Tag: Betty Boyd

DENVER — Colorado's 2012 Legislature may not have achieved greatness. It may not have risen above partisan divide to solve complex problems and unify a state. It may not have addressed the state's economic malaise or found a way to reliably fund education for the long term.

Saturday at 9:30 am, a group of Colorado women and family members will gather at Civic Center Park’s Greek Amphitheater for a rally to protect women’s access to health care, and for the right of each woman to make her own health care decisions.

Colorado House Majority Leader Amy Stephens is feeling the heat – not from sweltering summer temperatures but instead from the sizzling tempers of Republican "anarchists" who think the Monument legislator has violated conservative and constitutional values. They seem bent on anointing a warrior to defeat Stephens in 2012 – the frontrunner is Kanda Calef.

Monday marked the first day of meetings to implement the new Colorado Health Benefit Exchange – one of the most controversial bills to make it through both chambers of the State Legislature last session. But it’s clear that Republicans, many of whom voted against the bill, still see it as a hedge against the evils of the federal Affordable Health Care Act, which they derisively refer to as “Obamacare.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper today signed the Colorado Health Benefits Exchange bill into law. One of the more controversial bills to make it through both chambers this year, the bill enables Colorado to become one of the first states with its own health care exchange.

A bill to create health insurance exchanges in Colorado passed out of the Senate today, becoming one of the few bills to make it through the fires of Tea Party and other conservative groups this year. While Republicans largely voted against the bill, it passed with no discussion in the Democratically controlled Senate and is now on its way to the governor's desk.

Colorado Consumer Health Initiative Executive Director Dede de Percin released this statement in support of the health exchange bill passed by the Colorado House Tuesday:

SB 200, Colorado's health insurance exchange bill, christened "Amycare" after House sponsor Amy Stephens by its detractors, was rushed through committee in a two-day sprint that ended with it exiting the house on a 44-21 vote. The bill's passage came under threats of recalls for Republicans voting for the bill.

A Senate committee axed three Republican immigration bills Monday. The committee, on a party-line vote, turned down legislation that targeted voting accessibility and immigration concerns. Also killed was a bill ridiculed by some as a "birther bill." That legislation would have required elected officials to present proof of citizenship upon taking office.

Republicans attacked a bipartisan bill to set up a health benefit exchange in Colorado with a 3rd reading poison-pill amendment Wednesday while calling the bill an extension of the Federal program. Democrats voting to pass it said that the bill was anything but that.