Articles written by marianne goodland
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Legislative session resumes; Pelton chosen House minority whip
State legislators resumed the 2021 session of the General Assembly Tuesday after a five-week break. While lawmakers weren’t at the Capitol, it didn’t mean they weren’t working: the Joint Budget Committee met throughout the break to work on adjus...
General Assembly holds 3-day session Jan. 13-15
The Colorado General Assembly held an abbreviated start to its 2021 session, meeting for three days last week to work on time-sensitive legislation that can’t wait until Feb. 16. That’s when the session is expected to resume. Lawmakers recessed on...
General Assembly passes eight bills in three-day special session
The Colorado General Assembly came back to the State Capitol last week for a three-day session in which they passed eight bills tied to COVID-19 relief, worth up to $336 million. The money comes from better-than-expected income tax revenues,...
Legslative session closes; 67 bills introduced in final 3 weeks
The 2020 legislature session that ended on June 15 was unlike any other and not in a good way. In the session’s final three weeks, 67 bills were introduced in the House and 20 in the Senate. The House’s list included 42 bills tied to the 2020-21 bud...
State Fair Board appointments cause friction at State Capitol
Colorado’s agricultural center is the State’s Eastern Plains, where whence comes 84 percent of the State’s gross agricultural sales. The Colorado State Fair is among the biggest events every year that celebrates that agricultural impact. But you woul...
Legislative session comes to a close; $621.4 million cut from K-12 education bringing budget stabilization factor to $1.18 billion
The abbreviated 2020 legislative session drew to a close on Monday, with a flurry of last-minute and substantial bills passed in the closing days. Those final days included approval of a law enforcement accountability bill, a measure tightening the S...
State Senate passes budget in Saturday afternoon session
The 2020-21 budget is nearing its conclusion, after the House approved the Long Appropriations Bill, House Bill 1360, on June 3. The Senate followed, passing the $30.3 billion budget on June 6, in a rare Saturday session. Both northeastern Colorado...
Hickenlooper defies subpoena last Monday; appears on day 2 following threat of contempt
Former Governor John Hickenlooper violated the State’s ethics law, Amendment 41, when he accepted travel and other expenses in two cases in 2018, according the State’s Independent Ethics Commission. Hickenlooper is a candidate for the United Sta...
General Assembly returns following 10-week COVID hiatus
The Colorado General Assembly returned after a 10-week hiatus to do the one thing they're required to do every year by the State Constitution: pass a balanced State budget. It got off to a somewhat...
Legislature cuts $577 million from K-12 education
By Marianne Goodland Legislative reporter The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee wrapped up its efforts to balance the 2020-21 budget in the face of a $3.3 billion shortfall on May 22, with the last cut the largest of all: $577 million from K-12 e...
Forecast predicts $3.3 billion shortfall in 2020-21 State budget
A forecast on how much the State has to spend — or doesn’t — rocked State lawmakers in the past week and showed that the 2020-21 State budget will be short some $3.3 billion. It’s the largest single-year drop in State revenues in history, greater...
Economists slated to present updated revenue forecast; $2 billion to $3 billion expected to be cut from 2020-21 budget
This week, State economists will present an updated forecast on State revenues that are expected to result in major cuts to the State budget. The talk has been that the forecast will show the State short $2 billion to $3 billion for the 2020-21...
General Assembly seeks to cut $2-$3 billion from 2020-21 budget
Monday, May 4 is the day offices could reopen for up to 50 percent of their workforce, according to the Safer at Home order issued by Governor Jared Polis a week prior. It’s also the day that budget writers for the Colorado General Assembly got to w...
Colorado's revenue forecasts uncertain; culprits - oil & COVID
While the General Assembly paused the session for two weeks, due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, lawmakers are still working behind the scenes. That includes the budget writers of the Joint Budget Committee, which on March 16 got some bad news...
Colorado General Assembly shuts down amid COVID-19 outbreak
The Colorado General Assembly, after a wild week of news conferences and concerns over the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19, has closed its doors for the next two weeks to protect public health. Lawmakers are tentatively scheduled to...
Legislature works on trailer park laws
In the coming week, House lawmakers are expected to debate and vote on the second of two bills that would add protections for homeowners in mobile home parks across Colorado. The first, House Bill 1201 allows mobile homeowners 90 days to purchase a...
Sens. Sonnenberg and Donovan asked to reduce cost of SB135
The long-awaited solution to the State’s troubled conservation easement program is itself in trouble, after concerns over its cost nearly derailed the bill on Feb. 27. Senate Bill 135, sponsored by Senators Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling and Kerry D...
Former representative and senator Maynard Yost honored at Capitol
The House held a memorial on Feb. 20 for former State Representative and Senator Maynard Yost, R-Sterling, who passed away on Dec. 1, 2019 at the age of 83. Seventeen members of Yost’s family were in the Colorado Capitol for the memorial, which w...
Senate Judiciary Committee makes changes to House Bill 1019; Brophy & Sonnenberg team up to move forward with prison deal
The effort by the State of Idaho to move up to 1,200 inmates to the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington got new life on Feb. 12 when the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a marathon session, made major changes to House Bill 1019. The bill cam...
