Officials in dark on disaster plan
Colorado has an elaborate plan to ensure state government will function in a natural disaster or terror attack. There’s just one problem – someone forgot to tell the lawmakers.
The clandestine blueprint includes secret locations to house legislative leaders and a chain of command if the governor and lieutenant governor were incapacitated.
But lawmakers – including some who could run the state if other top leaders were injured or killed – say they’re puzzled about how it will work if no one knows where to go or what to do.
“We’re so essential they forgot to tell us,” said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, a Democrat, who is third in line if the governor and lieutenant governor are incapacitated.
The plan, dubbed Continuity of Government, covers any disruption or attack that could shut down the Capitol or state agencies, ranging from a blizzard to total destruction.
The Republican administration of Gov. Bill Owens, which developed the plan in 2003 with the help of a consultant, left no transition memo about it when it handed over power to Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, in January, said Susan Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Department of Local Affairs.
Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Ritter, said the new administration should have been briefed.
He said the administration will do everything it can to make sure that those involved in the plan are fully informed.
Cervical-cancer vaccine bill gains
A bill to require that insurance companies cover the cost of a new cervical-cancer vaccine passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee 7-2.
House Bill 1301 also would direct the department of health to establish a public-education campaign about the cervical-cancer vaccine and the sexually transmitted virus it prevents.
The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which earlier this session killed a separate Senate proposal to require the vaccines for schoolgirls.
Driver’s-license fee hike advances
The House initially approved a bill to boost driver’s-license and specialty-plate fees to cover the costs of opening three new offices for the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Senate Bill 241 would raise the fee on a basic driver’s license from $15 to $20.40; the cost of a specialty plate would double from $25 to $50.
The new offices would be in Adams, Jefferson and Larimer counties. In addition to hiring 28 employees for those offices, the DMV would add 25 workers to existing offices around the state.
Adding 43 judges gets initial OK
The Senate gave initial approval to a bill that would add 43 new judges in Colorado during the next three years. House Bill 1054 would add 32 new district-court judges, eight county-court judges and three appellate-court judges.
Variety of bills signed into law
Gov. Bill Ritter signed a number of bills into law Thursday, including:
House Bill 1347, to improve the state’s immunization tracking program.
House Bill 1297, to increase workers’ compensation disfigurement awards.
House Bill 1317, concerning the posting of sex-offender registration information on a local law-enforcement agency website.
