The 2015 legislative session began last week with the swearing in ceremonies on Wednesday, January 7. With the exception of the opening speeches and initial pre-file bills, most matters of policy have yet to surface. The remarkable change for this year is the shift of power in the Senate. The Democrat control of the past ten years is now over, with my party (Republican) now holding a slim 18-17 vote majority. I have been elected by my caucus as assistant majority leader and I was appointed to serve as chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee and vice-chairman of the Judiciary Committee. I continue to serve as the chairman of the Republican Study Committee of Colorado (RSCC.us). This change is huge. No longer can the Democrats ram through radical election laws, more Obamacare policies, gun control bills, tax and fee increases, new programs and regulations, and the list goes on... And we can now put forward good ideas that will at least get a fair hearing and a vote on the senate floor. My first bill is a good example: SB-45 is concerning educational tax credits, encouraging home and private schools, while saving the state a significant amount of money. The opening day speeches were also quite telling. The new senate minority leader (Morgan Carroll - Democrat) bragged about all of the great programs they had put in place in previous years, how prosperous the state now was, and (ironically) how we needed to put more programs in place (read more taxes) to help all of the Colorado citizens who were still in desperate need of prosperity. Senate president Bill Cadman spoke of building relationships, a little about his family, supporting businesses by getting rid of unnecissary regulations, and returning the states excess TABOR revenues to the people. Everyone in the room clapped for these commonsence points, except for returning the excess funds to the people. On that point all Republicans clapped. All Democrats sat on their hands. We are a split legislature, with the Democrats still in control of the House, so there is more work to be done before we can expect significant change in Colorados policies, but for now I am enjoying the progress we have made.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 00:06:16 +0000
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