Tag: Rollie Heath

  Polly Baca, a former state senator from Colorado, has been involved in every presidential race since 1960. As one of nine members of the Electoral...

Originally posted on Chalkbeat by Todd Engdahl on April 5, 2016 The bill to require high school students to pass a civics test to...

"Look, there’s no getting around the work we have to do on this. We have to maintain a livable planet. What’s the alternative?”

What happened? Rivera is a former policeman with no legislative experience, a fact he readily admits. So he asked his experienced colleague, Minority Leader Bill Cadman.

Government watchdogs, energy consumers, environmental activists say former state Rep. Glen Vaad's ties to powerful anti-clean energy lobby shop ALEC should disqualify him.

In the weeks since the Colorado legislative session ended, calls for Gov. John Hickenlooper to veto House Bill 1036 have come from the political left, right and center, from government watchdog organizations, citizen rights and tax reform activists and from representatives of the sovereign Ute Mountain Ute tribe in southwest Colorado. Whatever happens by next Friday, when the deadline to sign the bill arrives, wrangling over its contents and legitimacy will continue indefinitely.

The bill was never really debated in the Senate where it was introduced, then it was tacked on to a House bill amid the blizzard of activity that marked the last days of the Colorado legislative session. Government watchdog and elections groups on the right and left are now asking Gov. John Hickenlooper to veto it, arguing the bill would deny citizens the right to inspect voter ballots and "gut" the state's Open Records Act.

DENVER-- In a highly anticipated Senate debate here Friday, Republicans launched early-round attacks against a bill that aims to create a mid-level state-university tuition rate for undocumented students who have graduated from Colorado high schools. Although the bill easily weathered the GOP barbs in the Democrat-controlled chamber, passing on a 20-13 voice vote, the two-hour back-and-forth showcased the lines of argument opponents of the bill will seek to sharpen before it arrives a few weeks from now in the Republican-controlled House.

It was the most significant tax measure to appear before any U.S. voters this year and early returns suggest voters wanted nothing to do with it. Colorado's Proposition 103, which would have marginally raised state income and sales taxes to fund education, was drawing roughly 35 percent support in the hours after polls closed.

State Senator Rollie Heath's Proposition 103, which asks Coloradans to approve a tax increase to bolster the state's cash-strapped schools, will be the most significant tax measure to appear before any U.S. voters this year. The Pew Center on the States calls the vote a test of public attitudes toward tough recession-year fiscal choices and for that reason will draw scrutiny in capitals coast to coast.