Highlights from the Legislature on Tuesday.
— The House approved and sent to the Senate House Bill 1359, allowing commercial wineries to share production facilities. It faces a third reading before it goes to the Senate.
— The Senate backed nonbinding House Joint Resolution 1008 naming snowboarding and skiing as Colorado’s official winter sport. The idea was proposed by a group of fourth graders and sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, who has never snowboarded. Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, objected to one of the students who wrote that you can’t get hurt when snowboarding because the snow cushions your fall.
— The Senate agreed to changes the House made in Senate Bill 139, which requires the state labor department to tell employers about a federal program they can use to check whether their workers are in the country legally. The House changed the bill to require a disclaimer that results of the check aren’t always accurate and to remind employers that the program can be used to check the status of only new hires, not current employees. The department would have to give the information in a quarterly electronic publication that is sent to all employees.
— The Senate readopted Senate Joint Resolution 8 supporting an alternative torch relay aimed at highlighting China’s human rights record ahead of this summer’s Olympics. The House changed the resolution to require that a copy be sent to the Chinese ambassador and the Senate agreed to make that change before readopting it.
— The Senate confirmed the appointment of Bruce Oreck of Boulder to the Adams State College board of trustees after double-checking his party affiliation. When Oreck applied to serve he was an unaffiliated voter but later registered as a Democrat after becoming a Barack Obama supporter, Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada said. The board will now have five Democrats and four Republicans.
— Gov. Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 73, designed to save college students several hundred dollars a year on textbooks. The measure requires, in part, that publishers can sell books bundled with CD-ROMs and workbooks only if professors specifically ask for them. It takes effect in August.
— Ritter signed Senate Bill 116, which bars companies from firing volunteer firefighters who leave their workplace to respond to an emergency call. It takes effect immediately.
