By Marianne Goodland

Legislative Reporter

The bill that would open the door to the University of Northern Colorado to have its own medical school was introduced in the State Senate on Jan. 18.

Senate Bill 56 is sponsored by Senator Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, and Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo. In the House, the sponsors are Reps. Mary Young, D-Greeley and Perry Will, R-New Castle.

The bill would allow UNC to open an osteopathic medical school. According to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, that’s a medical practice that is a “patient-centered, holistic, hands-on approach to diagnosing and treating illness and injury,” and that can also include non-traditional treatment. Osteopaths view all body systems as interrelated. That’s in contrast to allopathic or more traditional medicine, which is focused on treating the symptoms of the disease with medications and diagnostic procedures like x-rays and blood tests. Osteopaths are licensed as physicians and can practice in any area, including surgery and prescribe medication.

UNC commissioned a feasibility study last year that recommended the university move forward with the new medical school, citing an aging physician workforce and that the State needs more primary care physicians that can be provided by existing medical schools. 

Colorado has two medical schools: the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora and the for-profit Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Parker. 

Sonnenberg has said that allowing UNC to open a medical school will be a win-win for northern Colorado. 

A bipartisan group of lawmakers hope to restructure the membership of the Colorado State Fair Authority board of directors, with an eye to ensuring more agricultural and Eastern Plains representation.

Senate Bill 42 is sponsored by Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, and Will. 

Coram has been among the most ardent advocates for ensuring agricultural and/or Eastern Plains representation on boards and commissions.

Under current law, representation on the 11-member board, with 10 appointed by the governor, includes two residents of Pueblo County, one resident from each of the seven congressional districts, and one person who holds an at-large seat.

SB42 would terminate all appointments on the board of authority on Oct. 31. The Governor could then appoint eight new members, representing the state’s four agricultural districts. Under the bill, the Governor would be required to reappoint existing members to represent their current agricultural districts.

Seven of the top 10 agricultural counties in the state are in northeastern Colorado, including Phillips and Yuma counties, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Governor Jared Polis’ attempts to exclude Republicans and Eastern Plains representation on boards and commissions has dogged him throughout his first term. In the 2021 session, for the first time, the state Senate rejected a Polis appointment to the state groundwater commission. 

SB 42 also requires at least one member from each agricultural district to be involved in production agriculture. At least three members of the board must be unaffiliated for at least one year prior to appointment. No more than six can be members of the governor’s political party.

Finally, the bill requires that at least one member reside east of both US 87 and Colorado 287.

That would ensure representation on the Eastern Plains, Coram told this reporter, given that US 87 enters southeastern Colorado, runs through Lamar and north to Limon, and that Colorado 287 runs east of Greeley.

The bill is scheduled for the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on Feb. 1.

A bill to allow visitation at health care facilities was introduced on Jan. 18, but then assigned to the State Affairs Committee, which is often referred to as a “kill” committee in the Senate. SB 53 is slated for a Feb. 1 hearing. Sonnenberg and Rep. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, are the sponsors.

Sonnenberg’s SB 38, which would allow hospitals to show the portion of the hospital provider fee billed to patients, is also scheduled for the State Affairs committee on Feb. 1.

In other news: a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of SB21-116, which barred most Colorado schools from using Native American mascots, is now before the Colorado Court of Appeals, but a scheduling conference held on Jan. 20 shows that the legal battle could stretch out far beyond the deadline for schools to change their mascots or face a $25,000 per month fine.

The lawsuit, filed by the conservative Mountain States Legal Foundation, originally sought a preliminary injunction to delay the law from going into effect, but a Colorado District Court judge ruled against it, citing no “irreparable harm” to the plaintiffs, which included several from Yuma. 

The defendants, which include Governor Jared Polis and Kathryn Redhorse, Executive Director of the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs, proposed that dispositive motions (a motion for judgment or to dismiss) in response to the plaintiffs’ motions be scheduled no later than June 30. That’s well after the June 1 deadline for schools to change their mascots, subject to approval by the CCIA. 

The CCIA has been slow to act on requests for approvals and inconsistent on which mascots are OK and which aren’t.

For example, Thunderbird is the mascot of Johnson Elementary School in Montrose. The school is on a CCIA list of banned mascots. However, at least two other schools, Sangre de Cristo High School in Mosca and Hinkley High in Aurora, both have Thunderbirds as their mascot and are not on the CCIA list.