ballot measures
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RNC members Vera Ortegon, George Leing urge Colorado Republicans to stick with primary election
Colorado’s Republican National Committee members are joining the chorus of GOP stalwarts urging the party’s central committee to reject a proposal to opt out of the primary election next year rather than allow unaffiliated voters to participate. State Republicans decide Saturday whether to go along with voter-approved Proposition 108 and let voters who aren’t affiliated…
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Supporters ready to campaign for measure to lower minimum age for Colorado lawmakers to 21
Supporters are lining up to get behind a referendum approved by lawmakers to ask voters next year whether to lower the minimum age to serve in the General Assembly from 25 to 21. “We’re grateful to our legislators for putting this question to the voters,” said Lizzy Stephan, executive director of New Era Colorado, an…
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Hickenlooper delays decision on special session for transportation funding, other topics
Gov. John Hickenlooper hadn’t yet decided on Monday whether to call a special session to come up with more funding for the state’s transportation needs, among other topics he said were left unfinished in the General Assembly’s 120-day regular session. While Hickenlooper called it “the most productive legislative session” since he took office in 2011,…
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Wheat Ridge demands return of records detailing billionaire’s stake in liquor giant Applejack
Saying the city released records it shouldn’t have, an attorney representing the city of Wheat Ridge is demanding the immediate return of dozens of pages of documents concerning a 2014 liquor license application for a new owner of Applejack Wine and Spirits obtained in March under the Colorado Open Records Act, The Colorado Statesman has…
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Late liquor license bill pits smaller stores against some local retail giants
Legislation introduced Tuesday to permit independent liquor stores to amass more than twice as many licenses as last year’s landmark compromise allows has groups representing smaller merchants warning the move will devastate Colorado’s mom-and-pop retail landscape, but the bill’s sponsors and supporters say it’s simply an attempt to level the playing field. House Bill 1370,…
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‘Is Mike Coffman invincible?’ Aurora Republican talks campaign, policy at 62nd birthday party
Before he talked about the upcoming congressional agenda and assessed his chances in next year’s election – it’ll be a tough race, he’s sure of it – Mike Coffman dropped to the floor last Sunday afternoon and did some push-ups, one for each year he’s been on this earth. “There’s this ridiculous tradition where I…
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Coffman plans to block feds from marijuana crackdown in Colorado by cutting off their funds
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman says he’s planning to block Attorney General Jeff Sessions from cracking down on Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry by forbidding the federal government from spending funds in the state to enforce federal laws banning the drug. The Aurora Republican told supporters at a fundraiser for his congressional campaign on Sunday that he…
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Lundberg: ‘Absolutely’ it would be ‘messier’ to do away with Joint Budget Committee
State Sen. Kevin Lundberg doesn’t sound very enchanted with plans House Republicans have recently floated to change the way the Legislature writes the state’s annual budget. The Berthoud Republican, a member of the powerful Joint Budget Committee, suggested in a recent interview with The Colorado Statesman that the six-member panel – three from each chamber…
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Paul Lundeen proposes shorter legislative sessions, biennial budget process
State Rep. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, wants to shorten Colorado’s legislative session and overhaul the way lawmakers approve annual budgets by doing away with the Joint Budget Committee and moving to biennial budgets. “Mark Twain said it best,” Lundeen says, setting the tone at the beginning of a brief video posted online by the Independence Institute.…