Experience boosts hog-lot bill
Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, knows that hog lots can emit a powerful odor; he lives 8 miles from a commercial lot where 50,000 sows produce about 1 million pigs a year. He cited that experience Monday in helping to pass Senate Bill 114, which allows hog-lot owners to avoid legal requirements to cover lagoons of waste generated by the hogs. He said the new technology used by that factory farm has created “far, far less odor.” The bill passed on a voice vote and faces another vote in the Senate before heading to the House for its review.
CSU singers not music majors
Sens. Greg Brophy, Steve Johnson and Abel Tapia on Monday attempted to serenade the Senate by singing the Colorado State University fight song, but they croaked. So Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald enlisted some support: “Sen. (Nancy) Spence, as they say in New Jersey, ‘They need a Soprano.”‘ And suddenly they sang like angels, except Brophy, who appeared to be lip-syncing.
If Dems are soft on speakers, were Republicans too mean?
“In this body, over the years, we have … held our committees, worked hard and managed to get out by 6:00,” Rep. Lynn Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, said on the House floor Monday, complaining that Democrat- led committee hearings were running too long this year. “Hopefully we’ll do diligent work and get ourselves out of committee on time.” Hefley recently endured a session of the House Judiciary Committee that didn’t end until 11:45 p.m., she said.
But Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, said he wasn’t sure the Democrats’ chief sin – indulging witnesses who ramble – is worse than the one Republicans displayed when they were in the majority – impatience. Some Republicans who ran committees “dropped the gavel and said: ‘You’ve said enough. Goodbye,”‘ Larson recalled. “Somewhere in the middle, there’s got to be a balance, and we’ve not struck it yet.”
Employers, unions spar over providing health insurance
More than 200 labor union supporters, women’s rights activists and child health advocates gathered Monday on the steps of the Capitol to show their support for a bill that would force Colorado’s largest employers to pay for health insurance.
House Bill 1316, sponsored by state Rep. Judy Solano of Brighton, would require businesses with 3,500 or more employees to put 11 percent of total wages toward health care.
Dubbed the “anti-Wal-Mart bill” by critics, Solano’s legislation is part of a larger effort by the AFL-CIO to set minimum health benefits standards for large, private employers nationwide. Maryland adopted similar legislation last month, and 30 other states are considering such bills.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill to provide health care to workers of huge profitable corporations,” said Steve Adams, president of the Colorado AFL-CIO.
But during testimony before the House Committee on Business Affairs and Labor, business leaders voiced strong opposition to the measure, saying it was the first step toward requiring all businesses to provide health insurance, a move that could hurt the economy and ultimately cost Colorado jobs. A vote on the bill was postponed.
Statewide smoking ban clears the House, heads for Senate
The proposed statewide smoking ban made it out of the House of Representatives on Monday. Unimpeded by some Republicans’ complaints that it posed a dire threat to the rights of business owners, House Bill 1175 won a 41-24 vote and heads for the Senate. The bill would outlaw smoking in most enclosed public places, including bars and restaurants. Casino floors, the Denver International Airport smoking lounge, cigar bars, smoke shops, small businesses and family farms are exempted. Bill sponsor Rep. Mike May, R-Parker, said the bill would make for a healthier indoor environment. “There are things you can do outside that you can’t do inside,” he said.
GOP continues pursuit of Democrat office funding
Republicans continued Monday to pursue records on $83,000 of in-kind contributions to several Democratic lawmakers’ office accounts. In a letter, Republicans asked the legislature’s lawyer to further explain why certain records were not provided.
“The Republican Party is taking this very seriously, and I’ve been instructed to see this through, so if it means litigation, so be it,” said John Zakhem, a GOP attorney.
House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D- Boulder said Republicans want constituents’ personal information. She said if Republicans sue, they will be wasting taxpayers’ money because Democrats will win.
“They’ve basically intimated that they’re going to sue no matter what. It doesn’t have anything to do with truth and justice. It has to do with press releases blasting Democrats,” she said.
