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

The State Senate spent time during the week of April 26 working through appointments to the Colorado State Fair Board of Authority as well as dealing with a bill that requires the governor to pick appointments more reflective of Colorado's geographic diversity.

House Bill 1212 won unanimous support from the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on April 27 and a preliminary vote of approval from the full Senate on April 30.

Under the bill, in addition to requirements for appointments to the more than 200 boards and commissions the Governor must make each year, the Governor must take into consideration geographic and demographic diversity, including membership reflecting rural and urban parts of the State and to appoint members of diverse political, racial, disability and cultural groups and of diverse sexual orientation and genders.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis has been criticized for excluding Republicans from some of the boards and commissions he’s appointed, as well as excluding representation from the Eastern Plains on boards and commissions that are significant to the Eastern Plains, such as the State Fair board and the Parks and Wildlife Commission. He pledged last year to appoint more Eastern Plains residents in a closed-door meeting with State senators from both parties.

Senator Don Coram, R-Montrose, who has led some of the opposition to some of Polis’ appointments and Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, sponsored HB 1212. Both are members of the Senate Ag committee. The Senate approved the bill on a voice vote without discussion on April 30.

That wasn’t the case for appointments to the State fair board. The Senate Ag committee reviewed five appointments to the board on April 29, including several whose appointments last year drew consternation from Senate members.

Brian Coppom was appointed in 2019 to represent the 4th Congressional District; at the time, Coppom was the only representative for the 4th district. His appointment raised concerns because he was supposed to represent the Eastern Plains although he lives in Longmont and is the executive director of the Boulder Farmers Market. His appointment was never confirmed by the State Senate in the 2020 session and Coram has pointed out he and two other 2019 appointees should not have been reappointed.

In 1975, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in Lamm v. Banta that if commission appointments are not confirmed by the State Senate, those individuals are no longer eligible to continue serving on the commission once the General Assembly has adjourned and that incumbent commissioners should continue to serve until replacements are confirmed by the state Senate. The State Senate adjourned last June without confirming the three appointees to the state fair board. Coram has hinted that a lawsuit could be filed to challenge the three 2019 appointments, which also include Jeffrey Mandarich of Colorado Springs and Miguel Baca Barragan of Denver.

Last November, Polis named Nicole Weathers of Yuma to the State fair board as a representative of the 4th CD and to represent agriculture or 4-H.

The Senate Ag committee approved all five appointments during the April 29 hearing. But Coram questioned Barragan’s commitment to the board given that he’s missed five of the 12 meetings since his appointment, even including virtual meetings. Barragan said it’s his intention to attend every meeting, but he is also a supervisor for the Denver Elections Division and that has kept him from attending some of the meetings. “I share your concern and it is my commitment to attend every meeting” and that he plans to attend the state fair for the entire two weeks.

Committee Republicans sent a message to Polis with their votes, asking for a separate vote on each appointment. Barragan’s appointment was approved on party-line 3-2 vote, with Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling also cast a “no” vote.

The House Education Committee on April 29 also stripped the renaming of Northeastern Junior College from a bill that drew controversy when it went through the Senate. 

Senate Bill 8 as introduced would have removed the word “junior” from the names of Otero, Trinidad and Northeastern Junior colleges. However, Sonnenberg pointed out during a Senate debate on March 1 that the name change had not been properly vetted by the community, but left the change to the House sponsors, Representatives Richard Holtorf, R-Akron and Donald Valdez, D-La Jara.

“As the bill moved forward, we thought this had been fully vetted and an easy lift. But as this moved along, there was pushback and discussion,” Holtorf said. His amendment struck Northeastern from the bill. Faculty leaders and presidents of the colleges indicated the word “junior” carried a stigma. The other two colleges were in favor of removing “junior” from the name.

That isn’t the case for Northeastern staff, alumni, students and faculty. Between the bill’s passage in the Senate and the House committee hearing, Holtorf asked Northeastern’s president to do a campus-wide survey. That resulted in a vote of 75 percent to keep the word “junior” in the name, hence the amendment.

The bill won a unanimous vote from the House Education Committee and now heads to the full House for debate and a vote. 

Polis has signed into law Senate Bill 79, which puts into State law the practice of direct meat sales from producers to consumers. The Governor signed the bill on April 29.

Known as the “Ranch to Plate Act,” SB 79 allows consumers to purchase a share of a cow or calves, sheep, elk, bison, goats, hogs and rabbits. Livestock will still be subject to brand inspection by the Colorado Department of Agriculture but not inspection by public health agencies. The bill was sponsored by Sonnenberg and Rep. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells.

House and Senate Democrats on April 29 rolled out a package of gun safety bills, some partly in response to the shooting at the south Boulder King Soopers in March.

The three bills:

House Bill 1299, which would establish the Office of Gun Violence Prevention at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The office would be tasked with compiling data on gun violence, establish public awareness campaigns and issue grants to organizations to conduct community-based gun violence intervention initiatives. The sponsors are Reps. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial and Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver.

House Bill 1298 would strengthen background checks, including closing what’s known as the Charleston loophole. That refers to the 2015 shooting in an African American church in Charleston, South Carolina that killed nine people. The loophole allowed the murderer to acquire a firearm without a background check because the check did not come back to the seller in the required three days. Colorado has a similar law; if a background check does not come back within three days, the seller must provide the firearm to the buyer. Under HB 1298, the dealer would have to contact the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for permission to transfer the weapon to the buyer.

The bill also bans the sale of firearms to those convicted of violent misdemeanors, including third-degree assault, sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact, violation of a protective order, crimes against at-risk persons, harassment, bias-motivated crimes, cruelty to animals, possession of an illegal weapon and providing a firearm other than a handgun to a juvenile.

HB 1298 also clarifies the law around transfers of firearms, requiring licensed gun dealers to obtain a background check for those transfers. The sponsors are Reps. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder and Steven Woodrow, D-Denver.

The third bill is Senate Bill 256, which repeals a State law that forbids local governments from enacting firearms laws that are stricter than existing State law. Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, pointed out that a Boulder district court judge overturned a Boulder City Council resolution that banned assault weapons within the city of Boulder. That order came just 10 days before the shooting at the Boulder King Soopers, although the shooter used a pistol, not an assault weapon. 

The two House bills are both scheduled for committee hearings in the coming week.