bob rankin
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Noonan: Sponsored bills reveal how House members do their job
Legislators make their mark through their sponsored bills. Sponsored bills show what issues legislators commit to, their bipartisan collegiality, their productivity in bills passed versus bills killed, and their dispositions related to bills that function as messages versus bills intended to become law. Legislators are supposed to sponsor no more than five bills, but only…
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Western Slope push for lower health insurance rates heads to governor
AVON — As the Legislature streaks toward the end of session, lawmakers have passed a Western Slope health insurance bill that could prove a bitter pill to some of Colorado’s Front Range residents but might provide soothing relief for stressed-out mountain dwellers. Skyrocketing health care costs on the Western Slope in general and in the state’s…
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Hospital fee debate moves on to second act in Senate
The curtain officially rose Thursday in the House on the long drama centered around the Democratic-led effort to reclassify the state’s $700 million hospital provider fee as an enterprise fund. By Friday at roughly 11:00 a.m., the first act had concluded. Two bills concerning the reclassification passed with Republican support and headed to the Senate,…
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With much grumbling, Senate votes overwhelmingly for state budget
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate want you to know they don’t love this year’s $27 billion budget, but they voted for it in a landslide. “The bottom line is, I’m going to vote yes on this budget because of the great work of the Joint Budget Committee members (who drafted it). I’m proud of…
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Battle to ‘defund’ Clean Power Plan launches House budget debate
The first skirmish in the war over the state’s budget Thursday centered on coal and clean air and featured the “defund” politics conservatives have embraced in the Obama era. Rep. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, a member of the Joint Budget Committee, proposed two amendments that would cut funding for the state’s Department of Public Health and…
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Debate begins at last on real live hospital provider fee bill
The months-long dress rehearsal at the Legislature has given way at last to the big show. Speaker of the House Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Gunbarrel, on Tuesday introduced to the House Appropriations Committee House Bill 1420, which would reclassify the state’s hospital provider fee as an enterprise fund. Committee members and witnesses took turns weighing the…
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The Hot Sheet, March 8, 2016
By TCS Publisher and Editor in Chief Jared Wright _@JaredWright_ Tuesday, March 8, 2016DENVER — In case you didn’t turn on any device yesterday, Michael Bloomberg will not be seeking a third party (or any) run for the presidency in 2016. Oh yes, and all the five of the Republican’s gun bills were smothered in House State…
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Noonan: Seven years with the negative factor and no end in sight
Doug Bruce, the convicted tax-avoider, detested jail food and lost weight while incarcerated. His TABOR is another kind of toxic problem, causing Colorado’s public school children to lose potential and opportunity. State Reps. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, and Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, have taken up the task of educating lawmakers on school finance, holding three sessions with…