Tag: chris romer

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

DENVER-- The war to regulate payday loans in Colorado continues behind the scenes at the capitol here. Lobbyists and lawmakers are working hard to shore up votes for and against legislation introduced by Denver Democrats Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Chris Romer weeks ago. The bill is stalled for now as negotiations over proposed amendments continue. "We are working the bill hard," Ferrandino told the Colorado Independent. "And, as you know, the other side is definitely working it hard, too."

DENVER-- State Senate Republicans today opposed a bill that aims to require insurance companies to provide individual-market plans that include maternity and contraception coverage. The bill passed a second reading with the support of Senate Democrats, but Republicans said it would drive up insurance rates and swell the ranks of the uninsured. One senator made an anti-abortion argument against the bill and one argued against it for personal financial reasons.

The two controversial high-profile medical marijuana bills introduced this session keep being pushed down into the works of the legislative process. A bill seeking...

The payday loan industry gouges Coloradans like it does Americans across the country, targeting mostly low-income single women, including military spouses. Denver Democratic state Rep. Mark Ferrandino tried and failed to introduce legislation in 2008 that would have curbed the worst of the abuses, where desperate borrowers take loans at hundreds of percent interest and enter a debt cycle they rarely are able to exit. Ferrandino may try it again this year.

Denver Senator Chris Romer's revamped medical marijuana bill has won advocates in the legislature and among people in the industry looking for clear rules that they can depend on as they build their businesses. The bill passed easily through committee with some modification Wednesday, but pot users and advocates see the proposed law as overreaching. They say it attempts to address general and anticipated complaints by unnecessarily stepping on specific voter-approved Constitutional rights through restrictions and fees.

Denver-- State Sens. Chris Romer, D-Denver, and Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, introduced legislation today that would more strictly regulate the medical marijuana industry. The controversial bill includes language that, among other things, would circumscribe doctor-patient relationships and payment, require patient records be set aside for state review and set up a seven-member panel to review prescriptions written to anyone under 21. Marijuana rights advocates have already taken a strong stance against the proposed regulations and are urging supporters to call on state lawmakers to vote against the bill.

State Sen. Al White (R-Hayden) has scrapped plans for a bill this session that would have set up a state medical marijuana growing and...

State Rep. Joe Miklosi, D-Denver, told the Denver Post that he will wait another year to introduce legislation to offer in-state tuition to illegal...

In the face of the state's mounting budget crisis, state Rep. Joel Judd plans to introduce two bills next month that would dissolve tax-free business "enterprise zones" and that would levy taxes on services across the state. "The question is: Do we provide education for children or do we get to go to a salon without paying a tax?" he told the Independent.