I’ve confessed before, on numerous occasions, to being a, well, nerd. I really like learning new things, be they big and important ideas, or be they trivia that only a nerd could love. I strive to be a polymath, which is a cool word that basically means you actually know stuff about a wide range of subjects. No detail is too small to be of interest and no topic too out of the mainstream to be fascinating to me.

For example, just this week I learned that burials on the grounds of a church, rather than in a cemetery miles away from any religious building, started because in the Middle Ages it was believed that the closer your mortal remains were physically to a holy relic contained in a church, the better your odds for a good afterlife. That is information that is not particularly useful to you in your daily life, but I find it interesting (Ed: sigh…).

Which, of course, brings me to the bills signed into law by the terrific Gov. Jared Polis this past week.

A recent Colorado Politics story does a great job of illustrating a point I’ve made here repeatedly, that governance is often done away from the bright lights of media attention, and that legislatures take actions frequently that will, it is hoped, mitigate the human condition for Coloradans, in numbers large or small, even if the local news doesn’t cover it (another good reason to subscribe to CP).

The Governor has been quite busy with his signing pen. And I’m pleased to see that a number of the bills signed into law are not vast and sweeping legislative efforts to address massive societal problems, but rather are focused on many of the day-to-day activities of average Colorado residents.

Perhaps the most prominent bill Polis signed last week was HB 1355, which seeks to boost recycling participation around our state. It’s not a perfect bill and it has a lot of exemptions, but it is an important step toward a better environment. This is one of a number of bills signed that deal with environmental issues and concerns.

I’m particularly pleased to see a couple of bills signed that deal with election issues. Senate Bill 153 looks to improve internal security measures for elections and to put an end to shenanigans such as we saw from a certain county clerk in certain western county. Oh, and HB 1273 creates protections for election poll workers, making it a crime to “threaten, coerce, or intimidate an election official with the intent to interfere with the performance of the official’s duties or with the intent to retaliate against the official for the performance of the official’s duties.”

If you are my age or so, you likely remember trips to the polls where you were usually greeted by a nice older retired lady who checked your name on the list and told you which voting booth to use. Unfortunately, in today’s bitter politics, we find certain people (largely supporters of a false claim by a certain former POTUS) who attack election workers because somehow, these oft-elderly folks are part of some vast conspiracy to steal elections. Now we have a law to help protect those people, and that’s a good thing.

It’s a darn shame that Polis had to sign a slew of bills dealing with wildfires, but that is the new reality of Colorado in an era of ongoing climate change. These new laws cover everything from better regulation of controlled burns to funding volunteer fire departments, critical to rural fire fighting.

And to yet again leap atop my rickety soapbox of legislative idealism, let me yet again yelp about the fact that our legislature does lots and lots of work, and in general, the folks sitting in both bodies, the House and the Senate, are dedicated public servants. Because of their work, usually behind the scenes, we now have new laws to help folks in wheelchairs get replacement parts. Another bill will improve backcountry search-and-rescue. None of these bills impacts huge numbers of people – certainly not a majority voting bloc – but to those people dealing with these challenges, the new laws are important and quite helpful.

I know it is always popular to attack our elected representatives. And certainly, there are times when such attacks are appropriate – that’s one of the benefits of living in a republic. But as we cast aspersions on the people we elected, we do owe it to them to also do our research on what they have and haven’t done. This past legislative session strikes me as being especially effective and reflects a lot of hard work.

The CP article noted above is strong evidence that our legislators are continuing their hard work on our behalf.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.