Beth McCann

Press Releases

  • February Newsletter

    Hello friends and neighbors!

    I hope your new year has started off well! Mine is certainly busy. As I am sure you know the legislative session started this week with inspiring speeches by the House Speaker, Terrance Carroll, the Minority leader Mike May, and most notably an excellent State of the State address by Governor Bill Ritter. I hope some of you were able to hear it. We have lots of work to do with fewer resources than we even anticipated. It is a challenging and exciting time in our state.

    Let me start off by thanking those of you serving on my committees. The committees have all met, and I am thrilled by the number of people who are willing to serve and by the level of knowledge and expertise we have here in the district on so many topics. The committees are: Education, Health/Human Services, Judiciary/Criminal Justice, Finance/Budget and Energy/Natural Resources. I have decided not to have the Transportation Committee meet this year as there was not a great deal of interest and I don't anticipate many transportation bills. If you would like to join any of the committees, please do so by letting Carolyn Cole know at cmcole09@gmail.com. The members will be providing me with feedback during the session and hopefully proposing new legislation for next year! I have already starting sending them bills to review.

    I also would like to encourage each of you, if possible, to contribute to the huge task facing the relief workers in Haiti. What a heart wrenching tragedy! There is some information about how to get involved and contribute at www.huffingtonpost.com/2010 or you may contribute to the American Red Cross at http://americanredcross.org/HaitiRelief or Doctors without Borders: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org. Beware of organizations or individuals with whom you are not familiar who are soliciting donations.

    Here is a synopsis of the bills I will be carrying and co-sponsoring this year.
    The list may grow longer as the Session gets fully underway. I still have some under consideration.

    1) I am co-sponsoring a bill to eliminate gender discrimination in health insurance premiums in the individual market. Right now, women pay more for the same coverage as men until about age 50 at which time men pay more. These are for policies that do not include maternity care so that is not the basis on which women pay more. The insurance companies state that women use medical care more than men before age 50 but they are pretty vague on any specifics. This practice is already prohibited for large employer based plans that are regulated by the federal government.

    2) I am co-sponsoring a bill to require health insurance policies in the individual market to offer maternity coverage (pre-natal care). It is almost impossible for a woman to purchase health insurance outside of an employment situation that provides maternity coverage.

    3) I am co-sponsoring a bill to require a bona fide patient/physician relationship in the area of medical marijuana. This bill would require that a physician physically examine a patient and his or her medical records before writing a recommendation to allow the person to use medical marijuana. The doctor would be required to provide followup care to see if the marijuana is helping and there would be limits on the time frame for writing a recommendation. It also prohibits a doctor from having a financial interest in a marijuana dispensary and from being paid by dispensaries for writing recommendations. It will allow the Board of Medical Examiners more power in regulating activities of physicians in this area.

    4) a bill to allow county jails to establish industry work programs for jail inmates that will pay them a comparable wage to workers on the outside for products that will be sold on the market. The Dept. of Corrections already operates several of these programs for state inmates, and they have proven to be an important way for inmates to learn marketable skills and to accumulate some income so when they are released, they have some skills and resources to assist them in becoming productive citizens. In order to start a program, the county jails need to be able to provide workers comp coverage which is now prohibited by statute.

    5) a bill to set campaign contribution limits on school board and RTD races. Currently, there are no limits and in the last Denver school board race, one candidate got close to $100,000 from one individual. The bill also increases reporting requirements for these races. I am not a huge fan of campaign contribution limits because I believe it causes money to be contributed into 527s which can then operate independently from the candidates and don't have to report contributions. However, if all other races have limits, it is not appropriate that these races have no limits and there needs to be more transparency.

    6) a bill to establish a new license plate, "Adopt a Shelter Pet" which will provide funding to animal shelters to enable them to spay/neuter and provide veterinary care for animals so that the animal is more likely to be adopted. Particularly in rural areas, shelters are not able to pay the veterinary expenses and since the law currently requires that shelter pets be spayed or neutered in order to be adopted, this bill should help more families adopt a shelter animal.

    7) a bill to clarify that part-time youth sports coaches are not employees of the youth sports association but rather act as independent contractors. This is the way the associations have been operating but there was an administrative decision recently involving Colorado Fusion (the Denver and Aurora soccer club) that would require the associations to provide unemployment insurance and probably workers comp. to these coaches. This would cause the associations to charge higher rates to families to participate or to pay the coaches less to make up the cost of this insurance.

    8) a bill that will allow the Dept. of Health Care Policy and Finance to contract out the administration of the Medicaid Dental program in an effort to encourage more dentists to participate in Medicaid. There are several counties in Colorado in which there are no dentists who accept Medicaid patients. This bill is designed to encourage more dentists to participate, particularly with respect to children.

    9) a bill to codify current practice with respect to juveniles who are on escape status. The bill will clarify that the juvenile's sentence is stayed while he or she is on escape status.

    I am carrying a few clean up bills as well but these are the main ones. Please feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions.

    Military Day at the Capitol

    Visit the capitol on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. This day is set aside to honor our vets and current military personnel. I would love to have any of our HD8 veterans or current military personnel and their families join me for this special day. My father who is now deceased was a career army man, fought in World War II, and then retired as Assistant Commandant of Cadets at Virginia Tech, his alma mater, where he worked with young people who joined the Tech Corps of Cadets. Contact my office at 303.866.2959 if you are interested in attending military day.

    As always, you can watch the House on The Colorado Channel on your TV at Comcast Channel 165 or on your computer at www.coloradochannel.net. The State's legislative website can lead you to lots of information at www.leg.state.co.us and the House Democrat's website posts breaking news as well as biographies, photographs and district maps.... www.coloradohouse.org.

    Democratic caucuses will take place on Tuesday March 16th in the evening so Democrats put that on your calendars! I will need delegates to the County Assembly and would love to have any of you volunteer to go to the assembly where I will be nominated for my next term!


    Census workers are currently only knocking on doors to verify address information. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information to anyone, even if they claim they need it for the U.S. Census. While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, the Census Bureau will not ask for Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers nor will employees solicit donations.

    Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail, or in person at home. However, the Census Bureau will not contact you by Email, so be on the lookout for Email scams impersonating the Census.

    Never click on a link or open any attachments in an Email that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau.


    Hope to see you soon! Stay in touch.

    Beth

  • August 2009

    August 2009

    Greetings Neighbors and Friends,

    I apologize that I haven’t been in communication very much this summer. I recently returned from three weeks in Uganda and have spent the last several weeks getting caught up on hundreds of emails, regular mail, legislative committees, and my work for the Attorney General’s office. Needless to say, it has been busy!

    I’m back and ready to gear up for the next legislative session as well as my campaign for 2010! Before I talk more about that, though, I wanted to just say a few words about our trip to Africa. I went with a group of high school and college students as well as adults from the Montview Presbyterian Church. We were working with a Ugandan man who started a foundation, the Foundation for the Development of Needy Communities, several years ago. He is a very impressive young man – dedicated to helping Ugandans develop their country and become self sufficient. He started a school for special needs children which is headed by his mother and a vocational school where young people learn various skills and trades.

    Our group was there to build a boys’ dormitory for the vocational school. The girls already have a dorm. We worked with some of the students who are learning construction. When we arrived, the students were just beginning to put large rocks down for the foundation. Here is a picture of how it looked when we started.

    We quickly went to work, moving rocks, bricks and heavy large containers of water for concrete and mortar. (The water had to be brought from the river.) The sand that was brought to use for the mortar was not sifted so we spent quite a bit of time sifting sand with a large framed screen to get the rocks out. Talk about building up arm strength! We also helped to mix, move, and pour concrete and mortar and eventually we helped lay the bricks. (There were some trained brick layers so that helped a lot!). Here are some pictures to show the raising of the dorm. By the time we left, all the bricks were laid and the roof trusses were up! The roof still had to be put on and the windows and doors put in but everything else was complete! It was very satisfying to see the results of all of that work.

    We also spent some time playing with the special needs children, some of whom were physically disabled, others mentally disabled, and one deaf girl. Although they face many obstacles, they are like children everywhere – happy and excited to see us! Here are some pictures of them – we brought some toys which they really appreciated.

    On several afternoons, we went up into the mountains and visited more remote villages where living conditions are extremely primitive – no running water, no electricity, 7 or 8 children sleeping on a mat on the dirt floor, no furniture except some homes had beds. The houses are made of mud and thatched roofs. Here are few pictures of these visits.

    Despite the hardships, the people were all very friendly and seemed relatively happy. They were proud to show us their homes. The thing that really struck me, though, was how little sanitation there is and what great health needs there are. Probably the greatest need is to get clean water. It is easy to see how diseases spread so rapidly. It was also striking to meet so many children who have been orphaned because of AIDS. We visited an orphanage started by three CU students who were there studying and were so appalled at the living conditions for some orphans, they stayed and opened an orphanage! Here are some pictures from that orphanage. We also visited a beautiful water fall and here is a picture of that as well. If you look closely you can see the rainbow over the falls!

    We also visited several schools. Everywhere we visited, the children welcomed us so enthusiastically! They would surround the bus and sing and wave. They welcomed us with formal singing welcoming us to their schools or orphanages and were not at all shy around us foreigners. They also loved to play “futball” with us – the universal game (soccer as we would say). In this picture, you can see what they use for soccer balls – plastic bags rolled up around each other and tied together with string or cords.

    In one of the villages, we met women who were making beads for necklaces, bracelets, and earrings from strips of paper from magazines. Some of you may have seen these through “Beads for Life.” They showed us how to make them and, of course, we bought many of them. It was really nice to see the women being productive and being able to bring some money to the village. Here is a picture of some of them.

    Montview will continue to support the Foundation and contribute both financially and through trips to Uganda. It is important work and the needs are great.
    We ended the trip with a magnificent rafting trip down the Nile and a bungee jump over the Nile. Yes, I bungee jumped from the platform you can see in this picture. I was one of only two adults who did it!

    So, back to Colorado and what is happening here. Nationally, of course, the health care reform debate is center stage at the moment. I actually read a book about the need for health care reform while I was traveling so when I was in the Dallas airport and saw on TV some of the protests at a health care town hall meeting, I was stunned. I guess the need for reform seems so obvious to me, it’s hard for me to understand the vitriolic and intense nature of the protests. Anyway, I am not going to go into a discussion of the national health care debate as there is plenty of material available to consider. I would just urge everyone to contact Rep. Diana DeGette, Sen. Mark Udall, and Sen. Michael Bennet to emphasize to them how important it is to keep a public option in the legislation. We must show them that there are just as many people, more people really, who support what they are doing and they need to hang tough!

    I am a member of two very interesting and exciting task forces this summer and fall:

    1) Health Care Task Force – We have had three meetings and have had several very informative and interesting presentations on health care in Colorado ranging from the funding of community health centers to the issue of gender bias in insurance rates. Like all states, Colorado struggles with how to provide accessible quality health care to all its citizens. I expect we will suggest some bills for this session but I don’t think the committee will agree on any major overhauls particularly in light of the national efforts. The meetings are open and anyone may attend. Our next meeting is on Monday Aug. 31 from 9 to 4 in HCR 0112 in the State Capitol. We will be listening to presentations regarding the national health care proposals, chronic care issues, Denver drug strategy, telemedicine and funding for health care. Please join us.

    2) Sentencing Reform Task Force – I am on the task force which is a task force of the larger Criminal and Juvenile Justice Commission. We are looking at sentencing reform in several areas including drug laws, escape, probation, and maximum/minimum/aggravated sentences. I am on the subcommittee looking at maximum/minimum and aggravated sentences. The subcommittee met for the first time this week, and we are making great progress on simplifying and consolidating statutes regarding aggravation of sentences. The next larger task force meeting is on Wednesday August 26 from 1 to 5 p.m. at 12345 W. Alameda Parkway in Lakewood. These meetings are open to the public.

    There are a few other things I just want to mention in case anyone is interested:

    1) The City of Denver has put out a proposed new zoning code for the entire city. I’m sure some of you are familiar with it. You can go to www.newcodedenver.org for more information. This is an important document to study to see how your neighborhood might be affected. There is a meeting on Wednesday Aug. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. at National Jewish Hospital at 1400 Jackson St. in the Molly Blank Building for a presentation regarding some of the changes which is open to the public. You can also contact your City Councilperson for more details.

    2) Some of you may know that there is an effort afoot to expand the Vehicle Impound ordinance that was passed last year in Denver. This ordinance requires that cars be impounded if a person is stopped without a current drivers’ license. If you are interested in learning more about this issue, there is a coalition meeting on Sept. 9 from 4 to 5:30 at the SEIU Local 105 building at 2525 W. Alameda Ave. (west side of the building)

    3) The Colorado State Fair is going on in Pueblo this weekend – might be a great weekend to check it out and support our fair!

    4) Greater Park Hill Neighborhood Association is sponsoring a political forum on Sept. 15th at 7 p.m. at Bogie’s in the City Park Golf Club at 28th and York. I will be speaking as well as Senator Michael Johnston.

    5) If you are interested in meeting Mary Seawell, a young woman running for the at large seat on the Denver School Board, I am co-hosting an event for her on Sept. 10 at 5 p.m. at Strings Restaurant. The asking contribution is $50.

    That’s it for now. Please do not hesitate to call or email with suggestion for legislation for next year or any other issues you wish to discuss. 303-358-9247 beth@bethmccann.org

    Enjoy the rest of the summer!

    Beth



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