senate bill
-
Colorado bill would cap medical debt interest, implement other consumer protections
Cindy Powers underwent emergency surgery to fix a life-threatening abdominal obstruction in 2004. Over the next five years, she received 18 additional surgeries to address complications, infections and hernias, before her condition was finally fixed in 2009. But while her medical nightmare had come to an end, the financial nightmare was just beginning. Even with…
-
Colorado lawmakers want to end speculative ticketing, other ‘deceptive’ ticket sale practices
When Madonna announced her 40th anniversary world tour last month, ticket prices on numerous reselling websites quickly climbed into the thousands of dollars – though the original tickets had not yet gone on sale. This is a common practice in the event ticket industry known as “speculative ticketing,” in which companies resell tickets they do…
-
Committee kills bill to expand access to medical marijuana in Colorado
An effort to expand access to medical marijuana in Colorado met a swift end on Thursday, when lawmakers shut it down in its first committee hearing. Senate Bill 81 sought to increase the amount of medical marijuana concentrate a patient can buy per day and allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana via virtual telehealth appointments…
-
Colorado Senate unanimously OKs reducing license requirements for school therapists
In 23 years of teaching, Stephanie Smith has attended 20 funerals of students. Smith said a few of the students died by an accidental overdose or car crash, but the vast majority died from the same thing: suicide. This year alone, Smith said three students have committed suicide at Boulder High School where she teaches,…
-
Lawmakers seek to give child victims, witnesses of crimes anonymity in public records
Eight months ago, 17-year-old Riley Whitelaw was murdered in the break room of the Colorado Springs Walgreens, where she worked. The horrific details of the crime, allegedly committed by an adult co-worker who Riley had previously complained against, quickly consumed state and national news. In a matter of days, many of Riley’s relatives, friends and…
-
Colorado bill would create housing voucher program for homeless foster youth
More than one in three young adults exiting Colorado’s foster care system end up homeless within three years. Lawmakers are trying to change that with Senate Bill 82. If passed, the bill would create a housing voucher and case management program for foster youth, providing housing security for around 100 people. The program would provide…
-
Colorado advances proposal to qualify adjunct professors for federal loan relief
Adjunct professor Andrea Troncoso has over $130,000 in student debt, and, despite faithfully making payments for over a decade, the balance is only going up. Though Troncoso works more than full-time hours at the Community College of Denver and Metropolitan State University, she is not considered a full-time professor because adjuncts are contract workers only…
-
Proposal advances to add $40 million to Colorado’s special education funding
A proposal to increase Colorado’s special education funding by $40 million unanimously passed its first committee vote Monday. If approved by the full state legislature, Senate Bill 99 would add $40,203,671 to the Department of Education’s annual appropriation. Proponents said the funding would be used for special education programs to help bring down student-teacher ratios,…
-
Bill advances to ban employers from asking for age in job applications
Nearly 80% of older workers say they have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace and around 40% of hiring managers admit to reviewing resumes with age bias. In Colorado, Democratic lawmakers are trying to change that with Senate Bill 58. If approved by the state legislature, the bill would ban employers from asking…
-
Colorado legislator wants to end ‘deceptive’ event ticket selling
From hundreds of invalid Bad Bunny concert tickets during his world tour to Taylor Swift fans experiencing hours-long wait times for tickets costing thousands of dollars a pop, confidence in the ticket selling industry has taken a huge hit in recent months. And in Colorado, Sen. Robert Rodriguez wants to change that. Rodriguez, D-Denver, introduced…