the biases of ideology. Rather he presented as one who was task oriented, focused on problem solving, and a perfect
candidate for a party whose chair, rank and file, and rising stars (Speaker, Mayor of Denver,
U. S. Senator) all had such freedom from ideology that they could actually get things done.
One of the most central areas where such a problem solving approach is needed is in the realm
of workforce development. We cannot hope to compete with India and China without having a
workforce that is healthy and well educated. Looked at in that perspective, no one will want to
shortchange either healthcare or education, since then it would be to shortchange our ability to
maintain our competitive standard of living. Both business and labor, and every other group
for that matter, have workforce development as the condition of their ultimate well-being.
For that to be dealt with in a short legislative session with the focus it deserves, it was essential
that there not be an outbreak of partisan wrangling, much less a climate of dispute between
labor and business. That is precisely why Governor Ritter wisely vetoed the bill that labor
wanted passed at the beginning of the session. However important anyone might have viewed
it, it was not as important as getting the best possible healthcare and education for Colorado’s
workforce, as well as crucial steps forward on energy and funding of transportation.
Those are what are essential for our economic development, and Pat Waak justly celebrates the
accomplishments of our elected officials — by Easter, no less, with a good amount of time still remaining in the session. In its own way, it is our Democratic party’s example of fiscal responsibility in dealing with and solving problems in the real world. Pat’s counterpart in the Republican Party should be pleased that we have taken one of their values and made it our own.
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