Tag: Bob Gardner

It's not exactly a tidal wave. But the three Republican members of the House who have gone on record as supportive of state Senator Pat Steadman's civil unions bill suggests Democratic House sponsor Mark Ferrandino is right to be confident that the bill will pass if it could somehow climb over likely House committee hurdles.

The Republican controlled State House today voted to adhere to its position on a House joint resolution that provides budget guidance. The move scuttled a scheduled conference committee and puts the legislature further out of compliance with state statutes.

If a new bill is passed, anyone arrested who is suspected of being in the country illegally may have a very hard time getting a bond. The bill would remove current exemptions that allow bail bond agents to reclaim their bond money if an immigrant is found to be illegally in the country and is deported.

A heated committee hearing over a proposal to extend a state sex-offender policy board ended in wide bi-partisan support. The bill rankled detractors in its details not its main purpose.

For six hours Monday in the packed Old Supreme Court Chambers of the Capitol before the House judiciary committee, lawmakers and lenders and borrowers...

DENVER-- Perhaps no issue will underline the divide separating state Democrats and Republicans this legislative session as well as the war to rein in the payday loan industry. That war saw its first real skirmishes Monday at the capitol when roughly 150 payday-loan business owners and employees rallied outside the building in advance of a hearing on a bill that seeks to cap payday interest rates and limit the infamous cycle of personal payday-loan debt the industry depends upon to generate millions in profits.

DENVER-- A controversial bill that aims to diversify and open up decision-making at Pinnacol Assurance, the impressively profitable quasi-governmental workers compensation insurance provider, passed out of the House Judicial Committee Friday on a mostly partisan vote. The hearing highlighted the tensions that define Pinnacol, an entity designed to serve the public but also required to act as a business.

Another Republican lawmaker has stepped forward to complain that threats of 2010 primary challenges were wielded to muscle the results of House leadership elections last week. "I got a phone call, and it was suggested that if I would back out (of the caucus chair race), things could be easier or things could be harder," state Rep. Ellen Roberts told PolitickerCO. The Durango Republican lost a bid for caucus chair on Thursday to the more conservative Amy Stephens of Monument.

With all the GOP naval-gazing and talk of reform, it’s time now to ask that perennial question: Will Douglas Bruce, the soon-to-be-erstwhile state lawmaker helping to oversee a government he wants to dismantle, successfully shape-shift his way back on top? Or is it time to stick a fork in him? Not surprisingly, it depends on who is asked.

A Colorado Springs legislator complained to the state House Republican Caucus on Thursday that he'd been sucker-punched when a "multidimensional, or even multiambitional chess game" went awry and his co-conspirators backed off plans to challenge their party's sitting leadership.