The House floor at the beginning of the 2016 Colorado Legislative session at the Colorado State Capitol January 13. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)
Re: Colorado lawmakers finish session with little progress on top issues, May 11 news story.
I was disappointed to learn that politics trumped doing something good for the state when the bill to make the hospital provider fee an enterprise was killed this week on a 3-2 vote along party lines. The bill seemed to offer tremendous benefits to the state, mainly in the form of future funding for transportation infrastructure and education — and it didn t involve any taxes. Seemed like a common-sense bill to support. But common sense has no say when it comes to political fighting. Maybe if we had real and altruistic leaders in this state, perhaps we could make progress to protect Colorado long term.
The influx of new residents has been taking a toll on transportation, increased traffic and adding more students to our schools. Do any of our elected officials look at these bills with a long-term lens?
Bernard Slack, Littleton
This letter was published in the May 14 edition.For all the efforts and money expended on the hospital provider fee enterprise legislation, the state Senate Republican majority of the finance committee (Sens. Tim Neville, Owen Hill and Chris Holbert) voted along party lines to defeat it. To me, this illustrated that the long arm of Washington partisanship carried the day again.
In the meantime, Democratic Sen. Andy Kerr commented that over 320 organizations supported House Bill 1450.
This raises the question: for whom do the Colorado legislators work? This legislation may be a good reminder this fall as voters head to the polls to let their voices be heard.
Alvin Rivera, Pueblo
This letter was published in the May 14 edition.
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