In 2013, I received a call from now Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asking me, as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, to support a pilot program to allow farmers to grow hemp. Knowing Colorado farmers’ interest in the crop, I jumped at the chance and pushed to include the program in the 2014 […]
Colorado General Assembly
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Politics and Government
New economic projections show smaller property tax cut. Colorado has oil and gas to thank (or blame).
A statewide property tax cut in 2019 isn’t expected to be nearly as deep as initially feared, economists told Colorado budget writers Thursday — a pronouncement that drew some relieved laughter from state lawmakers who were awaiting the latest estimates with dread. For a year now, the expectation had been that the state’s Gallagher Amendment […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Nearly 1 in 4 lawmakers in the 2018 Colorado legislature landed seats via vacancy committee. And more appointments are coming.
Nearly one in four lawmakers in the Colorado legislature last session had at some point landed in a statehouse seat thanks to a vacancy appointment, a Colorado Sun analysis shows. The side-door entrance to the Colorado General Assembly will remain equally open next year as at least five — and possibly as many as eight […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Republican state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, in Democrats’ crosshairs because of sexual harassment, leaves legislature
Republican state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, in the crosshairs of Democrats because of sexual harassment allegations, on Monday evening said he will step down from the Colorado legislature. The lawmaker from Hot Sulphur Springs had not been placed on any committees by his party’s leadership in the Senate for the upcoming legislative session. In a letter […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, Health, News, Politics and Government
The legislature denied them four times, so transgender people found another way to rewrite Colorado law on birth certificates
Four years running, transgender people and the parents of transgender kids scooted close to a microphone in the state Capitol and asked a row of suited lawmakers to make it easier for them to get birth certificates with the gender that matched the way they live. Each time, the request was deemed too extreme, killed […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Democratic state senator, embroiled in accusations he used a women’s restroom at Capitol, is stepping down
State Sen. Daniel Kagan announced his resignation from the Colorado General Assembly on Wednesday evening, a decision that comes after he was accused of repeatedly using a women’s restroom at the Capitol. The Cherry Hills Village Democrat did not provide a reason for stepping down from his seat two years into his four-year term. The […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
A “red flag” bill will return in the Democrat-controlled Colorado legislature. But what about other gun-control laws?
Democrats will enter the 2019 legislative session in complete control at the state Capitol. But despite the issue of tightening gun controls taking top billing in the midterm campaign, party leaders are so far signaling that their agenda will focus on just one measure: the so-called red flag bill. That measure, which would allow Colorado […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
“It revealed to me this is what I can do”: Tom Sullivan’s son was killed in the Aurora theater shooting — and now he’ll be a state representative
After Tom Sullivan’s son, Alex, was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, he left his job with the U.S. Postal Service and threw himself into fighting for tighter gun regulations, a journey that frequently took him to the Colorado Capitol. “I’ve got a stack at home of all my testimonies I’ve ever given on […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Colorado Republicans, reeling from 2018 losses, wonder: Is it us or is it Trump?
It took only an hour after the first election results posted for Colorado Republicans to start seeing the disaster ahead. The party trailed in every statewide race, five-term U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman lost his job and the state Senate majority was rapidly evaporating. “It’s tough to put lipstick on this pig,” GOP Chairman Jeff Hays […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, Health, News
Denver city councilman, state lawmaker revive plans for safe injection site, in spite of federal law
Tony Fairchild died leaning against a tree along the Cherry Creek Trail, overlooking the water as autumn leaves fell. It could have happened anywhere — a restaurant bathroom or a shadowy alley. Not long before, Tony had overdosed in the restroom of a Sonic Drive-In, and police had to break down the door to get […]