Today is April 11, 2023 and here is what you need to know:

A state House committee Monday nearly unanimously approved a Senate bill that would restrict local and state governments from forcing employees to sign non-disclosure agreements when they leave their jobs.

The measure, Senate Bill 23-053, needs only pass a vote of the entire House before heading back to the Senate for approval of some minor changes, and then to the governor’s desk.

The House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee voted, 10-1, to pass the bill following a short hearing in which the lone opponent – the Colorado Municipal League – expressed concern that government employees are being treated differently than private ones, particularly since NDAs, as they are more commonly know, are common practice in the private sector.

A bill seeking to prevent students from being expelled for committing crimes outside of school was shut down by lawmakers last week. 

House Bill 1109 would have made several changes to the due process and legal thresholds for expelling, suspending or denying admission of public school students. Most notably, the bill would have limited a school district’s ability to expel, suspend or deny admission to a student due to criminal activity outside of school that doesn’t involve other students. 

The House Education Committee unanimously voted to kill the bill on Thursday upon request from the bill’s sponsors, suggesting the bill did not have enough support to pass out of the panel. 

After the dust settled from the Denver Public Schools Board of Education’s decision to remove cops in schools in 2020, the superintendent was supposed to revise the district’s safety policies – something East High School parents Monday expressed doubts as to whether that ever happened.

And after the shooting last month in which two administrators were wounded, the board instructed Superintendent Alex Marrero, who joined DPS in July 2021, to devise a long-term safety plan before the end of June.

“We have a high level of skepticism,” said Steve Katsaros, a founding member of the Parents-Safety Advocacy Group (P-SAG) and the parent of an East High School sophomore. 

Katsaros spoke from in front of the school on Monday with group representatives. 

The group has vowed to hold a press conference at the school every Monday until district authorities have adequately answered its questions.

Gov. Jared Polis’ signature housing bill got its first airing in a Senate committee last week, when opponents warned they would tie the measure up in the courts for years to come. 

But the bill, as introduced, is unlikely to look the same, as more than a dozen amendment “concepts” are planned in the coming weeks. The measure requires high-density housing primarily along the Front Range and in rural resort communities.

Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, sponsor of Senate Bill 213, told the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee it is intended to resolve the state’s affordable housing crisis. The goals, he added, include increasing housing supply, improving affordability, cutting red tape, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately lowering costs. 

The U.S. national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic ended Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring it to a close after three years – weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency.

The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus and support the country’s economic, health and welfare systems. Some of the emergency measures have already been successfully wound-down, while others are still being phased out. The public health emergency – it underpins tough immigration restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border – is set to expire on May 11.

The White House issued a one-line statement Monday saying Biden had signed the measure behind closed doors, after having publicly opposed the resolution though not to the point of issuing a veto. More than 197 Democrats in the House voted against it when the GOP-controlled chamber passed it in February. Last month, as the measure passed the Senate by a 68-23 vote, Biden let lawmakers know he would sign it.