Thank you to the loyal readers and supporters of The Colorado Independent (2013-2020). The Indy has merged with the new nonprofit Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) on a new mission to strengthen local news in Colorado. We hope you will join us!

Visit COLab
Home Tags Scott Renfroe

Tag: Scott Renfroe

Tea Party sentiment fails to stop initiative changes

Though the power of the Tea Party weighed on the minds of some Republican legislators today, it was not strong enough to stop the passage of a resolution that would make it more difficult for people to amend the constitution through the ballot amendment process.

Colorado edible marijuana bill not a brownie killer

A bill that might have outlawed edible marijuana in Colorado was pulled for revisions Thursday before it came before committee. HB 1250's very presence on the docket spurred an immediate backlash from the medical marijuana community.

Colorado lawmakers, left and right, look to lead on immigration reform

Liberal Boulder Democratic Congressman Jared Polis and a small group of Colorado's most conservative state lawmakers share a focus: They're all pushing immigration policy reform and they all believe that now is the time to act.

Colorado GOP to EPA: Keep your noses out of our fracking...

Eighteen Republican members of the Colorado State Legislature Monday sent a letter (pdf) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demanding the federal agency...

In calling himself mainstream, Renfroe jumpstarts senate race

On the floor of the state senate, firebrand social conservative lawmaker Scott Renfroe has compared homosexuality to murder and lambasted the governor for not calling out the national guard on medical marijuana protesters. But Renfroe is up for reelection and told a reporter from his hometown Greeley Tribune this weekend that he was merely a "mainstream Republican" whose values were in line with those of his constituents. A lot of Coloradans would disagree and they have disagreed, some directly to former Weld County deputy district attorney Ken Storck, who is running against Renfroe precisely to bring more mainstream representation to Senate District 13.

Renfroe: Call out national guard on pot protesters, confiscate medical cards

Greeley Republican state Senator Scott Renfroe told his Senate colleagues Wednesday during debate on medical marijuana regulation that the large April 20 pro-pot rally...

Bill to educate un-convicted imprisoned youth moves forward

DENVER-- Colorado is one step closer to providing education to youth awaiting trial as adults in jails across the state. The current status quo sees un-convicted teenagers languishing for months and years in adult prisons ill-equipped to provide even constitutionally mandated services such as education.

Colorado Tea Partiers rally in capitol chambers and on the steps

DENVER--Members of Colorado Tea Party and 912 groups and the libertarian think tank Independence Institute attended a "grassroots session" and rally sponsored by Americans For Prosperity at the Capitol Wednesday. The activists met with GOP lawmakers for a strategy session in the Old Senate chambers and then gathered on the capitol steps. The rally lured a familiar group of Republican lawmakers, led this time by Yuma state Rep. Cory Gardner, who is also running to represent the Fourth Congressional district in Washington.

Controversial Schultheis public schools religion bill ends in a whimper

DENVER-- A controversial bill that sought to expand space for religion in Colorado's public schools failed to make it out of committee Monday. Even before the hearing began, the bill's sponsor, Christian conservative state Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, seemed to have accepted the fact that his "Public School Religious Bill of Rights" would very likely fail to pass and so offered amendments that significantly weakened its provisions. In the end, so little was left of the bill that the majority Democratic committee members said it simply offered no new provisions on the matter. In the end, the four Democrats voted against the bill and the three Republicans voted for it.

Struggling ‘personhood’ forces face determined opposition

On Friday, Personhood Colorado turned into the Secretary of State 79,817 signatures in support of its initiative-- not even 4,000 more than the 76,047 needed to land its proposed anti-abortion "personhood" proposal on the ballot in November. Thousands of signatures are routinely thrown out in the process of validating initiative petitions. The group's amendment seeks to grant fertilized human eggs the full spectrum of rights enjoyed by U.S. citizens. The difficulty its sponsors seem to have had gathering support suggests the idea they are promoting is no more attractive now to Coloradans than it was in 2008, when they defeated a similar proposal in a landslide vote.