Opinion Editorials
Opinion editorials written by Senators and staff do not necessarily reflect the position of the entire caucus.
COOKE: More price controls are the wrong Rx for health care in Colorado
While impeachment dominates the national news cycle, one policy debate lingers just below the surface: how to deal with “surprise medical bills.” One proposal would use the heavy hand of government to impose price controls on treatments subject to surprise billing.
LUNDEEN: No more kicking the can down the (potholed) road
For years — decades even — Coloradans have called upon the General Assembly to prioritize Colorado’s outdated transportation infrastructure. Our elected officials have for so long kicked this proverbial can down the (potholed) road that the Colorado Department of Transportation now has a backlog of anywhere from $7 billion to $9 billion in projects. To put that in perspective, that’s nearly a fourth of Colorado’s entire budget this year.
GARDNER & LUNDEEN: All is not well at the Colorado Civil Rights Division and Commission, as suspected
By Senators Bob Gardner and Paul Lundeen The recent audit of the Colorado civil rights division and the commission was nothing short of damning. Failure to properly abide by state law by holding all deliberations and votes behind closed doors, a lackluster ability to...
NAUMANN: Colorado’s economic success doesn’t need a nudge from the guv
In 1996, a young Colorado entrepreneur had the foresight to take his parents’ greeting card business online and the charming if not annoying e-cards were born. That entrepreneur, Jared Polis, was just 24 years old when that company was sold for over $700 million. Alas, there was no Office of Domain Registration, no Office of Graphic Design, and certainly no Office of the Future of Work — yet the governor still seemed to make it in such a confusing economic environment.
HOLBERT: Protecting our schools requires results, not rhetoric
Last week, the Colorado General Assembly held its first meeting of the interim School Safety Committee. On the heels of the STEM School Shooting in May, leadership in both the House and Senate — and on both sides of the aisle — decided to craft the committee in the hopes of identifying ways for the state to assist the 178 local school districts in Colorado secure their schools and provide resources for students dealing with mental health issues.
NAUMANN: GOP’s slowdown saved Colorado from some bad policy
Rampant with quixotic legislation, procedural gamesmanship, long-winded attorneys, and blizzard buffoonery, this past session of the Colorado General Assembly would have been quite entertaining if not so potentially devastating. As Democrats in the legislature take a victory lap — claiming each and every piece of legislation they nursed across the finish line and onto Gov. Polis’ desk as a “victory” for the working class — they are not-so-subtly declaring that in order for the average citizen to claim this victory, his power as an individual must be surrendered to a government that knows better than he.
NAUMANN: Who fought for teacher pay during the 2019 session?
If you think back to April of 2018, you may remember a sea of red-shirt-clad teachers, armed with creative signage and megaphones, storming the state Capitol to demand an increase in their salaries. They lobbied lawmakers, sat in the hallways, and sang “We’re Not Gonna Take It” under the Golden Dome.
NAUMANN: In Colorado, Democrats made their decision
Former Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper boasts of our state’s outstanding economic recovery. At the same time, he hems and haws over whether he’s a capitalist or not. But for the Democrats running the state’s government in the post-Hickenlooper era, they have chosen a different path.
GARDNER: Colorado’s youth deserve a better juvenile justice system
Colorado has made remarkable improvements to its juvenile justice system resulting in safer communities and fewer youth unnecessarily incarcerated. Due to bipartisan policy solutions, juvenile arrests declined 18 percent and filings to juvenile district court decreased 9 percent between 2012 and 2016; new commitments to the Division of Youth Services have decreased 22 percent since 2013.
Despite these accomplishments, the juvenile justice system still needs to do more to strengthen public safety and make sure youth stay crime-free. Though Colorado spends more than $130 million annually on the juvenile justice system, more than half of incarcerated youth discharged from state custody recidivate after two or three years, and more than a third of youth who complete probation have a new case filed within three years.
HOLBERT: Here’s how Democrats should have responded last week when we tried to slow things down
It’s no surprise that Coloradans are a bit unsettled by what happened in the state Senate last week. I’m hoping to offer some clarity as to what happened, why it happened, and how it might be avoided in the future. In just the last few weeks, bills have been introduced that jeopardize Colorado’s robust energy industry; trample on at least the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution; repeal the death penalty without consulting the voters; and increase our income tax rates with what is brazenly labeled as a “fee.”