Colorado’s legislative session for 2011 ends at midnight tonight. The results, as usual, are a good news/bad news story.
First the good news.
As of this morning, the Regulatory Recapture Bill (HB 11-1223) has not been introduced in the Senate. That means that it will die the death it deserves. There was one sponsor in the Senate—our very own Senator Steve King. Evidently he couldn’t get other senators to sign on to the bill with him, and couldn’t get it to even be considered in a committee, let alone by the whole Senate. Good Riddance. It was a boneheaded attempt to remove all stakeholders but the oil and gas industry from the commission that regulates the oil and gas industry.
Now the bad news.
Senator Gail Schwartz carried a bill that would reduce regulation on family farmers who wanted to sell some of their product directly to the consumer. This was designed for peach growers who also wanted to sell peach jelly or peach pies. Or for cherry growers who wanted to sell cherry products. Or for lavender growers who want to sell lavender cookies. It is surprising to me that this bill couldn’t get traction, considering it reduces regulation. Maybe the GOP just didn’t trust a DEM legislator to actually reduce regulations on anything.
Now the even worse news.
At the beginning of the session, there seemed to be bipartisan support for changing how citizen’s initiatives get approved. The idea was to change the way that Colorado’s Constitution could be amended by requiring 60%, instead of 51% of voters to approve the measure. Colorado’s Constitution has been amended more than the federal Constitution in half the time. We are constantly the recipient of out of state interests trying to amend our Constitution just because it is so easy to do so. Even Club 20 was on board with this proposed change. Somehow TABOR got tied up with the issue, and legislators got cold feet. Too bad. It was a good bill, and I hope it comes back.
Homework
Denver Post Story Re Ballot Initiatives
First the good news.
As of this morning, the Regulatory Recapture Bill (HB 11-1223) has not been introduced in the Senate. That means that it will die the death it deserves. There was one sponsor in the Senate—our very own Senator Steve King. Evidently he couldn’t get other senators to sign on to the bill with him, and couldn’t get it to even be considered in a committee, let alone by the whole Senate. Good Riddance. It was a boneheaded attempt to remove all stakeholders but the oil and gas industry from the commission that regulates the oil and gas industry.
Now the bad news.
Senator Gail Schwartz carried a bill that would reduce regulation on family farmers who wanted to sell some of their product directly to the consumer. This was designed for peach growers who also wanted to sell peach jelly or peach pies. Or for cherry growers who wanted to sell cherry products. Or for lavender growers who want to sell lavender cookies. It is surprising to me that this bill couldn’t get traction, considering it reduces regulation. Maybe the GOP just didn’t trust a DEM legislator to actually reduce regulations on anything.
Now the even worse news.
At the beginning of the session, there seemed to be bipartisan support for changing how citizen’s initiatives get approved. The idea was to change the way that Colorado’s Constitution could be amended by requiring 60%, instead of 51% of voters to approve the measure. Colorado’s Constitution has been amended more than the federal Constitution in half the time. We are constantly the recipient of out of state interests trying to amend our Constitution just because it is so easy to do so. Even Club 20 was on board with this proposed change. Somehow TABOR got tied up with the issue, and legislators got cold feet. Too bad. It was a good bill, and I hope it comes back.
Homework
Denver Post Story Re Ballot Initiatives
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