Author: John Tomasic
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Colorado House budget talks begin Thursday. Until then, what?
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The Colorado House on Thursday is planning to take up this year’s $26.8 billion budget long bill for debate. Before they get to that, on Wednesday, members plan to meet in party caucus groups to set priorities, devise strategy, craft talking points and do math. Related: On Friday the Colorado Rockies play this season’s home…
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Colorado campus free speech bill signed into law (with high marks for bipartisan support)
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Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday signed a state campus free speech bill passed with wide bipartisan support in both chambers of the Legislature this year. “Once we limit free speech to a zone, we indicate to our students that free speech does not exist anywhere beyond that zone,” state Sen. Tim Neville, a Littleton…
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The $26.8 billion question: How to sell the 2017 budget
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Now that the Colorado state budget proposal has appeared and lawmakers are wrangling over the numbers, the political narratives that will be used to sell the budget to voters and to defend against constituent anger in elections to come are taking shape. This year it seems unquestionable that it will be a tougher budget for…
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Polis signs on to bill to protect against phone searches at airports, borders
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Colorado U.S. Rep. Jared Polis has joined a bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill to protect mobile phones from national border and airport searches, his office announced Tuesday. “The government should not have the right to access your personal electronic devices without probable cause,” he said. “Whether you are at home, walking down the street, or…
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With pair of crime bills, Navarro notches major bipartisan support, extends 2017 streak
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The Colorado House launched two crime bills to the Senate on Monday with overwhelming support, both bills sponsored by Pueblo Republican Rep. Clarice Navarro. The victories come on the heels of the broad support Navarro won earlier in the legislative session for a bill she sponsored to wave state income tax on Olympic winnings. All…
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#Coleg Week 13: House budget debate, contraception, internet privacy, texting while driving, seaplanes
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The Democratic-controlled House takes up the budget, which was passed without an inordinate amount of pain in the Republican-controlled Senate last week. Democrats will likely try to move the ball on items of priority that were shot down in the Senate. Contraception: It’s a personal matter and a state budget concern. State health estimates routinely…
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Convention of States project comes to Capitol seeking traction in Trump era
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Colorado state legislators Lori Saine and Vicki Marble plan to introduce a resolution this session directed to Congress and calling for a states convention to amend the U.S. Constitution in order to reduce the power of the federal government. “They usually just put state resolutions through the paper shredder, you know?” said Marble on Thursday.…
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Bennet on Trump climate order: Administration ‘operating in theater of the absurd’
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In a prelude to the introduction of his climate-change targeting “Clean Air, Healthy Kids Act,” on Wednesday, Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet delivered a trademark floor speech in which he sought to underline what he sees as another in the steady stream of absurd turns taken by policymakers in Washington. His target this time was…
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Spurred by DC vote, Salazar weighs long-bill amendment to safeguard Web privacy in Colorado
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State Rep. Joe Salazar, a Democrat from Thornton, has taken the lead in Colorado in rolling out legislation meant to defend state residents against possible Trump-era federal government overreach. On Thursday at his Facebook page, Salazar said he might run an amendment to the state budget “long bill” next week in response to the bill…
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Friday is Jack Tate election bills day in the state Senate
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On Friday, the Senate is scheduled to act on two closely watched elections bills sponsored by Centennial Republican Jack Tate. As The Statesman has reported, the first, Senate Bill 71, proposes to reallocate resources during the early voting period, shutting down some voter service centers in the first lightly trafficked week in the state’s largest…
