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

Representative Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, finished up his third legislative session as one of the most effective members of the Republican House caucus. Twelve of the 13 measures he sponsored headed to the Governor’s desk, his best year ever. He went six-for-six in House bills he sponsored and six-for-seven in Senate bills he sponsored. 

Among his wins in 2021: creation of the Behavioral Health Administration, which Governor Jared Polis signed in April. House Bill 1097 is intended to consolidate behavioral health programs scattered across multiple State agencies and house those programs in what could be a standalone State agency. 

Two of the three other bills dealing with mental health services and sponsored by Pelton have been signed into law, including House Bill 1021, part of an effort to create a behavioral health workforce. The law, signed on June 18, identifies a variety of peer-run organizations that assist people with substance abuse and mental health services and allows those organizations to seek reimbursement from the Department of Human Services, which handles Medicaid payments.

A second Pelton-sponsored bill, House Bill 1187, which was signed in May, tasks the State’s Department of Health Care Policy and Financing with reorganizing the State’s case management system for long-term support, including for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The last bill that has not yet been signed, House Bill 1305, requires the Department of Human Services to specify education and experience requirements for licensure for addiction counselor who provide mental health services. The bill ups the number of clinical training hours for counselors from 2,000 to 3,000 and tightens education requirements.

Among the Senate bills that Pelton marshaled through the House: Senate Bill 79, which puts into law the practice of direct meat sales to consumers; Senate Bill 11, which requires pharmacists to implement new dispensing procedures for opioid medications; and Senate Bill 39, which phases out subminimum wages except under limited circumstances. Subminimum wages are paid to individuals with disabilities. 

Governor Polis has until July 8 to finish signing the 502 bills (out of 623 total) passed during the 2021 legislative session. On Monday, he signed Senate Bill 116, which requires public schools to stop using Indian mascots or risk hefty fines. Under the law, schools, including Yuma High, would have until June 1, 2022, to remove Indian mascots that are not part of agreements with Native tribes.

On June 25, Polis signed the farmworkers bill of rights, Senate Bill 87, which would allow farmworkers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. That signing came two days after the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in a case involving California farmworkers that struck down rules around when union activists can be on farm or ranch properties. The Supreme Court ruled in Cedar Point Nursery vs. Hassid that a California regulation that required agricultural employers to allow union reps on their property to unionize farmworkers is unconstitutional and a violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments. The 6-3 ruling called the regulation a “taking,” an unlawful use of the employers’ property without compensation.

The California regulation, tied to a 1975 law, said that ag employers must allow union organizers onto their property for up to three hours per day, 120 days per year. Colorado’s law is not that specific, but now that the law is signed, rulemaking becomes the job of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which will issue rules on when and where workers can meet with union reps. The Colorado law says workers must have access to “key service providers,” such as health care providers, attorneys, clergy and "any other service provider to which an agricultural worker may need access,” which could include union reps. The law says rules will be developed by Oct. 1 and in place by Jan. 1, 2022.

On June 21, Polis signed a Pelton-sponsored bill boosting the funding for Colorado Proud, the marketing program from the Colorado Department of Agriculture for Colorado products. Senate Bill 203 puts an additional $2.5 million into the program, paid for with State stimulus funds leftover from the 2019 tax year.

On June 23, the State got its first look at the maps that will decide the congressional boundaries for the 2022 election. The district covering the Eastern Plains got a lot bigger under that first map.

The map was drawn by nonpartisan staff, based on preliminary data that won’t be finalized until later this year. In the meantime, the independent commission that voters approved to handle drawing those maps are taking their show on the road, traveling to the Eastern Plains to gather citizen input. Those meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on July 9 at Lamar High School. On July 10, the commission will hold a public hearing at 11 a.m. at Burlington High School and at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling at 7 p.m.

Colorado is gaining an eighth congressional seat, and the preliminary map shows it will largely cover the northern suburbs of Broomfield, and parts of Adams, Larimer and Weld counties.

Congressional District 4, covering the Eastern Plains, got a lot bigger under the preliminary map; it includes Weld County east to the Nebraska state line, south to the New Mexico state line and then west through Pueblo and the San Luis Valley. 

The maps that will show how Colorado’s 65 House and 35 Senate legislative districts will be carved up will be released this week.