Colorado GOP payday gamesmanship stokes already hot partisan fires

DENVER– On Tuesday afternoon, Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Bob Gardner set off a firestorm on the House floor and in the Twittersphere when in the last hours of the 2011 legislative session he amended the annual rules bill to strip out regulations passed last year on payday lending. It was a surprise move sure to generate rancor and just the latest battle in the ongoing war over payday lending in the state.

Pro-payday lawmakers attempt late-session regulations roll-back

DENVER– The payday lending industry isn’t giving up on this legislative session in Colorado. Lawmakers who have failed at several attempts to roll back regulations passed last session limiting high payday interest rates and fees are now reportedly planning to attach to a bureaucratic rule-making bill an amendment that would thin the payday regulations. The legislative session ends at midnight tomorrow.

DeGette ‘fracking’ amendment doesn’t fly; ExxonMobil shareholders vote

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette’s bid to get full public disclosure of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells was withdrawn as an amendment to a Safe Drinking Water Act bill Wednesday after debate by the…

DeGette to float ‘fracking’ amendment to Safe Drinking Water Act legislation

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette Wednesday will introduce an amendment calling for full disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluids to a bill introduced earlier this month that’s meant to strengthen the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Udall push to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ wins nod from Obama

In the culmination of Monday’s big push among activists and key members of the Senate Armed Service Committee to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”– a group that included Colorado’s Sen. Mark Udall– White House budget director Peter Orszag wrote…

Udall personal credit information amendment up for debate

The next round of amendments up for debate in Washington today on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill include Colorado Sen. Mark Udall’s ease of access credit proposal. As he explains it, financial companies have greater access to…

Schultheis proposal to count state’s illegal-immigrant students rejected

Senate Democrats Monday quashed a proposal that would have required Colorado schools to count undocumented immigrant students and report the number to the government.

The plan came as an amendment to House Bill 1171 and was proposed by conservative…

Fla. lawmakers introduce amendment to ban federal health care in the state

It’s true. This is happening in Florida, the national repository for people on Medicare. The proposal comes from men who enjoy government health care and whose families enjoy the benefits of the same plan. It’s unclear whether their philosophy…

Congressional lawmakers reject bill to strip Planned Parenthood funding

The U.S. House voted down an amendment to the Labor, Health, and Human Services bill on Friday that sought to ban all public funding for Planned Parenthood. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, who voted against the amendment, said given the state of the economy, “it’s not the time to be focusing on divisive issues like this.”