DENVER—Gov. Bill Ritter has signed nine bills into law aimed at protecting forests and rivers and improving the state’s child welfare system.
The bills, signed Wednesday, include measures allowing homeowners to deduct some wildfire-mitigation costs from their state income taxes, providing a tax break for wood products made from beetle-killed trees, creating a fund to remove beetle-killed trees and authorizing up to $50 million in bonds to pay for river and forest projects.
Other measures create a panel to study the state child-welfare program and recommend improvements, and to make Medicaid available to young adults who have left foster care but aren’t eligible for federal health-care benefits.
Ritter also signed a measure allowing art galleries to serve alcohol for up to four hours a day for up to 15 days a year.
