paul lundeen
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Envelope with checks found in Colorado Capitol bathroom creates sticky situation
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It’s like something out of a Hollywood movie: a mysterious envelope, stuffed with money, shows up in the most unlikely of places. But it’s not a movie – it actually occurred on Thursday in the Colorado state Capitol. A House staffer went into the men’s public bathroom at the north end of the Capitol basement…
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Interim school finance panel goes another year without formula fix, finds other improvements
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Let’s go back to 2017: that’s when the General Assembly passed House Bill 1340, which set up an interim committee charged with coming up with a new school finance funding formula. That committee has now met five years in a row, but over time the enabling legislation has changed, most recently in 2021. While the…
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Q&A with Rep. Alec Garnett | Speaker of the House reflects on his time in the legislature
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At 38, Speaker of the House Alec Garnett, D-Denver, is in his last of eight years in the Colorado House and among the youngest to serve in that position. Garnett is the third Democrat from the Capitol Hill House District to wield the speaker’s gavel. He follows former speakers Mark Ferrandino, the youngest to ever…
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Audit: Millions in Medicaid benefits paid for potentially ineligible Colorado patients
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The Colorado Department of Heath Care Policy and Financing may have paid millions of dollars in claims for ineligible Medicaid patients last year due to staff errors, state Auditor Dianne Ray told the Legislative Audit Committee on Feb. 26. A recent state audit of accounting practices of state agencies uncovered a half-dozen “material weaknesses,” the…
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Senate panel OKs expansion of Colorado driver’s license program for undocumented immigrants
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A bill expanding the number of Colorado motor vehicle offices that offer undocumented residents the opportunity to obtain a driver’s license or state identification card passed a Senate committee Thursday. Senate Bill 139 won 5-2 approval (with Republican Sen. Jack Tate of Centennial voting in favor with the Democrats) from the Senate Finance Committee. The…
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State Senate Democrats shoot down income tax rate cut applauded by Polis
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While Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says he favors reducing Colorado’s income tax rate, Democrats in the state legislature, especially those on the Senate Finance Committee, don’t appear to be singing the same song. In his State of the State address to lawmakers Jan. 10, Polis spoke of “working with you to make our tax code…
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Senate panel advances bill to strip school-choice language from foster-kids measure
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The Colorado state Senate’s Education Committee on Thursday gave a party-line OK to a bill removing school-choice language from a 2018 measure on foster children that was the subject of a court challenge. The action followed a Denver District Court ruling last month that declared a portion of the 2018 bill unconstitutional. On a 3-2…
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House committee wants “cooling off” before utility reps could serve on PUC
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DENVER – Pueblo officials are so mad about high electricity rates that they want to clamp down on how soon industry officials can serve on the state Public Utilities Commission in the future. House Bill 1281 would establish a four-year “cooling-off period” before anyone who has been an officer or director for a regulated utility could…
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Colorado House says ‘game over’ to arcades offering cash prizes
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DENVER – A bill that would effectively ban arcades that pay out cash prizes passed the Colorado House on a strong 47-14 vote Monday. House Bill 1234 would define simulated gambling devices to include the pay-for-play games. That puts in peril the small businesses that offer the games, but opponents say they’re skirting the laws…
