senate finance committee
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Colorado Democrats advance proposal seeking to curb costs of utility bills
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Months after the Colorado legislature began investigating the state’s skyrocketing energy bills, Democrats advanced a proposal they say will help address the issue. Senate Bill 291 seeks to lower costs of utility bills and reduce future volatility by making several changes to the regulation of Colorado’s investor-owned electricity and natural gas providers, such as Xcel Energy, including…
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Lawmakers kill proposal for substance-free seating at Colorado events
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An effort to ban alcohol and drug use in certain event seating sections met an unceremonious end on Tuesday, when it was rejected by a Senate committee. Senate Bill 171 would have required large event venues to designate 4% of seats as “substance-free seating,” where the use of alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and vapes is prohibited. The…
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Noonan: Poor school funding over eight years leads to low four-year state graduation rates
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Colorado’s four-year high school graduation rate is bad. That should be no surprise. According to Education Week, Colorado achieved a 77 percent graduation rate in 2016, seventh from the bottom. Neighbor New Mexico has the lowest rate at 69 percent and Nebraska has the second highest rate at 90 percent. It’s interesting that road quality in…
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Slow-motion replay: Cooke unleashes legislative jiu jitsu on energy efficiency program
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Sate Sen. John Cooke, a Republican from Greeley, played point-man Thursday in an effort to kill a popular Colorado energy efficiency program, which he argued was an absurd waste of money and a form social engineering. But House Bill 1227, which would reauthorize the ten-year-old program, isn’t dead yet, and its bipartisan supporters didn’t submit…
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That Grantham speech on doomed transportation bill may haunt the Capitol
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The session’s unloved grand bipartisan transportation measure, House Bill 1242, is dead, but the closing remarks — you might say the sickbed epitaph — delivered for the bill by Republican sponsor and Senate President Kevin Grantham are worth revisiting, especially given that, in the last week, and with a little more than a week left…
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Denver Chamber’s Kelly Brough deplores death of transportation funding referendum
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Kelly Brough, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, lamented the demise late Tuesday of bipartisan legislation that would have asked Colorado voters for a sales-tax increase to fund transportation needs, saying that lawmakers’ failure to fund infrastructure is harming the state’s economy. “We know that Colorado needs a statewide funding source…
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Legislative leaders, bill’s sponsors lament demise of transportation funding referendum
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The legislative leaders who opened this year’s session with calls to come together to craft a transportation funding solution expressed disappointment Tuesday evening after three Republican senators slammed the brakes in committee on legislation that would have asked voters to raise the sales tax to pay for roads and transit. But both Senate President Kevin…
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In home stretch, legislative session as bumpy as a Colorado roadway
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Kevin Grantham sat deep in his chair, his left foot, shod in a large cowboy boot, resting on his right knee, the Capitol press corps arrayed in front of him brought by text messages sent out near 10:00 p.m. the night before. It was Thursday morning, just two-and-a-half weeks ahead of the end of the…
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Gorman: Rural Colorado bill seriously lacking in transparency, accountability to taxpayers
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Senate Bill 17-267 was recently approved by the Senate Finance Committee on a 4-1 vote. That’s potentially bad news for taxpayers, and sick people. The bill would make Colorado’s state budget less transparent, reduce legislative and taxpayer control over state spending, create two new slush funds outside of legislative control, increase state indebtedness, and use…
