Tag: Bob Bacon

Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, and Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, Wednesday said that the Senate had no intention of "rubber stamping" Gov. John Hickenlooper's budget plan. They said they would work to ensure the cuts to K-12 were limited, though Shaffer failed to provide specifics on how that would be done or if he would vote for a bill that didn't include substantial cuts.

A bill to end collective bargaining by state employees was killed yesterday in committee, surprising no one. Bill sponsor, Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said he would likely take up the issue again as Colorado “head[s] toward a fiscal apocalypse” and noted that House Republicans had similar legislation in the works.

State Democratic lawmakers killed a bill (pdf) yesterday that would have required Coloradans to provide proof of citizenship before registering to vote, saying it was a solution in search of a problem and eschewing vehement testimony from its supporters and new data introduced by new GOP Secretary of State Scott Gessler. Bill sponsor Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, said lawmakers should expect the legislation to be reintroduced in the House.

Lawmakers and state officials reacted with a range of surprise, support, dismay and a call for greater accountability in response to The Colorado Independent's findings that, in the five years that Larry Penley has been at the helm of Colorado State University, he has poured money into the administrative and athletics departments, and shifted millions of dollars away from academics and the library system.