Today was the last day of the 2009 legislative session. Tomorrow, I become the President of the Colorado Senate. I am proud of the work we’ve done this session to support struggling families, and I pledge to continue to help Coloradans with the work we will do next year.
In this economy, we knew families across Colorado would need our help. Whether it’s helping to pay for health care, or provide their kids with a good education. Whether it’s helping people find good jobs after losing them or keeping their neighborhoods safe. We were prepared to help. We have families of our own, and we’ve heard the concern coming from our homes and the questions coming from our districts. “How are we going to get through the recession?” “How are we going to support our families?” “How are we going to make sure our kids our healthy and happy?”
We listened to those questions as we went into the session, and we heard those concerns from our districts while we debated on the floor. And this session we passed significant legislation to provide affordable health care, support our children and their parents in school, help people avoid foreclosure, and support autistic families statewide.
When we heard people ask how they will pay for healthcare, we answered with the Colorado Health Care Affordability Act. This Act will help the people of Colorado by covering more than 100,000 uninsured Coloradans and lowering health care costs for those who already have insurance. The hospitals supported this bill because they knew they will benefit from the increased Medicaid and Colorado Indigent Care Program rates. It will also help the state of Colorado, which will benefit from the $600 million coming in from the federal government.
When we heard people ask how they could support their children’s education, we answered with parental involvement. This bill allows parents to take limited unpaid leave from their jobs without the fear of being fired to participate in important meetings with their children’s teachers. This will allow parents to be a part of their child’s education, whether it’s for teachers’ conferences to talk about their child’s progress or principal’s office visits to talk about their child’s problems.
When we heard people ask how they could stay in their homes despite debt and job loss, we answered with Foreclosure Assistance. This bill keeps people in their homes by helping responsible borrowers work with their lenders during a 3-month time-out period. They can work together to get back on track, stay in their homes, and avoid foreclosure.
And finally, when we heard from the autistic community about how medical bills were impacting their child’s treatment and their families’ finances, we introduced SB 244. This was a bill I sponsored to make sure insurance companies cover the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders. With an approximate cost of 5 million dollars to care for a person with autism throughout his or her life—two-thirds of which could be avoided by early intervention treatments—this bill could not have come at a better time.
We are supporting families throughout the state and will keeping supporting them in years to come. As you can see, we listened to your concerns and did what we could to continue to support all families in Colorado. But we are just getting started! Our work is not done, and we will continue this work next session.
Personal Legislative Summary
Here’s a rundown of the bills I passed this year:
SB09-062
Troops to Teachers
Provides financial incentives for our troops to become teachers, strengthening our economy and our education system. Puts prospective teachers into the classroom, especially in rural and high-needs areas, without any fiscal impact to the state’s budget.
HB09-1291
Veterans Resource Info Clearinghouse
Helps our brave servicemen and women get back on their feet by establishing a resource for veterans and their families to access information about support services through governmental and nonprofit entities.
HJR09-1007
Military Veterans, Missing in Action, and Prisoners of War Appreciation Day
Salutes Colorado’s ranks of military servicemen and women for their dedication, courage, heroism, and sacrifice.
SB09-244
Insurance Coverage Autism Spectrum Disorders
Makes healthcare manageable for autistic people and their families by requiring insurance companies to cover treatments such as behavior management, medication, and occupational, physical, and speech therapies.
HB09-1237
Developmental Disabled Early Intervention Services
Improves lifelong learning for children with special needs by making it easier for kids with developmental disabilities to receive early intervention services.
SB09-281
Pinnacol Assurance
Pinnacol Assurance is Colorado’s insurer of last resort for workers’ compensation. It is a state entity but operates with a lot of autonomy from the state. This bill calls for a performance audit of Pinnacol and convenes an interim committee to investigate the organization’s operations.
SJR09-044
Interim Commission to Study Fiscal Stability
Establishes an interim committee to study the fiscal stability of the state, including long-term solutions for higher education, transportation funding, and affordable access to healthcare. The committee will also develop a five-year strategic plan that may be amended annually to reflect existing economic realities.
HB09-1346
Recovery and Reinvestment Financing Act
Improves our schools, increases our investments in clean energy projects, and brings more jobs to our state by allowing local governments to maximize the federal stimulus money to finance energy conservation projects, school construction, and economic development bonds.
HB09-1126
Encourage Solar Thermal Installations
Brings more green-collar jobs to Colorado, expands the New Energy Economy, and promotes sustainability and eco-consciousness by letting local governments provide incentives for solar thermal installations. Also establishes a corresponding exemption from state sales and use tax.
HB09-1326
Integrity of Citizen-Initiated Petitions
Strengthens our direct democracy and ensures the integrity of our ballot initiatives by preventing petition fraud, streamlining and strengthening the petition review process, and expanding the residency status review.
SJR09-031
Braille Literacy
Recognizes that Braille provides people who are blind the power of knowledge, expanding their opportunities, and equipping them with the tools to be productive and imaginative contributors to society.
HB09-1316
Judge and Law Enforcement Info Private
Protects the privacy of peace officers by forbidding the posting of personal information about a law enforcement official online.
HB09-1318
Overweight Vehicle Permits
Strengthens the economy in rural areas by improving the permitting process for overweight vehicles hauling agricultural products and other goods.
HB09-1307
Colorado Channel
Expands television coverage of state government proceedings by establishing the Colorado Channel Authority.
SB09-139
Uniform Principal and Income Act Amendments
Aligns our state’s laws concerning the “Uniform Principle and Income Act” with those of other states.
HB09-1248
Business Entities Regulation
Streamlines filing and record keeping operations in the Business Division in the Department of State.
Posted by SenatorShaffer in Blog []