The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

The Senate has approved a bill that would force the Yuma and Arickaree Indians, and almost two dozen other public schools, to stop using Indian mascots.

Senators amended Senate Bill 116 last week to give schools more time to remove mascots from gym floors or change out sports uniforms. The bill passed on a 20-12 party-line vote with three Republican members absent.

Under the bill as introduced, that deadline would have been Oct. 1, giving schools barely five months to make those changes. Bill sponsor Senator Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, agreed to an amendment pushing out that deadline to June 1, 2022.

Danielson, in her remarks before the final vote in the Senate, referred to cowboys and farmers as just “jobs.” Danielson often reminds lawmakers about her family history of farming, but then sponsors bills that exclude the people she claims to represent.

That didn’t sit well with State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, who asked if all mascots — beetdiggers, cowboys or Vikings — would be banned. That’s not just a job, he said, it’s their entire culture.

Sonnenberg also questioned just who the bill is intended to help. “This isn’t about protecting a certain class of people. This appears to be an attack on another ‘other’ class of people,” which excludes Yuma Indians, he said.

Sonnenberg added that he got text messages up until 11 p.m. on Thursday, asking what he could do. The answer is “I can come down and tell their story. But you’ve heard their story. You heard it in committee, you heard their story related on this floor yesterday ... No wonder we see some of the legislation that comes out of here with that type of mindset.”

Sonnenberg pleaded with Democrats to allow the schools to work as they need to within their own communities and figure out what works for them. 

Danielson was asked during the debate if she had reached out to any of the 25 schools that still use Indian mascots. The answer was “no.” She responded to Sonnenberg that schools have had years to change their mascots. “If this is a surprise to any of the administrators with derogatory mascots, that would be shocking to me,” she said Senate Bill 116 now heads to the House.

Colorado Proud, the State’s marketing program for Colorado agriculture, could see its funding boosted by $2.5 million under a bill that cleared the Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Water Committee on Thursday. Senate bill 203 is sponsored by Sen. Cleave Simpson, R-Alamosa and Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village. Represenative Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, is a House sponsor.

Funding comes from dollars leftover from the 2020-21 budget, which are being repurposed into stimulus programs intended to help Coloradans recover the economic impact of the pandemic.

The bill is now awaiting further action from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

There are now 25 bills introduced under the $800 million Colorado Recovery Plan, including funding for the National Western Stock Show, Colorado State Fair and other agricultural events; more funding for the Colorado Water Plan (although still fall short of the $30 million per year in state support recommended to begin in 2020); and support for rural economic development and workforce training.

The second conservation easement bill in the 2021 session had its first hearing on April 22 and won an 8-3 vote from the House Finance Committee.

House Bill 1233 carries a recommendation from the working group tasked with figuring out solutions to the State’s troubled conservation easement program. That recommendation would sweeten the incentive for farmers and ranchers to donate easement to land trusts or counties, increasing the value of the tax credits awarded from 50 percent of the land value to 90 percent.

The bill also allows non-profit organizations to donate land. However, the working group is not officially backing the bill; that support is reserved for Senate Bill 33, which is awaiting action from the Senate Appropriations Committee. That measure sets up the reparations process for landowners improperly denied tax credits by the Department of Revenue between 2000 and 2013.

Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Adams County, was among the “no” votes on HB 1233, largely due to the increase in tax credits. She told this reporter she believed an incentive of 60 percent would be more than enough. Benavidez said a landowner could collect a 90 percent tax credit and then turn around and sell the land and receive the full sale value, which to her represents a form of double-dipping. 

The Senate Monday also voted in favor of another Pelton-sponsored bill, to eliminate subminimum wage for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment learned in 2019 that Federal laws do not excuse Colorado employers from paying minimum wage to those with physical, mental or age-related disabilities. That applies in states that have higher minimum wage standards than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. 

Colorado’s law allows for subminimum wages of no more than 15 percent below the State’s minimum wage, and Colorado law only allows that subminimum wage for those with physical, not mental disabilities. Hence, there are no Colorado companies who hold valid certificates that would allow paying a subminimum wage. 

Under Senate Bill 39, employers with a special certificate as of June 30, may continue to pay those subminimum wages until June 30, 2025. By June 30, 2022, those employers must submit a transition plan to CDLE that describes how they plan to phase out subminimum wage.

Senate Bill 39 now heads to the House.

Sonnenberg is part of a conference committee working out differences between House and Senate versions of Senate Bill 135, which bans certain kinds of animals in traveling animal acts. 

The list of banned animals that could be used in performances (including circuses, parades, rides or performances in which the animals do tricks) include whales, dolphins and “even-toed ungulates,” though it excludes bison, cattle, deer, elk, goats, reindeer, swine and sheep; felines other than domestic cats; wild dogs, monkeys and “nonhuman primates;” odd-toed ungulates, though excluding horses, donkeys and mules; seals, elephants; flightless birds, including penguins; and bears.

An amendment to SB 135 added in the Senate also allows for working dog trials, livestock and horse shows and any other exhibition that includes livestock. The bill also specifically excludes rodeos and county fairs from the bans.