When the Public Speaks Up, Lawmakers Must Listen

This week we killed the Pinnacol heist, I passed a bill providing in-state tuition for veterans who move to Colorado, one to offer a tuition scholarship to volunteer firefighters who agree to fight fires for four years, and, of course, this was the week of the Tea Party. A few words on these items in reverse order:

Denver Tea Party: 5,000 to 7,000 freedom lovers (and, yes, I’m sure a few trouble makers, though I saw none) came to the capitol on tax day to let us and their country know what was on their mind. I was honored to share a few remarks with the good folks which I posted on Facebook here and on my blog here. You can catch a brief snippet of the event on ABC’s website here.

My impressions of what this event was all about: This crowd loves America. They believe in America and they hope for a more prosperous America.

They are profoundly frustrated by politicians who prefer more government to less (on both sides of the aisle). It’s safe to say they’ve had it with this culture out of touch politicians who have made an art form of ignoring them (again, sadly, blame can be placed on both sides of the aisle). And they are fed up by a political class that continues to attempt to create equality through government handouts rather than to simply secure equality of opportunity in a prosperous land.

For the record, I’m with them.

Scholarship for volunteer firefighters
My senate bill 21 directs the Division of Fire Safety to provide a matching scholarship for community colleges (for every 9 credits purchased, 3 are free) to volunteer firefighters who agree to fight fires for four years.

That was the “what”, here’s the why: About 60% of the state’s fire fighters are volunteers. We have about 9,000 volunteers in the state and have seen a 4% decrease over last year. Meanwhile the state population, especially in fire-prone areas, continues to grow. Since wildfire is both a local and statewide interest, it is critical to advance policy at both levels to insure we have the firefighting resources we need to keep citizens and properties in fire-prone areas safe. It passed senate appropriations and initial passage with the whole senate today.

In-state tuition for military veterans
My house bill 1039 provides in-state tuition classification to vets that move to Colorado. It has cleared the house and cleared the first committee in the senate. Interestingly, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education took a position of “support” on the bill providing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, and have remained silent on this bill. Moreover, there is a rumor afoot that Democrats plan to offer an amendment to the bill that will have something to do with the in-state-tuition-for-illegal-immigrants bill. Obviously, a cheap shot like that will spark a huge fight. I encourage you to keep your eyes on that issue.

The great Pinnacol Heist and the state budget
Democrats seem to be coming around to our way of thinking: tough cuts to the whole budget are needed, not just one $300 million cut to higher education. This cut was put forward by the budget committee when they thought they could force a false choice between cutting higher education and stealing Pinnacol’s policy-holders money.

I fought vigorously against the raid of Pinnacol. This is a good, though obviously, imperfect company that was created by statute. (It’s worth noting that every business entity in the state are products of statute.) The reserve fund Pinnacol has was created by insurance premiums, not taxes or fees. Pinnacol sends dividend checks back to many policy holders each year. The state was literally going to go steal this money.

This just demonstrates how far politicians will go sometimes to avoid making tough cuts in government spending. But like everyone else that lives in the real world, cuts must be made. It looks like we are now headed in that direction with budget talks. I addressed this issue in the senate Republicans weekly Youtube release which can be viewed here.

You made a fuss
I’ll close with this. The illegal tuition bill and the Pinnacol bill fell apart because the public got involved in a big, loud way. The Tea Party, if carried forward in a way of constant public involvement will bear fruit and make changes in how we are governed. So I urge you to stay involved. Your voice is literally joining with tens of thousands of others who are ready to get back to a common sense approach to smaller, more competent government at every level. So keep making a fuss.

P.S. Rep. B.J. Nikkel and I are sponsoring a bill to put the state’s check register on line in a separate website that is easily searchable. It passed the house yesterday, so I’ll be taking over next week. It’s viewable here.