Owens vetoes bills on gym teachers, taxes
Republican Gov. Bill Owens vetoed two bills Thursday.
House Bill 1021 would have prohibited school districts from hiring physical education teachers unless the person met additional criteria, such as having a physical education endorsement.
“I believe current law adequately ensures high-quality physical education in our schools,” Owens wrote in his veto letter.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Debbie Benefield, D-Arvada, said in a statement, “There is nothing in state statute, or in No Child Left Behind, or in current teacher licensing requirements that specifies the qualifications and training for PE teachers in Colorado.”
Owens also vetoed Senate Bill 52, which would have allowed counties to ask voters to raise sales taxes above set limits to benefit open space.
“I still believe that increased taxation is not the best approach to expanding open space,” he wrote.
Discrimination clause stays in insurance bill
The House on Thursday approved a proposal that would require health insurance companies to use a standard format for their contracts with doctors, despite objections from Republicans over a provision that bars doctors from discriminating against gays.
Republicans said the amendment banning discrimination based on sexual orientation was added to Senate Bill 198 by Democrats as part of an attempt to expand gay rights.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said the ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation is already the policy of the American Medical Association and is included in many contracts.
Gordon lacks votes for redistricting measure
Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon said Thursday that he doesn’t have the 24 votes needed to pass his proposed constitutional amendment (Senate Concurrent Resolution 8) that would require nonpartisan staffers to write the state’s redistricting plan. Unless he gets the votes, the measure will die when the session ends, he said.
In other action
The Senate gave preliminary approval to House Bill 1411 to prevent governments from taking land for economic development.
Drivers would no longer have to take their cars in for emissions testing under House Bill 1302, which the Senate gave preliminary approval to Thursday. A remote device would test cars on the road and inform drivers if they passed or failed.
The Senate gave preliminary approval to a measure that would ask voters whether they want school districts to devote “at least 65 percent of operational expenditures” to “services directly affecting student achievement.”
The House approved on a 39-26 vote Senate Bill 81, adding sexual orientation to the list of characteristics for which discrimination is barred in hiring, firing or promoting employees. The bill now goes to the governor.
Lawmakers struggled to find a compromise to cover a projected $11 billion shortfall in the state pension plan Thursday in an effort to avoid being called back to work by Gov. Bill Owens after the end of the session next week.
The Senate gave preliminary approval to House Bill 1343, which would prohibit the state and local governments from hiring contractors that knowingly employ undocumented workers.
The House killed Senate Bill 141, which would have required hospitals to disclose financial, patient and staffing information to the state health department.
The House approved Senate Bill 227, which would require applicants to public health programs to identify their employer. It would require businesses with 500 or more employees on public health programs to report how much they spend on health care. It also would require the disclosures to be public.
