On the first day of the new legislative session, there were seven bills introduced by the House GOP, of which five were touted as being part of the GOP’s jobs agenda.  They are all about regulations and are:

HB 12-1002: Creating Level Expectations for Application Review

HB 12- 1004: Colorado Timber Act

HB 12-1007: Require Regulatory Analysis of Proposed Rules Prior to Rulemaking Hearing

HB 12-1008: Establish Transparency in the Rulemaking Process through Stakeholder Involvement and the Publication of Regulatory Agendas

HB12-1009: Federal Funds Transparency Act

I haven’t read all of the bills, but the names alone tell a story. The only one that might possibly create private sector jobs in Colorado is the Colorado Timber Act, which is being sponsored in the Senate by our very own Steve King.

But even it is about regulation. The Colorado Timber Act would force cities and counties to change their building codes to allow wood products made from pine-beetle-killed trees to be used as framing in construction projects. I’m not an engineer. I don’t know if the structural integrity of the wood is damaged by virtue of the method of its death.  

 I do find it amusing that King’s idea of deregulation is to force cities to change their zoning codes. That should create quite a few jobs in the bookbinding and inspection form business. Given the fact that new construction is at an all time low, it may take a while for those jobs to get created.