As a longtime observer of, and participant in, Colorado politics, I confess I get a bit anxious when the Colorado General Assembly convenes each year. Experience shows several hundred bills will be filed. Thankfully, the vast majority will be of little or no consequence to our lives. But unfortunately, my experience indicates some will have adverse consequences to our lives, oftentimes consequences unforeseen by the legislators who proposed them. I wish our state legislature would adopt the bioethical objective: “First, do no harm.” But reasoned restraint doesn’t seem to be viewed as good politics anymore.

With that off my chest, here are some issues I wish the General Assembly would or would not address in the upcoming session.

1) Colorado’s transportation infrastructure is bad and getting worse. But our governor and General Assembly have not prioritized it to the extent they should. They should forget all those things state government doesn’t have to do and focus on this essential government function. If the problem is not rectified soon, our economy and quality of life will be negatively impacted.

While my constituents in Colorado Springs have stepped up to fix our local roads, we need the state to address vital state transportation infrastructure like Powers Boulevard (State Highway 21), Nevada Avenue ( State Highway 115), State Highway 94 to Schriever Air Force Base and U.S. 24 going both east and west from our city.

It’s the same situation throughout the state. The legislature needs to dedicate a lot more money in the state budget to transportation and refer a bond measure to the voters which tells them exactly what transportation projects will be funded. Don’t dilute it with other issues and don’t allow the legislature to divert the money to other things. That’s how local governments have succeeded on transportation ballot measures when the state has not.

2) The legislature should forget about the idea of a state family leave act. There’s federal legislation that addresses the issue and a state act would be a huge financial burden for our small and medium-size businesses and our taxpayers. It would make Colorado a much less business-friendly state and put us at a competitive disadvantage in attracting and retaining business in our state.

3) When Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, the proponents promised the commercial sale of marijuana would produce enormous amounts of revenue that would pay for critical needs such as our education system; that the regulated sale of marijuana would put organized crime and the black market out of business, and a regulated marketplace would significantly reduce youth access to the drug. Well, we’re seven years into legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and none of those assertions have held up.

The reality is that the economic and social costs of marijuana exceed the revenue it generates. The black market and organized crime are flourishing in Colorado. We have become a major exporter of illegally produced marijuana to the nation and the world. Underage (12-17 years) marijuana use in Colorado is still 40% above the national average.

The legislature should stop kowtowing to the marijuana industry and treat the drug as the health concern that it is. Let’s start by regulating the THC content of smoked marijuana and edibles. Legalization proponents said we’d regulate marijuana like alcohol. Well, alcohol distributors don’t get to decide the alcohol content of their product and marijuana dealers should not get to determine the THC content of theirs. THC has spiked dramatically with legalization contributing to higher addiction rates and other adverse health consequences, including psychosis.

We also frown upon our citizens operating alcohol distilleries in their homes. Amendment 64’s sanction of home grows of marijuana has fueled the huge black market in Colorado. Law enforcement is spending more time and resources battling the black market than it did when all marijuana was illegal.

Plant limits on home grows are impossible to enforce. The legislature should be bold and refer a constitutional amendment to the voters banning home growing of marijuana. It may well pass and law enforcement and vibrant neighborhoods across the state would be thankful.

One last suggestion. Shorten the annual legislative session to 90 days. That would reduce anxiety levels for many Coloradans.

John Suthers is the mayor of Colorado Springs. He has served previously as 4th Judicial District attorney, U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado and as Colorado’s 37th attorney general.