The 2011 legislative session has concluded. This new session of the Colorado General Assembly presented us with both new opportunities and some difficult challenges. As your State Representative I am committed to ensuring that Colorado's government works for Colorado. I introduced several bills this session intended to address issues facing Colorado and the concerns of my constituents.
As families throughout the State are faced with increasingly difficult financial decisions the cost of providing heath care for dependent children has become a strain on too many households. Changes in the Health Care and Insurance industries have caused many insurance providers to withdraw "Child-Only" policies from the individual market. These policies are designed to provide coverage to children whose parents are unable to enroll their children as dependents on their own plan as well as uninsured parents who wish to purchase insurance coverage for their children. For some children these policies are the only affordable way to access necessary and preventative medical care. I have proposed a bill that would once again make these policies available on the individual market. The bill would require all providers in the individual health insurance market to offer child-only plans for families of children who are unable to obtain coverage through other means. As a result of this requirement a greater number of insurers would be underwriting coverage to this population and the cost of providing care to children under child-only policies could be significantly reduced. A more competitive market for child-only policies would benefit both the industry as a whole as well as those children who have no other pathway to affordable care.
I am currently involved in sponsoring a bill that would allow for more efficient and timely prosecution of campaign finance regulations. This bill would prevent persons and organizations from "gaming" the system by purposely evading campaign finance inquiries, including cases when these persons or organizations evade the service of a subpoena or intentionally "run out the clock" by failing to answer or appear until after an election has already taken place. I believe that this bill is an important step towards more fair and transparent elections that will enable Colorado, in partnership with the Office of the Secretary of State, to address serious violations of existing campaign finance laws.
The State of Colorado currently requires certain background checks for most childcare providers and early childhood education teachers. However, the current law does not mandate background checks for childcare providers that are comprehensive enough to determine if a provider has a record of sexual or other disqualifying crimes committed in states outside Colorado. It was recently brought to my attention that there have been cases involving inappropriate conduct in childcare settings where a more comprehensive background check may have alerted parents and authorities to past criminal history if such a record had been conducted and made readily available. I am introducing legislation that would require more thorough background checks for all childcare providers and allow parents greater access to this information.
In partnership with Sen. Keith King I am sponsoring a bipartisan bill to establish a Higher Education Interim Committee to determine the best ways to effect change in Colorado's higher education system. As a State we are engaged in a necessary and on-going discussion about how to improve elementary and high school education. As a part of this discussion I believe we also need to examine the problems and issues facing higher education in Colorado. A post-secondary education is the single most influential factor in a competitive job market. Despite record unemployment and under-employment funding for our universities, colleges and vocational schools is diminishing at a precipitous rate. Recent data from the Colorado Department of Higher Education shows that Colorado has some of the lowest timely college graduation rates in the country. A staggering number of students who enter a degree program never finish their degree. The Higher Education Interim committee proposed by this bipartisan bill will bring legislators, business people, and representatives from the higher education community together to look for evidence-based solutions to these problems.
The Colorado General Assembly is comprised of the 65-member State House of Representatives and 35 Senators that make up the State Senate. Speaker of the House Frank McNulty and Majority Leader Amy Stephens preside over the State House of Representatives. The State Senate is presided over by President Brandon Schaffer and Majority Leader Sen. John P. Morse." The House Democrats are led by House Minority Leader Sal Pace of Pueblo, Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Todd of Arapahoe County, Minority Whip Claire Levy of Boulder and Democratic Caucus Chair Lois Court of Denver.
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