Author: Kara Mason
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Klingenschmitt wields ‘Gardnercare’ repeal bill as campaign weapon
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The Democratic controlled House kill committee dispatched Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt’s anti-Obamacare bill Wednesday as expected, but the bill will lead a campaign afterlife, the Colorado Springs Republican told The Colorado Statesman. In its death, House Bill 1015 will likely become an arrow pointed at former state Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, who Klingenschmitt is running against in…
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Offbeat bills 2016: Prairie dogs, dead bodies, hunter pink, Ms. Attorney General
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Colorado lawmakers have submitted more than 305 bills so far in the legislative session. A few of them are sure to receive attention, not for being controversial or partisan or headline grabbing, but for seeming so… odd. Here’s a short list of some of those unusual bills: Pets and pests, cadaver tamperers, madams attorney general and dead-shot pink: HB-10:…
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New CDE Commissioner Crandall comments on Colorado legislators, new role
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New Department of Education Commissioner Richard Crandall has a few weeks of work under his belt, and it has been overwhelming — the good kind of overwhelming, he said, the kind that has him buzzing with new ideas. “More than 30 organizations have contacted us, saying ‘Hey, we want to meet with you,’” Crandall told…
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Neville FASTER bill about more than transportation spending
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A transportation bill dealing with how $15 million in funding is allocated is closely tied to the main battle underway at the Capitol this year over the budget. The bill, sponsored by influential Republican Sen. Tim Neville, a candidate for U.S. Senate this year, offers a conservative policy alternative to a plan being pushed by Gov.…
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Neville concealed carry bill advances, launches annual Capitol gun politics debates
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A bill that would allow Colorado residents to carry a concealed handgun without a permit took its first step Wednesday through the Republican-controlled Senate Finance committee on its way toward the Democratic-controlled House, where it will face stiff opposition. The “constitutional carry” bill, as Senate Bill 17 is referred to, sponsored by father and son…
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#Coleg Q&A: Rep. Rankin on bridging the ‘two Colorados’
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Rep. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, has lived the urban-rural divide in Colorado. He has lived along the southern part of the Front Range in Colorado Springs, in Aspen when he started a tech consulting firm, and now in the rural northwestern Colorado town of Carbondale, population of 6,553. The push this legislative session to provide greater…
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In meetings with rural groups, lawmakers defend stands on hot-button hospital fee makeover
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Rural advocacy groups representing 59 of the 64 counties in Colorado joined forces at the Capitol Thursday to press legislators on their biggest issues. Group members said they desperately need funding to shore up failing rural transportation, education, healthcare and communication systems. As a result, much of the conversation Thursday centered on Gov. John Hickenlooper’s…
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Sen. Ulibarri steps up game for abortion advocacy
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It was his experience as an adoptive parent that spurred state Sen. Jessie Ulibarri, D-Westminster, to join a national push to protect abortion services this election year from intense and successful efforts around the country to trim those services back. “I had the ability to choose how our family was made and I think it…
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Senate seizes General Assembly’s top-brewer trophy from the House
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The House brew team at the Legislature begrudgingly handed over the highly sought-after crown of cold ones — the beer caucus trophy — to the Senate brew team Tuesday morning in celebration of the upper chamber’s victory at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival’s “Hop the Vote” competition. The Senate team — Sens. Chris Holbert,…
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Q&A: Rep. Hamner on repping rural Colorado at the Capitol
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Democrats at the Capitol this year have made improving the lives of rural Coloradans a priority. Many Coloradans will find that a welcome change. Democratic Legislative leaders are all from the greater Denver-Boulder area and the Democratic caucus is generally viewed as being packed with representatives of urban and suburban constituencies. The urban-rural political divide…