Democrat says charter schools ‘cherry pick’ students they want
By John Fryar
The Daily Times-Call
DENVER — Some Colorado charter schools are “cherry picking” the students they’ll admit and weeding out “kids that they don’t want,” a local lawmaker charged on Tuesday.
Even though semi-independent charter schools are technically public schools and get government funding, “we’ve built a separate set of schools that are quasi-private,” said Democratic Rep. Jack Pommer, whose House district includes parts of both the St. Vrain Valley and Boulder Valley school districts.
During a budget hearing with Colorado Department of Education officials, Pommer reported that parents and local school district officials have complained to him that there’s little they can do to prevent charter schools from turning away certain students they would rather not admit.
Pommer did not specifically name any such schools during the hearing. But several State Board of Education members said such exclusionary practices are illegal because charter schools have to have open-enrollment policies.
“I don’t know legally how the school can cherry-pick,” said Randy DeHoff, a Republican education board member from Littleton.
Evie Hudak, a Democratic state board member from Westminster, agreed with DeHoff but added that “it’s true that some charter schools counsel out students” who don’t fit into a school’s particular educational program.
Boulder Democrat Jared Polis, vice chairman of the state board, said the exclusionary enrollment practices Pommer described are not only illegal, but that local school districts shouldn’t allow them.
Polis said he thought the state board would be unanimous in saying that school districts should not allow preferential admissions policies by the charter schools within those districts.
But Pommer told Polis and DeHoff during a break in the hearing that school districts “all over the state” say there’s little they can do about the creation or practices of charter schools within their local jurisdictions.
Those local school districts fear they’ll be overruled by the State Board of Education, or that would-be charter schools will bypass the districts entirely and seek authority to form and operate themselves under a separate charter school law, he said.
Pommer charged that some families can’t even get their children into charter schools in their own neighborhoods because slots have been filled by children of the charter schools’ board members or employees.
Meanwhile, Pueblo Democratic Sen. Abel Tapia aired a separate charter-school-related complaint during Tuesday’s hearing.
Charter schools, which began forming under a 1993 law sponsored by Gov. Bill Owens when he was a state senator, were supposed to be laboratories for education innovations that could be adapted by conventional public schools, said Tapia, the chairman of the budget committee.
Tapia said he’s seen little idea-sharing between charter schools and public school districts in the 13 years since.
Polis suggested the blame may lie both with some charter schools, which may be too protective and “proprietary” about their techniques, and school districts with “an excess of pride” that don’t want to implement ideas they didn’t come up with for themselves.
“There is a lot of room for improvement” on both sides, Polis said.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Area Democrats prepare for new leadership posts
By John Fryar
The Daily Times-Call
DENVER — Longmont’s Brandon Shaffer will take over the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee when the Legislature convenes its 2007 session next month.
The Democrat has spent the past two years as vice chairman of that panel, which typically considers such measures as bills proposing changes in the state’s criminal-justice laws.
Shaffer also will remain on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
In the House, Louisville Democratic Rep. Paul Weissmann will resume chairmanship of that chamber’s State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
That panel sometimes is handed some of the Legislature’s more controversial measures. Last year, for example, House State Affairs was the first stop for many of the bills proposing tougher laws on illegal immigration.
Weissmann also will continue to serve on the House Appropriations Committee.
Boulder Democratic Rep. Jack Pommer stepped down as chairman of the House Transportation and Energy Committee last spring after being named to the Joint Budget Committee.
Besides serving on the Legislature’s panel of budget writers, Pommer is now vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Boulder Democratic Sen. Ron Tupa will no longer head or be a member of the Senate State Affairs Committee when the 2007 session gets under way. But he will be vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee and serve on the Senate Local Government Committee.
Those are among the assignments that legislative leaders unveiled recently.
One new lawmaker, Mead Rep.-elect Glenn Vaad, was designated by House GOP leaders to be the “ranking Republican” among the minority-party members on the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
Vaad, a former Colorado Department of Transportation employee, also was named to the House Appropriations Committee.
Other appointments for area lawmakers:
Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, will serve on the House Finance Committee and the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
Rep.-elect Claire Levy, D-Boulder, will be on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
Rep.-elect Dianne Primavera, D-Broomfield, will serve on the House Health and Human Services Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, will be a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Larimer County, is the newest member of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee and also will be on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
John Fryar can be reached by e-mail at jfryar@times-call.com.
The Daily Times-Call
DENVER — Longmont’s Brandon Shaffer will take over the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee when the Legislature convenes its 2007 session next month.
The Democrat has spent the past two years as vice chairman of that panel, which typically considers such measures as bills proposing changes in the state’s criminal-justice laws.
Shaffer also will remain on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
In the House, Louisville Democratic Rep. Paul Weissmann will resume chairmanship of that chamber’s State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
That panel sometimes is handed some of the Legislature’s more controversial measures. Last year, for example, House State Affairs was the first stop for many of the bills proposing tougher laws on illegal immigration.
Weissmann also will continue to serve on the House Appropriations Committee.
Boulder Democratic Rep. Jack Pommer stepped down as chairman of the House Transportation and Energy Committee last spring after being named to the Joint Budget Committee.
Besides serving on the Legislature’s panel of budget writers, Pommer is now vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Boulder Democratic Sen. Ron Tupa will no longer head or be a member of the Senate State Affairs Committee when the 2007 session gets under way. But he will be vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee and serve on the Senate Local Government Committee.
Those are among the assignments that legislative leaders unveiled recently.
One new lawmaker, Mead Rep.-elect Glenn Vaad, was designated by House GOP leaders to be the “ranking Republican” among the minority-party members on the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
Vaad, a former Colorado Department of Transportation employee, also was named to the House Appropriations Committee.
Other appointments for area lawmakers:
Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, will serve on the House Finance Committee and the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
Rep.-elect Claire Levy, D-Boulder, will be on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
Rep.-elect Dianne Primavera, D-Broomfield, will serve on the House Health and Human Services Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee.
Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, will be a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Larimer County, is the newest member of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee and also will be on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
John Fryar can be reached by e-mail at jfryar@times-call.com.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Education mandates tie up state cash flow
By John Fryar
The Daily Times-Call
DENVER — Several key lawmakers expressed concerns Monday over the state’s annually escalating share of responsibility for covering a majority of the present multibillion-dollar system of funding Colorado’s public schools.
None of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee members or any of the other lawmakers attending a Monday morning JBC briefing objected to the overall projected $5.1 billion price tag of Public School Finance Act distributions to Colorado’s 178 school districts in 2007-08.
However, some of those lawmakers indicated that sometimes-conflicting fiscal mandates and constraints within the Colorado Constitution continue to require the state to absorb increasing portions of the cost of paying for most of the day-to-day expenses of operating the state’s public schools.
Carolyn Kampman, one of the JBC’s staff analysts, said that of the nearly $5.1 billion in spending that the Public School Finance Act might amount to in 2007-08, more than $3.2 billion would have to come from various state budget accounts. The other $1.8 billion would come from property taxes and specific ownership taxes paid directly to the local school districts.
Kampman reported that between 1993-94, when the basic framework of the state’s school-funding law was first adopted, and the current 2006-07 budget year, when funding under that act is expected to total nearly $4.8 billion, the state’s annual share of that funding package has grown from 54.3 percent of the total to about 64 percent.
“The local-share issue is huge,” Boulder Democratic Rep. Jack Pommer said after Monday’s meeting.
Amendment 23, a measure Colorado voters approved in 2000, ensures annual increases in the base level of the Public School Finance Act’s per-student funding, but other constitutional provisions have meant the Legislature might face having to cut other state programs and services to meet that school-finance mandate, said Pommer, a JBC member and Amendment 23 supporter.
House Education Committee chairman Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, another staunch Amendment 23 fan, said the shifting of school-funding burden to the state budget is a concern, “but what can you do about it” without voters approving changes to things like the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights?
TABOR and the Gallagher Amendment, a 1982 constitutional change intended to protect residential property owners from some of that era’s growing tax burdens, are provisions that voters alone could change, noted Boulder Democratic Sen. Ron Tupa, soon to be vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
He said, however, that he didn’t know any solutions to the state-local share situation “that are viable.”
“We still haven’t cracked that nut,” Tupa said.
Merrifield said, “We have to bite the bullet and talk to the public about how they want to finance public education” in the future.
Senate Education Committee chairwoman Sue Windels, D-Arvada, agreed: “The only real solution lies in getting public support” for one or more school-finance-related ballot items.
John Fryar can be reached by e-mail at jfryar@times-call.com.
The Daily Times-Call
DENVER — Several key lawmakers expressed concerns Monday over the state’s annually escalating share of responsibility for covering a majority of the present multibillion-dollar system of funding Colorado’s public schools.
None of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee members or any of the other lawmakers attending a Monday morning JBC briefing objected to the overall projected $5.1 billion price tag of Public School Finance Act distributions to Colorado’s 178 school districts in 2007-08.
However, some of those lawmakers indicated that sometimes-conflicting fiscal mandates and constraints within the Colorado Constitution continue to require the state to absorb increasing portions of the cost of paying for most of the day-to-day expenses of operating the state’s public schools.
Carolyn Kampman, one of the JBC’s staff analysts, said that of the nearly $5.1 billion in spending that the Public School Finance Act might amount to in 2007-08, more than $3.2 billion would have to come from various state budget accounts. The other $1.8 billion would come from property taxes and specific ownership taxes paid directly to the local school districts.
Kampman reported that between 1993-94, when the basic framework of the state’s school-funding law was first adopted, and the current 2006-07 budget year, when funding under that act is expected to total nearly $4.8 billion, the state’s annual share of that funding package has grown from 54.3 percent of the total to about 64 percent.
“The local-share issue is huge,” Boulder Democratic Rep. Jack Pommer said after Monday’s meeting.
Amendment 23, a measure Colorado voters approved in 2000, ensures annual increases in the base level of the Public School Finance Act’s per-student funding, but other constitutional provisions have meant the Legislature might face having to cut other state programs and services to meet that school-finance mandate, said Pommer, a JBC member and Amendment 23 supporter.
House Education Committee chairman Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, another staunch Amendment 23 fan, said the shifting of school-funding burden to the state budget is a concern, “but what can you do about it” without voters approving changes to things like the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights?
TABOR and the Gallagher Amendment, a 1982 constitutional change intended to protect residential property owners from some of that era’s growing tax burdens, are provisions that voters alone could change, noted Boulder Democratic Sen. Ron Tupa, soon to be vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
He said, however, that he didn’t know any solutions to the state-local share situation “that are viable.”
“We still haven’t cracked that nut,” Tupa said.
Merrifield said, “We have to bite the bullet and talk to the public about how they want to finance public education” in the future.
Senate Education Committee chairwoman Sue Windels, D-Arvada, agreed: “The only real solution lies in getting public support” for one or more school-finance-related ballot items.
John Fryar can be reached by e-mail at jfryar@times-call.com.
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Rallying for a raise
Democrats show support for Amendment 42
By Douglas Crowl
The Daily Times-Call
LONGMONT — Mead resident Paul Zoric may have been one of the few people who attended the Boulder County Democratic Party’s rally to raise the state’s minimum wage Monday without his mind already made up.
The rally was formed to support Amendment 42, which, if passed in November, would raise the minimum wage in Colorado from $5.15 to $6.85, the first increase in nine years.
It also would adjust the rate each year for inflation and add the law to Colorado’s constitution.
“It’s a tough one,” Zoric said. “It’s really not my issue.”
He wondered if his taxes would have to be increased to account for government jobs, for example.
“I’m really just going to have to think about it,” Zoric said, though he said he’s leaning toward supporting the amendment.
About 90 people gathered Monday afternoon at Roosevelt Park for the rally, which turned into a stumping opportunity for candidates.
Many people howled in support of pro-Amendment 42 rhetoric from the speakers and literally hissed at any mention of Republican politicians, including President Bush, Gov. Bill Owens and U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.
“Five-fifteen an hour is a joke,” said state Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont. “This is absolutely the right thing to do.”
Fourth Congressional District candidate Angie Paccione, Boulder County Commissioner Tom Mayer and state Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, all spoke at the rally.
“If you are working hard, 40 hours a week, you should not be in poverty,” Paccione said.
Amendment 42 proponents say people who work minimum- wage jobs, three-quarters of whom are adults, can’t make ends meet. They also say nearly everything has increased in value in the last nine years, except that wage.
Jan Rigg — spokeswoman for Respect Colorado’s Constitution, a group formed to oppose Amendment 42 — said there’s more to the issue than these points. She said only 37,000 Coloradans earn the minimum wage, a quarter of whom are teenagers and most of whom are in their early 20s.
It’s an “entry level” wage, not a living wage, and it’s used to train people, she said.
“You certainly don’t leave them at the minimum wage forever,” Rigg said Friday in a phone interview.
Raising the wage would mean eliminating many entry-level jobs, she said, because businesses will have to make up for the mandated salary increases.
“A lot of small businesses are going to be crushed, seriously,” Rigg added.
She also said it’s dangerous to change Colorado’s constitution to automatically increase the minimum wage for inflation because it takes away control of the wage in times when the economy is down.
By Douglas Crowl
The Daily Times-Call
LONGMONT — Mead resident Paul Zoric may have been one of the few people who attended the Boulder County Democratic Party’s rally to raise the state’s minimum wage Monday without his mind already made up.
The rally was formed to support Amendment 42, which, if passed in November, would raise the minimum wage in Colorado from $5.15 to $6.85, the first increase in nine years.
It also would adjust the rate each year for inflation and add the law to Colorado’s constitution.
“It’s a tough one,” Zoric said. “It’s really not my issue.”
He wondered if his taxes would have to be increased to account for government jobs, for example.
“I’m really just going to have to think about it,” Zoric said, though he said he’s leaning toward supporting the amendment.
About 90 people gathered Monday afternoon at Roosevelt Park for the rally, which turned into a stumping opportunity for candidates.
Many people howled in support of pro-Amendment 42 rhetoric from the speakers and literally hissed at any mention of Republican politicians, including President Bush, Gov. Bill Owens and U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.
“Five-fifteen an hour is a joke,” said state Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont. “This is absolutely the right thing to do.”
Fourth Congressional District candidate Angie Paccione, Boulder County Commissioner Tom Mayer and state Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, all spoke at the rally.
“If you are working hard, 40 hours a week, you should not be in poverty,” Paccione said.
Amendment 42 proponents say people who work minimum- wage jobs, three-quarters of whom are adults, can’t make ends meet. They also say nearly everything has increased in value in the last nine years, except that wage.
Jan Rigg — spokeswoman for Respect Colorado’s Constitution, a group formed to oppose Amendment 42 — said there’s more to the issue than these points. She said only 37,000 Coloradans earn the minimum wage, a quarter of whom are teenagers and most of whom are in their early 20s.
It’s an “entry level” wage, not a living wage, and it’s used to train people, she said.
“You certainly don’t leave them at the minimum wage forever,” Rigg said Friday in a phone interview.
Raising the wage would mean eliminating many entry-level jobs, she said, because businesses will have to make up for the mandated salary increases.
“A lot of small businesses are going to be crushed, seriously,” Rigg added.
She also said it’s dangerous to change Colorado’s constitution to automatically increase the minimum wage for inflation because it takes away control of the wage in times when the economy is down.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Owens: Do not regress
Gov. urges lawmakers not to retreat from past years’ reforms in Colo.
By John Fryar
The Daily Times-Call
DENVER — Gov. Bill Owens urged lawmakers Thursday not to retreat from seven years of progress toward reforming education, reducing taxes and improving highways.
In the Republican governor’s eighth and final State of the State address, Owens said he’s been able to work well with leaders of both parties, including Demo- crats now in their second year of majority control of the Legislature.
There will be policy differences this year, Owens said, just as there have been in the past, such as when he vetoed a record 47 bills that lawmakers approved during last year’s session.
The governor predicted, though, that he’ll once again be able to work out most disagreements with lawmakers and sign into law most of the bills they send him.
Owens warned, however, that he’ll wield his veto pen again “if you send me a bill that in my opinion weakens Colorado families, puts our jobs- friendly climate at risk or reverses any of the great progress we’ve made in education.”
Longmont Democratic Sen. Brandon Shaffer said after the speech that while he doesn’t always agree with the governor, Owens is “a classy guy.”
Shaffer said Owens demonstrated that quality Thursday by taking time to recognize Coloradans’ efforts in aiding Hurricane Katrina victims and by applauding the work of this state’s military reservists and National Guard members, both in Iraq and in post-Katrina duties in the Gulf Coast.
Owens outlined an “ambitious” agenda for his last year as governor. That includes includes several state spending recommendations as well as calls for reforming a public pension system, reining in medical malpractice lawsuits, protecting Coloradans from violent sexual predators, and reducing the costs of government health-care programs for the poor.
“Anyone who came here today expecting a farewell address will be sorely disappointed,” Owens said.
Owens campaigned alongside Democratic leaders and some legislative Republicans last year to convince enough Coloradans to adopt Referendum C, which allows the state to keep and spend nearly $4 billion over the next five years.
Owens said Thursday that passage of Referendum C will allow Colorado “to recover from years of recession while keeping our taxes among the lowest in the country, and I want to thank the bipartisan team that helped make this possible.”
Owens and Democratic leaders have had unresolved disagreements over how much Referendum C money should spent on transportation, and he used his speech to restate his case for highway funding.
But the governor also told lawmakers he looked forward to working with them on several “critical budget items.”
“And I have a message today for my many friends who could not support Referendum C,” Owens added. “I want to benefit from your views as well as we shape this budget.”
After the governor’s speech, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said in an interview, “We heard a lot less saber-rattling than last year,” when Owens pointedly itemized a list of “basic principles” that the governor said he would not compromise.
Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said, “I think it was a kinder, gentler Gov. Owens” this year.
Pommer also contrasted the compromising themes that Owens expressed with a sharply partisan opening-day speech delivered Wednesday by House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton.
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, said in a statement that Owens made “several points upon which we can agree,” including the use of “telemedicine” to lower health-care costs, streamlining services for Medicaid-eligible children and providing additional funding to help needy families pay home heating costs.
But Romanoff said he still disagrees with the governor’s request for a supplemental $80 million highway appropriation from this year’s budget. And Fitz-Gerald expressed disappointment that Owens did not talk about the need for more accountability for state government computer contracts.
Owens, meanwhile, told lawmakers that after voters “gave us the revenue we need so that Colorado can recover from recession,” it’s “now our duty to use these funds wisely.”
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge of this legislative session,” the governor said.
The governor’s agenda
In Thursday’s State of the State address, Gov. Bill Owens outlined his legislative agenda for his final year as governor. Items on his agenda include:
• Allowing biotechnology companies to generate capital for labs and employees by allowing them to sell portions of net operating losses from their startup years.
• Allowing the state Economic Development Commission to award financial incentives to companies that create high-quality, high-paying jobs, especially in rural Colorado.
• Exempting high-speed Internet voice communications from Colorado taxes charged on conventional telephone service.
• Discouraging repeat drunken driving by making first-time offenders help clean up highway rights of way as part of their sentences.
• Requiring voters to prove their identities and verifying their U.S. citizenship when they’re added to voter rolls.
• Requiring public colleges and universities to commit to supporting and retaining underserved students, especially minorities.
• Terminating the emissions-testing requirement for motor vehicles in the metro area.
• Creating dedicated state funding to help pay for fighting wildfires.
• Working with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to establish a basic statewide threshold and standard for awarding academic tenure at public colleges and universities.
• Retaining Colorado students’ eligibility for in-state college tuition when their parents are posted to out-of-state military assignments.
• Addressing Colorado’s nursing shortage through a student loan-forgiveness program and by allowing nurses to move to Colorado and work here without having to obtain a new license.
• Adding $10 million to this year’s tourism promotion budget by using part of the severance-tax money the state collects on oil, gas and mineral production.
• Adding $20 million, also from severance tax revenues, to the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program that helps needy families pay winter utility bills.
• Requiring the automatic notification of communities when convicted sexual predators move into neighborhoods, and subjecting predators to mandatory arrest when they fail to register.
• Reforming the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association to reduce current and future unfunded liabilities, possibly including a changing of benefit levels for current employees when they retire.
• Clarifying the out-of-pocket expenses to which plaintiffs would be entitled when they win medical malpractice lawsuits, and requiring experts to sign off on such cases before they can move forward in court.
John Fryar can be reached by e-mail at jfryar@ times-call.com.
By John Fryar
The Daily Times-Call
DENVER — Gov. Bill Owens urged lawmakers Thursday not to retreat from seven years of progress toward reforming education, reducing taxes and improving highways.
In the Republican governor’s eighth and final State of the State address, Owens said he’s been able to work well with leaders of both parties, including Demo- crats now in their second year of majority control of the Legislature.
There will be policy differences this year, Owens said, just as there have been in the past, such as when he vetoed a record 47 bills that lawmakers approved during last year’s session.
The governor predicted, though, that he’ll once again be able to work out most disagreements with lawmakers and sign into law most of the bills they send him.
Owens warned, however, that he’ll wield his veto pen again “if you send me a bill that in my opinion weakens Colorado families, puts our jobs- friendly climate at risk or reverses any of the great progress we’ve made in education.”
Longmont Democratic Sen. Brandon Shaffer said after the speech that while he doesn’t always agree with the governor, Owens is “a classy guy.”
Shaffer said Owens demonstrated that quality Thursday by taking time to recognize Coloradans’ efforts in aiding Hurricane Katrina victims and by applauding the work of this state’s military reservists and National Guard members, both in Iraq and in post-Katrina duties in the Gulf Coast.
Owens outlined an “ambitious” agenda for his last year as governor. That includes includes several state spending recommendations as well as calls for reforming a public pension system, reining in medical malpractice lawsuits, protecting Coloradans from violent sexual predators, and reducing the costs of government health-care programs for the poor.
“Anyone who came here today expecting a farewell address will be sorely disappointed,” Owens said.
Owens campaigned alongside Democratic leaders and some legislative Republicans last year to convince enough Coloradans to adopt Referendum C, which allows the state to keep and spend nearly $4 billion over the next five years.
Owens said Thursday that passage of Referendum C will allow Colorado “to recover from years of recession while keeping our taxes among the lowest in the country, and I want to thank the bipartisan team that helped make this possible.”
Owens and Democratic leaders have had unresolved disagreements over how much Referendum C money should spent on transportation, and he used his speech to restate his case for highway funding.
But the governor also told lawmakers he looked forward to working with them on several “critical budget items.”
“And I have a message today for my many friends who could not support Referendum C,” Owens added. “I want to benefit from your views as well as we shape this budget.”
After the governor’s speech, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said in an interview, “We heard a lot less saber-rattling than last year,” when Owens pointedly itemized a list of “basic principles” that the governor said he would not compromise.
Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said, “I think it was a kinder, gentler Gov. Owens” this year.
Pommer also contrasted the compromising themes that Owens expressed with a sharply partisan opening-day speech delivered Wednesday by House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton.
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, said in a statement that Owens made “several points upon which we can agree,” including the use of “telemedicine” to lower health-care costs, streamlining services for Medicaid-eligible children and providing additional funding to help needy families pay home heating costs.
But Romanoff said he still disagrees with the governor’s request for a supplemental $80 million highway appropriation from this year’s budget. And Fitz-Gerald expressed disappointment that Owens did not talk about the need for more accountability for state government computer contracts.
Owens, meanwhile, told lawmakers that after voters “gave us the revenue we need so that Colorado can recover from recession,” it’s “now our duty to use these funds wisely.”
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge of this legislative session,” the governor said.
The governor’s agenda
In Thursday’s State of the State address, Gov. Bill Owens outlined his legislative agenda for his final year as governor. Items on his agenda include:
• Allowing biotechnology companies to generate capital for labs and employees by allowing them to sell portions of net operating losses from their startup years.
• Allowing the state Economic Development Commission to award financial incentives to companies that create high-quality, high-paying jobs, especially in rural Colorado.
• Exempting high-speed Internet voice communications from Colorado taxes charged on conventional telephone service.
• Discouraging repeat drunken driving by making first-time offenders help clean up highway rights of way as part of their sentences.
• Requiring voters to prove their identities and verifying their U.S. citizenship when they’re added to voter rolls.
• Requiring public colleges and universities to commit to supporting and retaining underserved students, especially minorities.
• Terminating the emissions-testing requirement for motor vehicles in the metro area.
• Creating dedicated state funding to help pay for fighting wildfires.
• Working with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to establish a basic statewide threshold and standard for awarding academic tenure at public colleges and universities.
• Retaining Colorado students’ eligibility for in-state college tuition when their parents are posted to out-of-state military assignments.
• Addressing Colorado’s nursing shortage through a student loan-forgiveness program and by allowing nurses to move to Colorado and work here without having to obtain a new license.
• Adding $10 million to this year’s tourism promotion budget by using part of the severance-tax money the state collects on oil, gas and mineral production.
• Adding $20 million, also from severance tax revenues, to the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program that helps needy families pay winter utility bills.
• Requiring the automatic notification of communities when convicted sexual predators move into neighborhoods, and subjecting predators to mandatory arrest when they fail to register.
• Reforming the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association to reduce current and future unfunded liabilities, possibly including a changing of benefit levels for current employees when they retire.
• Clarifying the out-of-pocket expenses to which plaintiffs would be entitled when they win medical malpractice lawsuits, and requiring experts to sign off on such cases before they can move forward in court.
John Fryar can be reached by e-mail at jfryar@ times-call.com.
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