Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler appears to have had himself audited. In a witness list he sent Tuesday to the parties involved in an investigation of his discretionary spending last year, Gessler included the name of accountant Kevin Collins.
The economy and the environment “both won” in Colorado’s legislative session this year, according to an annual scorecard that a leading state environmental group released Thursday.
The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) has been part of life in Colorado since 1992. Today TABOR was tested in court for the first time in Kerr v State of Colorado. Today’s hearing–on a motion by the state to dismiss the suit–may be the end, or it may be the first step in a long hard road.
The Colorado Senate just voted to pass its own version of the annual rules bill and reject the House version sent over this morning with the “payday payback” amendment attached. The vote was cast on party lines except for Durango Republican Senator Ellen Roberts, who voted with the Democrats against the measure, reportedly because she agreed with lawmakers who have said the rules bill is no place to rehash controversial payday loan industry regulations.
Last session, arguably the most critical piece of environmental legislation passed by Colorado lawmakers was the landmark Clean Air, Clean Jobs Act, which mandated the shuttering of several Front Range coal-fired power plants and conversion of others to natural gas or renewable energy sources. This session, the legislature just completed the final step in implementing the law that was so bitterly opposed by Colorado’s coal industry last year.
Protests erupted Tuesday as Tea Party and free market activists clashed with union members, politicians and union supporters who had gathered on the steps of the State Capitol to rally against Wisconsin legislation to eliminate collective bargaining for many of that state’s workforce.
As protesters rallied on the capitol steps today in opposition to immigration legislation, lawmakers inside the building killed a bill designed as a copycat of a law passed last year in Arizona. Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, one of the bill’s sponsors, said it was being pulled from consideration because lawmakers did not want to burden the state with having to defend the law in court.
A Colorado Springs school district spokesperson told the Colorado Independent this morning that the district’s hands are tied by state law in terms of how it handles the case of a student with a prescription for medical marijuana.
The state senate late last week had some fun debating the legacy of former President Ronald Reagan. Had an amendment by Senate Majority Leader John Morse passed Friday, President Ronald Reagan would have been honored by the Senate not only for his achievements in helping to bring down the communist wall, but also for bringing amnesty to 1.7 million undocumented immigrants, tax increases to the State of California and for closing corporate tax loopholes.
The Senate pulled the plug on the struggling HJR 1007, leaving the General Assembly out of compliance with state law and the Joint Budget Committee with no consensus revenue projection by which to budget.
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