Tag: John Morse

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.

The ping pong game on a Colorado House joint resolution that provides direction for state spending continued today as House Republicans rejected amendments made yesterday in the Senate.

The partisan feud over a largely symbolic budget resolution spilled over into the Senate today, where Majority Leader John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, amended Joint House Resolution 1007 to effectively remove a Republican amendment that lowered revenue expectations by 2.7 percent.

After Democrats were gaveled down earlier this week over amendments to Joint House Resolution 1007 calling for state expectations of revenue to be lowered by an additional 2.75 percent, Senate leadership asked Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, what programs he would suggest cutting to reach a 2.75 percent reduction in spending for the next fiscal year.

With all the votes finally counted, State Senate Majority Leader John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, has officially retained his seat, according to data provided by...