Highlights from the Legislature on Friday:
— The House approved and sent to the Senate a bill (House Bill 1335) that would leverage up to $1 billion in funds from school trust lands—farms, ranches and commercial property that are owned by the state to provide money for public schools. The sponsor, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said children deserve a safe, healthy place to go to school. He said 88 percent of Colorado schools have reported health or safety problems, but 80 out of the 178 school districts can’t raise enough money to fix them.
— The House and Senate passed a resolution (House Joint Resolution 1010) designating U.S. 285 through the mountains to the Western Slope as the Ralph Carr Memorial Highway in honor of the former Colorado governor. Carr was recognized for protecting Japanese citizens during World War II, when many were being sent to internment camps.
— The House gave initial approval to a measure (House Bill 1347) allowing Wyoming police to help Denver with law enforcement duties at the Democratic National Convention in August. Their authority will expire after the convention ends.
— The House approved Senate amendments and sent to the governor a bill (House Bill 1200) that would bar participation in computer-assisted remote hunting, which allow people to use computers to fire weapons and hunt animals.
— The Senate Appropriations Committee delayed a vote on a proposal to conduct this year’s election mainly by paper ballots (Senate Bill 189). Lawmakers are considering spending $10.8 million on the plan, about twice as much as the governor originally proposed.
— A proposal to allow homeowners to deduct up to $2,500 for wildfire mitigation costs on their state income taxes stalled in the Senate Appropriations Committee because of a tie vote. Someone would have to change their vote for the proposal (House Bill 1110) to move ahead.
— The Senate agreed to form a conference committee to work out their differences with the House over how much cities and counties should be able to charge for building permits for household solar energy projects. The Senate wants to limit permits at $300. The House said building departments should be able to charge just enough to cover their costs but it didn’t set a limit (Senate Bill 117).
