Senator Kopp

Today's meeting with our congressional delegation and the tenth amendment

2010-04-12T20:26:00.008-06:00

Today Colorado's congressional delegation came to the capitol to meet with state legislators. Markey and Salazar were not there. The senators sent representatives from their offices as the senate is in session. These meetings are a good idea. I'd say essential. I hope we do it more, and I told them as much.

I asked them about their thoughts on proposing amendments to the constitution specifically for the purpose of restraining the expansion of federal power as it relates to the role of the states; to restore the proper balance in our federal system. I explained in so many words my view that many citizens feel the role of the states has been undermined by the federal government, and that the tenth amendment is largely being ignored. I pointed out that this has been happening under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

I suggested states are becoming little more than administrative outposts of the federal government. I went on to make the point that this is not the original intent of the founders who designed the federal system to function with more tension between the states and the federal government, each having its own proper roles and proper powers. The state's role is fading and the fed's is growing. This should not be so.

Reps Coffman and Lamborn both indicated that a convention is fraught with risk (they are certainly right about that), but they both supported a balanced budget amendment to the constitution which would be a major step in putting a check on the expansion of Washington's excessive power.

Rep. DeGette took exception to Coffman and Lamborn's excoriation of the big spending spending habits of the federal government. She seemed to indicate that congress' big spending had more to do with the war than on any inherent spending problem congress may have. Uh, OK.

Rep. Polis didn't respond.

Rep. Perlmutter asked for examples of federal power grabs. The chair didn't give me a chance to respond. So I'll be sending Rep. Permutter a letter. It will be lengthy. To his credit, he'll likely read it and respond. To his great discredit, for him to even make this request implies that examples of this are anything less than self-evident to nearly everyone. To me, his request also insinuates that the majority of people actually believe congress is behaving with fiscal restraint. I'm quite certain this is not the case. But, he is a supporter of Obamacare after all.

The end of Welfare Reform as we Know it?

2010-02-27T20:44:00.006-07:00

The question comes up because Friday I led a floor fight against SB 68, a bill that eliminates the asset test for a program that provides cash assistance to the needy.

There are two key financial tests that case workers apply when processing an application:

1) How much income do you have?
2) What assets do you have?

Makes sense. Why would we we have a policy of giving taxpayer funded benefits to someone who had a high income or assets they could simply convert to cash and thus take care of their own obligations?

But the bill eliminates this asset test. Colorado will be one of just a handful to make this unwise move.

If there is no asset test, then people who are caught in a cash crunch -- but who have other assets like savings accounts, CDs, RVs, homes, etc. that could be made liquid in order to handle their own obligations -- will be able to access taxpayer provided benefits. The asset test that was eliminated in SB 68 was set at $15,000. Now there is no upper limit on assets at all!

The bill's sponsor told me in Appropriations committee that we should encourage people to keep their savings in place and tap into this (using my words now) "free pot of money." After all, if they had school plans in mind, why should they have to use their money when they could use ours? She explained to me that this is an incentive for people to find work and go to school. Oh really? Isn't the incentive just the opposite?

Anyway, let's all keep something in mind: the government can't give benefits to someone without first taking money from someone else.

Doesn't it make sense, then, to insist that the government should only provide a basic safety net to those are truly unable to do so on their own?

We all have compassion for those who are caught in hard times. Many of us have experienced them ourselves. But maybe you believe, like Reagan did and I do, that our compassion must also extend to the taxpayer who is putting his or her dreams on hold to help pay for things that the government wants to provide for people who are perfectly able to provide for on their own.

In the end, the absolute last thing I want to see come out of this tough economy is a generation of people who learn to be less self reliant, and more dependent upon their government. That's not only not good for people's psyches, it's not good for America.

Nanny Alert

2010-02-25T12:01:00.004-07:00

Rep. Kefalas (D-Ft. Collins) and Sen Bacon (D-Ft. Collins) are sponsoring legislation to replace parental decision-making with the prudential wisdom of the state regarding keeping our children safe. Under HB 1147 as introduced, children under 18 would be required to wear a helmet while using any non-motorized wheeled transportation. This could even include your toddler riding in a shopping cart.

But don't worry, parents are given wide discretion. They can choose to let their kids use wagons or trailers (bike trailers?) without helmets as there are never accidents with either of those.

Under the bill, my two-year old, who loves the race car shopping carts at Home Depot, would need a helmet, as it's not pulled, but pushed. No kidding, see the bill language below:

(b) (I) "NONMOTORIZED WHEELED TRANSPORTATION" MEANS ANY
10 VEHICLE OR EQUIPMENT INTENDED FOR USE ON PUBLIC STREETS AND
11 PREMISES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THAT IS DESIGNED TO BE PROPELLED
12 ENTIRELY OR PARTLY BY HUMAN POWER PRIMARILY FOR THE PURPOSE OF
13 TRANSPORTING ONE OR MORE INDIVIDUALS AND THAT ROLLS ON WHEELS
14 INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, A BICYCLE, SCOOTER, SKATEBOARD, OR
15 IN-LINE SKATES. "NONMOTORIZED WHEELED TRANSPORTATION" DOES NOT
16 INCLUDE A WAGON, A TRAILER, OR ANY OTHER VEHICLE OR EQUIPMENT
17 THAT IS PRIMARILY DESIGNED TO BE TOWED OR PULLED BY AN INDIVIDUAL
18 OR BY ANY OTHER VEHICLE OR EQUIPMENT.

Apparently pulling (except trailers and wagons) is less safe than pushing.

The bill was partially gutted in committee. Now, it just requires the Transportation Department, the Department of Education and the Department of Public Safety to collaborate on a cradle to 12th grade education program to scold kids and parents about helmet use.

Fortunately, their attempts to centrally control the economy by raising taxes and spending more during a recession have proven so successful, that they can now focus the attention of this government on helping you run your household.

SB- 109 Regulation of Physician-Patient Relationship for Medical Marijuana Patients

2010-02-13T01:38:00.002-07:00

Last week, the Senate passed Senate Bill 109, to modify medical marijuana dispensary practices and try to align the current marijuana statutes with the state constitution. This bill regulates the practices of physicians in authorizing individuals for medical marijuana. Physicians are required to have an authentic relationship with their patients, possess a record-keeping system for all qualified patients, provide post-care treatment after prescribing medical marijuana, and must have a doctorate of medicine from an accredited medical school. Physicians are prohibited from accepting payment from medical marijuana dispensaries and cannot give a discount for using a particular dispensary. Additionally, Senate Bill 109 increases the qualification requirements for access to medical marijuana by creating a review board, which determines if those under the age of 21 are eligible to register.
This bill is a step in the right direction for controlling the marijuana mess that has gripped Colorado. However, while Senate Bill 109 brings much-needed regulation to the doctor patient relationship, it did not confront the broader range of much needed marijuana regulation that will help to end the flagrant abuse of the Colorado law. Stay tuned…

Ritter's SOS: Partisan, Shrill, Revisionist

2010-01-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

The Governor just delivered his final state of the state address. It was at times, surprisingly shrill and partisan. The whole of it had a revisionist undercurrent. One might think he would presage his forthcoming exit from the mansion this year with more grace, modest acknowledgment of the role Republicans have played in driving good state policies, and a more forthright telling of his fabled Colorado Promise.

At roughly the address' midway point, he went out of his way to bash his predecessor's legacy. He went on to cite what he implied has been a far reaching -- but in truth has been a far fetched -- job creation super nova in his energy policy. In this vein, he made no small pretense that he has been a strong friend and ally of the state's oil and gas industry -- even while his drilling rules have clearly reduced the industry's economic incentive for staying in the state to produce more high paying in the first place.

What took the cake though, was that he feigned regard for leaner government! This on the heels of three years of adding thousands of new state employees to the payroll paid for in part by a multitude of slick budgeting gimmicks. And despite the feel good veneer that he was quick to apply over his party's economic mismanagement, many Coloradans watching today haven't forgotten that he and his party drove the steamroller just last year that crushed our state's spending limitation, while at the same time passing last year's wildly unpopular car tax.

Ritter 180 on State Budget Problems

2009-07-02T18:37:00.000-06:00

Sen Harvey wrote an exceptional op ed on the state of play with Colorado's reluctant-to-lead Governor and his budget bungling the past two years. Here it is:

Bill Ritter 180
The day has come. The numbers are in. With only one week remaining in the 08/09 fiscal year, the Colorado budget is $250 million in the red. Once again Governor Ritter and the Democrat legislative leadership misjudged the depth of our economic downturn.

Despite Republican warnings and objections during the last legislative session, the Democrats chose to approve the largest budget in state history. At a time when small businesses were cutting budgets, reducing expenses, laying off staff or closing their doors altogether, the Democrat legislature grew the Colorado budget by 4% more than the previous year and hired 250 new employees.

While Colorado families were struggling through these tough economic times, the Democrats increased taxes and fees on all Coloradoans by $1 billion, raided the state's trust funds and emergency reserves - and even tried unsuccessfully to seize $500 million in assets from the Pinnacol Assurance Company, Colorado's largest provider of workers compensation insurance. They also took advantage of their majority to remove the 6% spending cap that has controlled government growth for over three decades - a mechanism that has protected Colorado from the kind of out-of-control spending that has pushed states like California to the brink of bankruptcy.
Adding insult to injury, last month the Democrats handed out $30,000 in staff bonuses and spent nearly $4,000 in public funds on a "team-building" retreat. The 2009 legislative session was a prime example of unchecked Democrat power on parade. When actual revenues came in $250 million short of expectations, one would have expected Colorado taxpayers to receive an apology from the Governor and the Democrat leadership for their fiscal mismanagement.

Sadly, there were no apologies. Instead, taxpayers were treated to another serving of the Democrats' brand of faith-based budgeting. On the day the actual budget numbers came out, the Governor held a press conference explaining that the state would balance the $250 million shortfall by utilizing federal stimulus funding and pushing off payment of the state's payroll from June 30 (the last day of 2008-2009 fiscal year), until July 1 (the first day of the new fiscal year). Of course the only thing this did was add $250 million to the already anticipated $140 million shortfall for the new fiscal year-making the state $390 million in the hole from day one!

This was simply Enron bookkeeping to avoid making the tough choices and leaving Colorado taxpayers to pick up the tab. The Governor then rebuffed any media questions regarding an immediate special legislative session to balance our growing deficit. He continued to insist that the problem could wait until the legislature reconvened in January.

Unfortunately, the Governor failed to admit that delaying for another six months until the start of the 2010 session would only magnify the impact any impending cuts would have on the state budget. Sadly, the Democrat legislative response was no better. The only suggestion from the Chairman of the Joint Budget Committee was to extend a property tax increase on senior citizens for another year, and remove tax credits from business owners.

The truth is, on the Day of Reckoning, when the actual budget numbers came out, our Colorado Democrat leadership revealed their true soul and proved once and for all that they were incapable of cutting even one government service or one state employee. Predictably, the public was outraged. The lack of Democrat leadership was undeniable.

Faced with an economic reality and voter rebellion, Governor Ritter quickly realized that it was time for government to tighten its belt.On Thursday, only two days after his initial response, the Governor held another press conference...one that I have dubbed "Bill Ritter 180."

Surprisingly, he announced what Republicans had been demanding for over two years, that he was directing each of his department heads to review their budgets and cut 10% across the board. Hallelujah, the leader of our state finally showed leadership! And may God bless him for it. He may have just saved our great state from following California's lead...straight off the cliff.

Indeed it has been our Republican legislators who have led the charge for fiscal sanity over the last 24 months while pushing for across-the-board cuts...but this week we must give credit to whom credit is due. Bill Ritter has finally taken a stand and come out against many members of his own party. Good for him and good for Colorado!

For more information on Senator Ted Harvey please visit his website at www.tedharvey.com

Nearing the Finish Line

2009-05-01T16:55:00.000-06:00

As the session winds down, several things came together in what turned out to be a pretty productive week:

State Checkbook will be online soon! HB1288 on its way: We are one step closer to having the state’s checkbook placed online in a searchable format. The story is here.

SJM 8 on Cap and Trade: On Monday I presented legislation that urged congress to reject a cap and trade scheme for the purpose of minimizing carbon production. The impacts of cap and trade legislation will be staggering if it is adopted. Even by EPA estimates, it will result in millions of lost jobs which will be reflected in a multi-trillion dollar hit to our nation’s GDP by the time of full implementation.

While an incredible and constantly growing body of scientific evidence points away from man-caused global warming, my point of attack was not climate, but economics. And that is where most Americans want elected leaders to focus. According to a Pew survey released earlier in the year, Americans view global warming as the least important issue among 20 major issues including everything from immigration and trade policy to Social Security and crime. Not surprisingly, the economy was their number one issue, and the issue I was highlighting.

The truth is, passing policies that hurt our prosperity in such profound ways would have a nasty ripple effect throughout the whole economy. And limiting the ability of Americans to be prosperous and pursue the American Dream doesn’t just have financial consequences. It would have a chilling effect on the full enjoyment of our unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness.

Outlawing BZP, HB 1157: BZP is a dangerous drug generally considered to be a party drug. The federal government classifies it in the same category as the worst drugs available. Rep. Waller and I are creating a new felony offense for possession of BZP which is often considered as ecstasy light to party goers. The bill will be heard by the full senate Monday. Here’s more: http://www.coloradosenatenews.com/content/view/1018/26/ The Denver Daily News reported on it here.

Eliminating the Electoral College bill is dead: HB 1299
After languishing on the senate calendar for about a month, the bill to dismantle the electoral college and go to a straight popular vote in Colorado -- and to join a gaggle of other states doing the same thing -- died for lack of support. The bill sponsor went to the mic and asked for a no vote. Earlier in the week, this bill caused some real fireworks when I made a procedural motion that would have temporarily killed it. Sometimes the majority just needs to be reminded that we are not giving up ground without a fight. The story is on the Post’s website here.

In short, bills like this strike a blow against federalism and virtually guarantee that smaller states like Colorado would become less meaningful in the national system. In some ways, it could be analogous to taking away two US Senators, and being left with just a state’s house members. It’s an irresponsible move for Colorado lawmakers to make, for it weakens our electoral significance and in all reality, could dampen our ability to secure appropriations when other more influential players are after the same taxpayer funds.

G.I. Promise Act for Colorado Vets Passes the Senate: HB1039
After a very long tortured path, the bill granting in-state tuition to honorably discharged veterans finally passed its final vote in the senate today. Now, once the house agrees to senate amendments (I’m told they will) it will go to the Governor’s desk for action. There’s a great story in today’s Colorado Springs Gazette here.

Downsizing Government

2009-04-24T15:17:00.000-06:00

The Budget: Using Creativity to Downsize the State Bureaucracy?
The state budget passed. I voted no as did most of the GOP in the senate. While the house Republicans did yeoman’s work, the tough decisions just didn’t go far enough.

The reasons are simple: the “cuts”, no matter how the other side has tried to characterize them, do not go deep enough. The result is this: we are simply moving the edge of the cliff back a few feet. The smart bet is that state revenues will continue to decline. If this is the case, next spring we will be back, passing bills to cut spending just to get out of the current budget year. We could be wisely preparing for this eventuality, but sadly, we are not.

The thinking among the Democrats is that the government should be spending more on social programs. No one doubts that social programs get hit hardest in times like these.

What many of us do doubt is that the state’s bureaucracy is unable to create 5% or 3% or even 2% worth of efficiencies in their operations. For example, by one estimate, finding across the board efficiencies of just 3% (except to K-12) would have equated to about $200,000,000 dollars.

Necessity ought to be allowed to be the mother of invention. And it is here, but it’s wildly misdirected.

Legislators should have come together to simply force the bureaucratic creativity needed to extend beyond the budget gimmicks in this year’s budget. New thinking ought to be used to create ways to do the same with 95% or 97% or 98% as can be done with 100%. I’m not buying that it can’t be done. I don’t think most people who are finding creative ways to adjust to this economy are buying it either. It can be done. Where there is a will, there is a way. But the short supply of will to even modestly downsize the state bureaucracy is fairly concentrated among the current members of the minority party.

In-State Tuition for Veterans – one step closer

HB 1039 (McNulty/Kopp) directs the colleges and universities in the state of Colorado to allow honorably discharged veterans who live in Colorado for any length of time to receive in-state tuition status. It is headed to Senate Appropriations committee Tuesday.

Incentives for volunteer firefighters bill passed

My SB 21 passed out of the senate this week. The full story is here.

E-Prescription bill advances

My bill taking the state one step closer to realizing one of the key health care transformations promoted by Newt Gingrich advanced out of the senate Health and Human Services committee. It directs the Department of Health Care Policy and Finance to analyze whether and how to implement an e-Rx system for Medicaid users. I am hoping to get an amendment added to the bill (which I am sponsoring along with along with Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood) that directs the Department to move this direction and report results. It is efficient, actually enhances patient safety, saves a lot of money, and secure. For more on the story, click here. For a great white paper click here.

Next week
My bill (Nikkel/Kopp) directing the state to create a budget transparency website will be heard in committee. More on that next week.

Also, I am the sponsor of SJM 8, which asks Congress to not implement a Cap and Trade system nationally as it will cost consumers an unthinkable amount of money. The Heritage Foundation’s analysis, for example, has revealed that a dramatically more modest version of the legislation now being discussed, would have cost 400,000 to 800,000 jobs per year. The EPA estimated that between 1.2 million and 2.3 million jobs will be lost by 2050 as a result. GDP will also take a major hit. It’s little wonder. Electricity prices, for example, would increase from 96% to 133%. Closer to home, the National Association of Manufacturers estimates a loss of between 20,000 and 31,252 jobs will be lost by 2020. And remember, this analysis comes from the Warner-Lieberman bill of 2008. It mandated a carbon reduction of 25% below 1990 levels. The bill now being discussed, Markey-Waxman, mandates an 80% reduction of 1990 levels.

SJM 8 was sent to the senate’s kill committee, so it will debated there, and not the floor of the whole senate, where everyone would have a chance to weigh in and vote.

My Remarks to the Denver Tea Party

2009-04-17T12:05:00.000-06:00

I am here because I still believe in America.

No matter what some have begun to think, America is not a government with a people who support it.

America is a free people with a government of, for and by its people.

So let me say a few words about the people, that will help explain my optimistic outlook.

Every American I know prefers to work hard and enjoy the fruits of their labor. They know that the government cannot give something to someone without first taking it away from someone else.

And just about every American I know has a greater belief that all great change in America starts at the dinner table, and not in the halls of government.

And more and more, people are beginning to remember why Ronald Reagan -- whose high view of freedom, whose right view of America’s goodness, whose devotion to human dignity, whose drive to give away government power to the little man, whose tireless efforts to reduce the size of government, whose love for the United States military and state’s rights and a secure country – PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO REMEMBER WHY HE WAS SO RIGHT AND SO GREAT FOR OUR COUNTRY.

They are beginning to remember that he was right when he said that the Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in three short phrases:

If it moves, tax it,
If it keeps moving, regulate it,
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

And Americans are beginning to remember that he was right when he said that the government is like a baby:

An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

Friends, we are the Americans I’m speaking about. We are the reason I remain optimistic about the world our children and grandchildren are going to inherit.

But just like the Patriots of old who sparked a freedom movement by dumping that tea into the Boston Harbor, that was just the starting point.

The finish line is this: we don’t rest until we are confident that our freedoms are secure.

That means we need to help the government types that are getting drunk on our children’s money, find new jobs next year. It means we have to apply steady pressure on all of our elected officials, steady pressure by reminding them that they work for us – it’s not the other way around.

If you will take up that charge, say Aye!

I’ll take it up with you. And it’s for the great cause that is America herself that we’ll do it, together.

God bless you, our great state, and the greatest country on earth, the United States of America.

When the Public Speaks Up, Lawmakers Must Listen

2009-04-17T11:55:00.000-06:00

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.

Video Update on the Budget

2009-04-16T11:08:00.000-06:00

Courtesy of www.coloradosenatenews.com

Guardians of the Status Quo

2009-04-10T14:36:00.000-06:00

At the start of the week the joint budget committee (JBC) demonstrated in a profound way that they truly are the guardians of the status quo. Good, intelligent people all, they have miserably failed this legislature and the people of Colorado.

They delivered a budget to the legislature that was devoid of the tough cuts that have to be made in a recession. Instead, they gave us a budget that shorted higher education by $300 million dollars and told us their way to fix this wasn’t to make across the board spending cuts, but rather to seize the private assets of Pinnacol Assurance (the state’s only workers compensation provider of last resort). Pinnacol’s reserves, by law, are owned by Pinnacol clients, not the state.

But this legislature has truly lost its ability to blush. Read more about how bad this really is in today’s Denver Post here.

To try and arrest this illegal maneuver, Sens Brophy and Penry and I worked with the senate president before the budget bill came up for debate Thursday. Jointly, we told the JBC to go back to the drawing board. We told them not to give us the false choice between stealing Pinnacol’s money and cutting higher education to the point that colleges will actually be forced to close.

They refused to entertain even a single cut.

So the budget bill came up for debate, Republicans offered a package of some $250 million in cuts, some tough ones to be sure. For starters, I offered an amendment to cut the pay of legislators and staff. The Denver Post reported on the idea here. Everyone in the real world has to make cuts, why shouldn’t we? Democrats killed the amendment.

I offered an amendment to cut the state’s higher education bureaucracy by some $700,000. Incredibly, they are set to hire seven new people this year while some of the colleges they serve are literally contemplating closing. Again, the majority party killed the measure.

In the end, Republicans and few a Democrats banded together to pass a modest amendment that moved a bit over $800,000 to higher education.

Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail and our colleagues in the house will be able to make the hard choices that have to be made on the budget once it goes to their side. And hopefully our guys over there will be able to save higher education and be able to stop the seizure of Pinnacol’s client’s money.

In-State Tuition, Honoring Veterans, Cutting Taxes

2009-04-09T10:29:00.000-06:00

In the interest of keeping this update as brief as possible, I’ll dive right in:

In-state tuition for illegal immigrants (SB 170)

In a surprise move, Dems pushed up the date of the committee hearing on this bill because Sen. Ted Harvey, a critical Republican vote, had to leave town to attend to his father-in-law who has Alzheimer’s. Read about the sneak attack in the Denver Post here. As expected, the chairman did not support my motion to delay the vote so our member could return, so we were down a vote, which meant the bill will come to the full senate. I laid out key parts of the case against it during committee debate here, and for part two, here.

Also, it was revealed in committee that the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) is in full support of the bill. The problem with this is that when the senate education committee confirmed the Executive Director two years ago, I asked the appointee, David Skaggs, to tell the committee his position on providing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. He said that, “only legal residents or [U.S.] citizens are entitled to in-state treatment in the state system, so I think we’re going to follow the law.”

I sent the Director a letter asking him to clarify his position. I’d be interested to know why a gubernatorial appointee, who essentially said under his watch that CCHE would not advocate for a change in law -- but just follow the law of the state -- has now allowed the Commission to do just the opposite under his watch.

Honoring Danny Dietz

Remember Navy SEAL Danny Dietz, the Littleton hero who gave his life in service to his country on a remote Afghani mountainside in 2005? It was an honor to designate a portion of the state highway that runs through his old neighborhood (State Highway 85, Santa Fe) as the Navy SEAL Danny Dietz memorial highway. A copy of the resolution which describes his amazing story can be viewed here.

Honoring War on Terror Fallen Heroes

After two years of complete inactivity on the part of the chairman of the government board appointed to honor our state’s fallen sons, I called for the ouster of the chairman. The story is here. I hope we can get it back on track.

Business Tax Cut (SB 37)

The bill cleared the final hurdle in the senate this week with a unanimous vote and is now headed to the house. It will save CO businesses at least $10M this next year. The Denver Post wrote about it here.

By the way, if you would like to listen to the debate between Senator Romer and myself, you can find that on my Facebook page here.

Jobs and Economic Prosperity

2009-03-27T16:10:00.000-06:00

Here’s a snapshot of my 2009 legislative agenda concerning Prosperity and Job Growth:

Ahead of the 2009 legislative session, I articulated a pro-economic growth and recovery agenda, preferring a bottom-up (prosperity is built by individuals and entrepreneurs, not governments) road to recovery versus a top-down (politicians spending other people’s money and usually over regulate) scheme.

I sponsored or supported legislation in each of the following key economic recovery areas:

Reducing the tax burden on Colorado businesses

My effort to cut out an essentially obsolete government program concerning workers compensation fees paid by businesses will save Colorado businesses (and consumers, who ultimately pay all of the taxes) a minimum of $13 million per year (SB 09-037). My aim was to provide an infusion of cash back into the economy in hopes of making it easier for employers to keep more of their workers on the payroll.

I sponsored legislation that provides a business personal property tax moratorium on new businesses trying to get started in this challenging economic environment. Eligible new enterprises include those removing beetle killed trees from high risk fire areas and converting them into commercially viable products (SB 09-016), as well as those converting landfill materials into clean electricity or those erecting solar arrays atop reclaimed landfills (HB 09-1268).

Regulatory Reform

Ronald Reagan once quipped that, “Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”

It seems that most well-intentioned regulatory schemes evolve over a period of time into bigger, costlier, more out-of-touch bureaucracies. These are almost always in need of reforms in ways that benefit the businesses and consumers involved, since business practices and consumer habits change over time.

I fought against (the 10% part of) the Governor’s new oil and gas rules and regulations that will cost Colorado jobs and make it more difficult for oil and gas producers to help Colorado move toward energy independence (HB 09-1292).

I supported amendments to the rules which both added stronger waterway protections and eased some of the most onerous restrictions on production. I also sponsored legislation that would have streamlined the regulatory environment oil and gas producers operate in by putting all the regulators under one roof (inside of the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission) rather than under two roofs as it is now (HB09-1255). Since wind and solar power both require natural gas generated electricity as a back up, it makes no sense to advocate for only wind and solar power, to the detriment of natural gas production.

I was also pleased to sponsor bills streamlining the regulation of truck drivers (HB09-1244) and tow truck operators (HB09-1279) which will save both types of businesses time will add to their bottom lines.

Accelerating Colorado energy production

I believe in making America energy independent. And I believe in using all forms of energy available to us and that we can do this by protecting our state’s land, air and waterways.

To help meet Colorado's growing demand for energy, I sponsored a bill to advance the development of hydro and solar power. The bill also streamlined the process of getting a nuclear plant sited in Colorado (upon the request of a local community) and even provided incentives for Geo Plasma Gasification operations to come in and convert municipal landfill materials into clean electricity (HB09-1268).

I sponsored legislation that streamlined the process of permitting clean coal operations (HB09-1098) and a bill that would have created an oil shale task force (HB09-1231) that was to make policy recommendations to the General Assembly.

Making government spending more transparent

It’s time for governments at all level to make more use of readily available electronic and internet-based technologies in order to make spending more transparent. We should give all taxpayers the ability to look over our shoulders and see what is happening with their money.

I sponsored a bill that will put Colorado’s checkbook register online (HB09-1288). With a few mouse clicks, anyone in Colorado (or with a web connection!) will be able to see exactly how taxpayer money is being spent. I also co-sponsored bills that do the same thing for school districts (SB09-57) and special districts (SB09-87).

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2009-03-20T16:08:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick rundown of some of the week's events. I'll call it the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly report.

First, to the good.

Tax cut bill making headway:
I was pleased to pass SB 37 out of the appropriations committee today. This is a big tax cut for all businesses in CO that pay workers compensation insurance that should amount to about a $25 million annual savings to taxpayers. The bill has a pretty good voyage ahead of it still, but things look good right now.

Wildfire and Natural Resource Bills
My bill to leverage existing state resources into wildfire prone communities (SB 18) passed the full senate today. Next week it begins its journey through the house. I am also the senate sponsor of a bill that gives environmental regulators a new tool to compel compliance with solid waste disposal rules and regulations (HB 1056). This is not a typical kind of bill for me to carry, but in some cases it was cheaper for a business to risk getting a fine and dump raw sewage into a waterway, than it was to follow the law and dispose of the waste properly. I worked closely with industry advocates and regulators to be sure common sense environmental stewardship, not revenue generation, was the goal. I am confident that we have done it right, but as always: trust but verify. The bill moves to the senate appropriations committee next after receiving unanimous support in both the Senate Health and Human Services and Senate Finance committees.

Abandoned Vehicles and Truck Driver Regulatory Reform
I am carrying a bill to help tow truck companies recover their costs more quickly from the state when they help state patrol clear roadways (HB1279). Actually, this bill will really help these small businesses by simply streamlining a few outdated laws. The bill received it's first hearing in the senate this week and will likely pass the whole senate next week. Next week I introduce a bill to take trucking out of the Pubic Utilities Commission as they are already a regulated industry (HB 1244). This move will save trucking companies some money and make a modest reduction of government.

Now, on to the bad
This week the CO Supreme Court ruled against taxpayers and for the Governor's so-called "mill levy freeze" that amounts to a tax increase without voter approval. Then, the Dems were quick to take more action of their own by passing the repeal of a state spending limit that we've had in place for nearly two decades (called the Arvescoug-Bird limit). This was also protected by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Dems also pushed through a bill today that essentially codifies into state law civil unions by simply calling it another name. Never mind that voters already voted against a civil union proposal just a couple years ago.

The Ugly
Dems are making a push to remove Colorado from the electoral college and are hoping to join other states that want to elect presidents based on a popular vote system instead (HB 1299). And in a vicious attack on the oil and gas industry in CO, Dems are pushing through HB 1292 which applies, in the Wall Street Journal's words, "the most onerous rules" in the nation, to an industry that does more than $20 billion in business and employs 70,000 Coloradans. The irony? Colorado must produce an additional 4,900 megawatts of power by 2025. And since all wind and solar power production facilities require MORE natural gas to be produced (as they require back up power for those times the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining), these rules and regulations come at exactly the wrong time. Besides, it's hard to believe the Governor would be so bent on killing jobs in a recession. But that's what he and his cohorts are up to.

Finally, news isn't all that good for many people nowadays. Sometimes it seems politicians have abandoned all common sense. I must say, I have felt that way recently. But it remains my belief that America is great because her people are good. We will truly bounce back and it will be because Americans care about leaving a free and prosperous country to their children. I hope you share that outlook!

Good In-state Tuition, Bad In-State Tuition, and Transparent Government

2009-03-16T10:04:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick snapshot of some of the key issues I worked on this week:

In-state tuition for illegal immigration on the move (SB 170 Romer/Miklosi)

Two days ago the sponsor of the measure reported that he would like to wait to see if the federal government passed the oft-heralded amnesty bill prior to moving his bill forward. I saw the move as an attempt to find a soft place to crash land the bill and said as much as reported in the Denver Daily News are here. But today, the sponsor brought it up for debate. I led the response by laying some of the legal groundwork. The bill was moved to the appropriations committee where it will debated before coming back to the whole senate.

My In-State Tuition for Vets Bill Advances (HB 1039 McNulty/Kopp)

The bill cleared the house appropriations committee, went to the whole house, then was amended and referred back to the appropriations committee yesterday. I believe that we should roll out the red carpet to veterans as a way to honor them for their service. I think we should do what we can to recruit these skilled leaders to come to our state and help lead our state's economic long-term economic recovery.

My bill to make government transparent and accountable (HB 1288)

This bill will require the state’s expenditures to be searchable on a separate website. It is time to give citizens this tool to look over our shoulders and see how their money is being handled. The house sponsor, B.J. Nikkel, and I wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Denver Post this week. You can view it here .

My bill to protect high risk mountain communities cleared appropriations (SB 18)

I’ve talked about this bill in some detail in the past and will inform you when it clears the senate.

If you are interested in receiving Twitter updates from me, you can follow me @senate22 on Twitter. You can also follow me on Facebook by clicking here.

Finally, my new website has been under construction and will be up soon at www.KoppforColorado.com . I hope you will check it out!

Keep State Spending Limit, Limit In-State Tuition to LEGAL Residents, Cut Taxes, and Mitigate Wildfire Risks

2009-03-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

This week we debated two major bills in the senate: one to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, and one to get rid of a longstanding government spending limitation.

Both of them ignore either our state constitution or federal law. Obviously, I am opposed to both.

Ronald Reagan’s reminder that as a nation of laws, we have an obligation to follow them would be a well-timed admonition to my Democratic colleagues about now:

“We have the means to change the laws we find unjust or onerous. We cannot, as citizens, pick and choose the laws we will or will not obey.”

Maybe he was thinking of Colorado. Consider the case of two bad bills before us now:

In-state tuition for illegal immigrants – SB 170:

America is the most compassionate nation in history when it comes to reaching across seas and land borders to help others. Our value of promoting human dignity comes from within and is seen in our generous treatment of those living among us illegally.

To some however, that is not enough. I say to them, our compassion should begin extending also to the American citizens whose aspirations are stalled or slowed in order to pay for services and benefits to those who are here illegally.

SB 170 provides in-state tuition for illegal immigrants in Colorado. This ill-conceived policy has a host of problems associated with it, any one of which would provide ample grounds for working against it.

But let’s start with the fact that it is a clear violation of federal law. The landmark 1996 law known as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (8 U.S.C. § 1623), reads in relevant part as follows:

“Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state (or political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”

In other words, if Colorado offers in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, it must offer the same benefit to any other person present in the entire United States. Obviously, if this bill passes, a lawsuit will be waiting in the wings by groups of students who will want the same benefit and who will have standing to sue.

In any case, it’s hard to imagine a more clear violation of federal law.

What made the bill all the more insulting was the fact that Democrats had intended on amending the bill to include veterans in Colorado who had not yet become residents… basically using veterans as pawns in their game. I commented about it here.

Democrats also pushed through a bill that violates the Colorado Constitution. I wrote about it last week, but here’s a more thorough examination.

Repeal Budget Protecting Spending Limitation -- SB 228

Colorado taxpayers have had a spending limitation in place in state government for nearly two decades now. Put simply, the provision (known as Arvescoug-Bird or simply “the 6% limit”) states that spending in the budget can’t grow more than 6% above the previous year’s spending. Because of inflation, this could easily happen, and we could have runaway spending like California did. But in Colorado, when spending hits a hit 6% increase amount, we then shift remaining funds to road building and other capital construction projects (i.e., building on college campuses), so that we’re not just growing new social programs.

Now, let me add to this, and hang on, it gets a little complicated. When the Taxpayers Bill of Rights was adopted shortly after the spending limit, it stated that limits on spending could only be weakened with voter approval. Thus, the 6% limit was frozen into the constitution of the state. To change that you need more than a roomful of liberal senators, you need a vote of the people. But, you are not getting a vote. I expect this to wind up in court.

We staged a 14 hour floor fight in an effort to stop the bill. Read about it here. After about ten hours of deliberations, the Majority party through what we saw as an abusive use of the rules, called for an end to the debate that was certain to go well into the next day, if not more.

If you want to help get this bill killed, the action is now in the house, and with the Governor. You can write to house members and contact the Governor, and ask him to veto this bill if it does reach his desk.

A couple positive notes:

Tax cut bill, alive and waiting for its second hearing – SB 37 Kopp/McNulty

My tax cut bill saving Colorado businesses (and by extension, consumers) $20-$25 million per year, is still awaiting its second hearing in the appropriations committee. It’s an important bill as it will eliminate one of the legislature’s piggy banks at the capitol that gets raided when the budget is stretched thin. In short, it cuts the amount of taxes businesses pay for two obsolete workers compensation programs and essentially gives the legislature an exit strategy so we don’t keep relying on a tax that should have been repealed several years ago.

Intergovernmental fire agreement bill advances – HB 1162 Gerou/Kopp

This bill requires cities, like Denver, which own overcrowded timber-covered lands in other counties, like Jeffco, to work together to mitigate fire risks to mountain communities.

There is nothing in current law that my constituents in places like the Conifer area can appeal to when it comes to impressing upon Denver their need to be good neighbors. I am hopeful this bill will help protect homeowners whose homes are located near some of these wild tracts of land. It passed the full senate on second reading today, meaning the final vote will be Monday or Tuesday. It should pass with flying colors. It will then go back to the house for their approval of my amendment to the bill, then to the Governor’s desk.

The Government is like a baby's alimentary canal...

2009-03-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

Activities at the capitol this week could be sufficiently captioned:

“The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy

appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.”

-Ronald Reagan

I’ll leave you with two examples:

SB108

Statehouse Democrats ran the quarter billion dollar vehicle registration fee bill through the legislature this week over the strong opposition of Republicans. Our car registrations will go up by more than $40 per car this year, and every year, and now local bureaucrats can put toll booths on roads you’ve already paid for. This amounts to a massive tax increase that didn’t receive voter approval as required by the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.

SB 228

Today, the Dem plan to get rid of the long-standing government spending limit came to the floor of the senate. We signaled our intent to stop the passage of this bill – that will spell runaway social program spending and a slowdown in transportation investment – by beginning debate today by having the 38-page bill at length. The rationale: if they want to ram yet another fiscally reckless bill through, we’re going to fight them at every turn to slow this down long enough for the public to find out what is about to happen. Stay tuned, and wish us luck.

You can certainly contact the Governor, encouraging him to veto SB 108 (the transportation “this-is-not-a-tax tax increase” bill. And pass the word around about SB 228 to your friends. Both of these will amount to significant new government growth in a time Coloradans can least afford it.

On the bright side, I was able to get HB1162 passed out of committee to the floor where it awaits debate. In short this bill requires governments like Denver, who own land in other counties, to enter agreements with those “host” counties when homes may be put at risk of wildfire because Denver’s land is overgrown with timber. Many of these “mountain parks” have not seen a chain saw or fire for decades and are serious cause for concern. It’s time to be good guests and work with “host” counties, like Jeffco, to create a solution.

Capitol Update for Feb. 20

2009-02-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

As Americans went deeper into debt with President Obama's so-called stimulus package, Colorado legislators did their best to keep pace with their liberal congressional counterparts' reckless spending binge.

In fact, this past week in the Colorado Legislature will be remembered by me as the "Great Raid". Collectively, the senate voted to sweep more than $200 million of cash funds --collected through fees for SPECIFIC programs -- into the state's general budget. In short, those fees were treated like taxes -- and yet voters in the state were not asked for permission to raise taxes (which is how those fees, because of the raid, function) as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights requires.

This means that businesses, for example, which have paid millions into special funds for injured worker programs, will be forced to repay those funds again for the same service they were promised. It's double, and in some cases, triple taxation for the same service.

SB 208 and SB 212 were the main culprits of the chicanery. You can see my comments about them in the Denver Post here and on ColoradoSenatenews.com here and in the Rocky Mountain News here.

All this spending was just to get this year's (08/09) budget to work. Although, I use the term "work" loosely. After all, this budget is more than 4% larger than the previous year's budget. That's something you don't hear a lot about amidst the clamor that "we're making huge cuts". We're spending more, not less, than the previous year. I'm not sure how that is a cut.

We also put off making payments we owe to firefighters and police pensions. It's our version of printing money. We'll pay later what we should buck up and pay today. So we pass a bigger obligation along to our kids. I voted against this maneuver in appropriations and will do so again on the final vote. Delaying hard choices won't make them go away.

In other action:

Dems kill plan to produce new Colorado energy (HB 1268)
Colorado's economy, like any economy, is linked to having enough energy to move the gears of commerce. In fact, by 2025, Colorado must produce an additional 4,900 megawatts of power -- which is roughly equal to building seven more large coal fired plants like the Comanche plant near Pueblo, which is scheduled to come on line later this fall. Solar and wind power may be part of the mix of the future, but they cannot affordably produce the kind of power we need. And besides, both wind and solar power plants require natural gas fired power plants as backup, since neither of them produce power on demand. They only work when the sun's shining or the wind's blowing. And storing electricity is incredibly problematic and ineffective at best right now.

The bill also created incentives for converting landfill to clean electricity through Geo Plasma and related technologies, and for siting solar arrays (called Bright Felds) on reclaimed landfills unsuitable for other forms of construction. It created a streamlined process for siting nuclear plants in cities or counties that wanted to build one. It added hydro power to the state's renewable energy portfolio, and directed the government to streamline its transmission line building.

With little explanation, the bill was killed on a party line vote. The most politically problematic portion of the bill -- the nuclear siting component -- could have been easily taken out of the bill through amendment. This was truly a pathetic display of partisanship at the expense of Coloradans who expect solutions to our serious energy production challenges.

School District Spending Transparency (SB 57)
We finally got Sen. Harvey's bill requiring full transparency for school district spending out of the senate yesterday. Now it begins a rocky ride in the much less predictable House of Representatives. Coloradosenatenews.com wrote about it here. It was astonishing to see Sen. Evie Hudak shill for the status quo and try to gut the bill through amendment and fight it until the bitter end. Facethestate.com added a little levity to the matter with a cartoon here .

Morgan County Lincoln Day Dinner
Monday evening I joined Rep. Cory Gardner and Sens. Greg Brophy and Josh Penry for the Morgan County Lincoln Day Dinner. It is good to hear what voters in other parts of the state are talking about, and to introduce myself to them as one of the GOP's senate leaders. It was a long drive in Farmer Greg's Prius.

Conifer Town Hall Meeting
Wednesday night I shared with about 150 Conifer area residents about the status of my wildfire legislation. For those of you who live in wild land urban interface areas, you already know how much work there is to do to protect homes and centers of commerce out in the woods. For those of you who do not, suffice to say, it's a big issue requiring local, state, and federal attention.

One catastrophic wildfire could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, damage watersheds, transmission lines, cut off commerce, destroy homes and communities (that provide tax revenue to counties such as Jefferson), and of course, it could cost lives. The best bet is to reduce the fuel loads in the forest, knock down the barriers to getting commercially viable wood products taken from hazard areas to the market, and create innovative ways to keep volunteer firefighters (who are the backbone of timber country responders) in the fire service.

A big fight about government spending
Our state government can only grow so fast, thanks to a mechanism known as the 6% limit. Essentially, what this means is that as soon as the general assembly takes in 6% above last year's budget, money begins to flow to transportation projects. It's a way to keep a real check on government growth, and to make sure that we invest on highway spending rather than on creating new entitlement programs. Highway and bridge building and maintenance are, after all, core functions of government. The 6% limit is not a perfect solution, but then what government system is or could be? But it does protect the taxpayers by slowing government growth. I bring it up because you may have heard about a dust-up over the issue. Republican budget committee member, Don Marostica, is working on a bill to gut the limit. Obviously, this caused a ruckus. I think it's a bad idea. Here's what I said as reported by KWGN here.

In-state tuition for illegal immigrants (SB 170)
This bill still has not come to education committee, or to the appropriations committee where I serve, or the whole senate. When it does come up for a vote, I will of course vote no, and fight against it.

Capitol Update for Feb 13

2009-02-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

A few highlights of the week...

My $25 million tax cut bill PASSES out of committee (SB 37)
My bill cutting taxes on Colorado businesses (and by extension, Colorado consumers) won initial passage on Monday. Because of a bill-saving amendment I ran, it cuts about $20-25 million worth of taxes (that’s down from the mid 30’s as originally projected). See the Rocky Mountain News article for a pretty good description here.

School Transparency Win (SB 57)
The other big taxpayer win of the week requires school district financial transparency. SB 57 by Sens Harvey, Kopp, et al and Rep. Stephens, requires school districts to post their income and expenses on line in a searchable format.

After a lengthy floor fight on Friday the 13th, we finally fixed the bill after education committee members had gutted it to turn it in to little more than a request the state was making.

I ran an amendment that provided school district’s an extra year to comply, which takes the financial cost argument off the table. This will give them time to set new policies and procedures relating to how their financial data is recorded (i.e. they will need to begin eliminating things like codes and acronyms that the public wouldn't understand. In other words, districts can plan for phasing in compliance over the course of the next 18 months. I assume they will be able to fully absorb the costs of simply posting on their websites a monthly balance sheet in every day English, by making use of the extra time this amendment gives them.).

See the Rocky Mountain News Editorial here and the Colorado Senate News article here.

Convert State Vehicle Fleet to Natural Gas (SB 92)
My senate bill 92, converting the state vehicle fleet to compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles passed the full senate on second reading on Friday the 13th. It will require the state - to the extent it makes fiscal sense - to begin converting new fleet vehicles to run on safe, clean CNG.

Three major considerations:

1) Natural gas is cheap and abundant right here in Colorado. This move should save our state fleet managers money over the long haul. Studies also show that Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles last longer, providing another built in financial incentive.

2) Using CNG vehicles allows us to use a fuel source that is not subject to the whims of Hugo Chavez and other hostile dictators. As such, it allows us to take a tangible step toward energy independence. Indeed, most of our energy dependency is owing to the fact that we have a high importation rate of crude oil to fuel our nation's transportation activities.

3) There are real clean air benefits to using CNG. Natural gas-powered vehicles emit fewer pollutants. It’s so clean, in fact, that the EPA provided a grant to a Texas school district so they could purchase CNG school buses in a “non-attainment” area (that is, an area where the air quality is poor).

For more on this bill, see ColoradoSenateNews here.

Illegal Immigrant In-State Tuition (SB 170)
As you can imagine, there is a big fight brewing on this bill -- and there should be. You will know from my past legislative actions that I will fight the bill, as will the entire GOP caucus. I’ll keep you up to date as it moves through the process.

US Senate Vacancy Elections (SB 152)
My push to reform our US Senate vacancy procedures failed on a party line vote Wednesday night.

I argued for passage using Federalist Papers 62, 63, 64. Here, the framers made their case for why the senate was structured the way it was. Principally, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, were keenly aware that a key feature of the senate was that it build a stability factor into the federal government. This was accomplished in part by electing older legislators. And senators were also given longer, staggered terms for this reason.

And critically, the founders wanted the senate to be filled by members who had been recognized by the “collective capacity” of the people of the various states. They didn't envision an appointed class of leaders. The people, after all, elected legislators who in turn used their best judgment to elect senators -- who, in their collective judgment, could be trusted with the nation’s most important business, such as providing advice and consent on treaties, for example.

History and common sense demonstrates that the stability factor in the body is reduced when appointed senators, who do not have the stature of having being vetted by their state’s voters, serve in office. For one thing, odds are against appointed senators wining their election if/when they do go before the voters. Probably this can be attrituted to the fact that in those cases people feel that they were left out of a very important decision in the first place. This situation in essence creates a sort of revolving door -- albeit a limited one -- in the senate.

Revolving doors on senate seats would have been anathema to the founders for it chips away at the overall stability of the body – and this was truly one of the central concerns the framers outlined in the Federalist Papers regarding their rationale for the way they created the senate.

Since the 17th amendment to the constitution passed (1913) however, vacancies are filled in Colorado through appointment by a single person -- not the collective judgment of a legislature or that of the populace.

Consider this: the Governor of Colorado cannot even appoint a member of a college board without going through the senate for confirmation. My bill would have required a special election to be held -- same as we do with Congressional vacancies.

Since the 17th amendment was ratified and we began electing senators through a popular vote of the people, there is no good reason to treat senate vacancies differently than house vacancies whose members are also popularly elected.

Indeed, one person appointments risk nepotism and cronyism, as seen from both parties in recent years. And now, four of the members of world’s most powerful deliberative body have gotten there in the last few weeks through one-person appointments.

But, for all my hot air, the bill still lost! Two of those voting NO agreed with the policy change, they said, but thought it would turn into a critique of Governor Ritter’s appointment of [a talented, but collectively unjudged] Michael Bennet.

So they punted on a big – not in terms of frequency, but in terms of impact -- policy problem that needs fixing. Read about it on Coloradosenatenews here.