El Paso County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to join a list of dozens of counties and oppose a ballot measure to reintroduce the gray wolf to Colorado.

A new bill that passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on a party-line vote Wednesday aims to make sure the Affordable Care Act and the insurance it provides remains in effect in Colorado, regardless of efforts by Republicans at the national level.

Joey Bunch: "Armed with optimism and ideas, advocates for the state’s aging population want Colorado policymakers to wake up and build a berm against the rising tide of retirees, when they're taking out more from the public coffers than they're putting in."

For Rep. Rod Bockenfeld, R-Adams County, and Rep. Bri Buentello, D-Pueblo, the vote to repeal the death penalty was personal, not politics.

The final vote — 38 to 27 — included three Democrats who voted "no." Gov. Jared Polis has said he will sign the measure into law, and that he will commute the sentences of the three black men who now sit on Colorado’s death row.

The two bills passed on party-line votes. “This is a conversation about waste," said Rep. Jonathan Singer. 

Senate Bill 91 would raise the pay of the National Guard from $20 a day to $88 a day. House Bill 1220 would provide a needs assessment at the state's community living centers. Both passed the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee unanimously Tuesday. 

Charter schools may have sprung from bipartisan roots, but they're now mired in a heated debate. From the gold dome in Denver to the nation's capital, charter schools remain both a solution and a problem chewed on with relish by politicians, and a quagmire that vexes policymakers on the left and right.

“Today, we showed the political climbers and career politicians what a true grassroots campaign looks like,” the mediation attorney and professional negotiator, said in a statement.

Opponents of the bill offered tearful and heart-rending testimony during debate that went into early hours Tuesday. An attempt to let the bill be amended so voters could decide the issue failed.

Attorney General Phil Weiser testified in support on Monday of a bill that would create a pretrial release screening process in each judicial district in a way that minimizes race, ethnicity or gender bias, and lessens dependence on cash bail.

After passing a Senate committee, the Senate will need to vote on it twice. If it remains unamended, it'll head to Gov. Jared Polis to sign into law.

A Republican, Roth filed paperwork Monday to run for the District 26 seat held by Democrat Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village.

In addition, the Bloomberg campaign added dozens of new members to the Colorado for Mike Advisory Committee. 

Stephanie Luck formally announced her candidacy on Saturday to be the Republican candidate for state House District 47.

Sen. Angela Williams, D-Denver, told Colorado Politics that her concern is for the lowest-wage workers and people of color. 

Rep. Betty Neale, who died Oct. 12, 2018, at the age of 91, served 18 years in the House, from 1975 to 1992, and was the first woman to hold the title of Speaker Pro Tem, in her last two years in the House.

Joey Bunch: "We educate children to take on the future, agreed? That shouldn't mean they should have to take on four years of crushing college debt for a degree that might not support the loan payments, a new family and a mortgage."

Warren's endorsers include state Sen. Tammy Story, state Reps. Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Susan Lontine, and former Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, the first woman to wield the gavel in the Colorado legislature's upper chamber.

Statehouse reporter Marianne Goodland wraps up the lighter side of the Capitol. Usually.

House Bill 1142 would levy a 0.05% fee on certain property and risk insurance. 

Those dreams of never again having to wake up an hour early because of Daylight Saving Time will just have to stay dreams, for now.

The House and Senate on Thursday held a memorial Thursday for one of the original members of the House "crazies" of the late 1970s and early 1980s, former state Rep. and Sen. Maynard Yost, R-Sterling.

Supporters will talk with legislators from 10 a.m. to noon at the Capitol in Denver. Last year's event drew more than 300 people, said One Colorado, the state's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.

Impassioned parents, medical providers and even kids testified on both sides of a bill which would regulate exemptions for schoolchildren. After 15 1/2 hours, the bill advanced on a 3-2 vote.

House Bill 1089 didn't mention marijuana by name. Instead, it would have changed a state law to allow for activities deemed illegal under federal law but that are legal under Colorado law.

"This has been a festering sore in this state" for at least 30 years, said Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Denver, the bill's co-sponsor.

A key piece of the Democrats' agenda to lower drug prices got out of House Health and Insurance Committee Tuesday on a party-line vote. House Bill 1160 aims to probe the reasons behind price increases and to make sure rebates collected by industry middle men are redirected to consumers.

House lawmakers took the next step to repeal Colorado's death penalty law, voting along party lines to send Senate Bill 100 to the full House for debate.

If the American soldier and sailor is a citizen of the world, then that's good enough to be a full-fledged citizen of Colorado, in state Rep. Bri Buentello’s estimation.

The letter dated Jan. 22, provided to Colorado Politics Tuesday, speaks of a "true crisis" in every corner of the state and urges the General Assembly to deliver affordability, transparency and access to care through the insurance marketplace.

The bill would expand the availability of badly-needed broadband service to parts of rural Colorado.

Polis has made reducing the cost of hospitals, insurance and drugs a cornerstone of his first term, and his allies in the General Assembly have obliged him well, last session and this year.

Here are legislative committee hearings and other events of note for the week ahead at the Colorado state Capitol.

“There is no industry or community throughout the state that will not be affected by the negative consequences of the proposed State Option,” according to a joint statement released Monday.

House Bill 1031, sponsored by Reps. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Denver, and Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn, would honor the Italian-born Catholic nun who operated the Queen of Heaven orphanage in Denver and a summer camp for girls on Lookout Mountain.

House Bill 1153 was approved on a preliminary vote and will head to a final vote in the House on Tuesday. The bill is expected to pass on a party-line vote, given the votes on dozens of amendments.

Several lawmakers have daughters who show up this time of year with those delectable little morsels, and the cookie wars are fierce.

After years of bouncing bills back and forth with Rep. Terri Carver, Sen. Bob Gardner said SB 96 "is an acceptable compromise" and that he was "glad we got there and we won't have to fight about it again next year."

House Bill 1228 aims to improve the rape kit processing and tracking system and  ensure "victims of heinous crimes have the resources they need to track the status of their investigation confidentially and efficiently.”