Economy and Jobs

HB 1001 Income Tax Credit For Colorado's Job Growth: Before he left for a tour in Iraq with the Army Reserve, Rep. Joe Rice (D-Littleton) sponsored House Bill 1001 with Sen. Rollie Heath (D-Boulder) to provide tax incentives to companies that move to Colorado and create at least 20 new jobs. The new credit will allow employers to pay just half of the usually-required federal social security and Medicare taxes, for up to 10 years.

HB 1035 Clean Technology/Medical Device Tax Refund: House Bill 1035, a jobs bill sponsored by bio-science advocate Rep. Jim Riesberg (D-Greeley), encourages growth in Colorado's most promising high-tech, green industries. The new law will allow small technology-based companies (50 or fewer employees) to receive refunds of state sales and use taxes related to research and development for clean technology and medical devices.

Both of these jobs bills were a key part of Governor Ritter's economic recovery agenda.

Affordable Healthcare

HB 1023 (Gagliardi-Boyd) Blood Donations by Minors: Nurse and lawmaker Sara Gagliardi (D-Arvada) was interested in changing the age of legal blood donation when she heard that some teens in her district couldn't do blood drives at their high schools. With Senator Betty Boyd (D-Lakewood), she worked with Bonfils and other advocates to change the law. Now, 16-year-olds, with parental permission, will be allowed to donate blood and a big boost in the number of high school-based blood drives is expected.

HB 1139 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Rep. Judy Solano and Sen. Lois Tochtrop (both D-Adams County) created the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Commission to address issues concerning fetal alcohol disorders and make recommendations. The recommendations will address prevention of and education about fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and related health issues.

Education

HB 1057 Parental Involvement in Schools: In one of the hardest fought battles on the legislative session, teacher and Rep. Andy Kerr (D-Lakewood) won. Now, working parents can't be fired from their job at a large business (over 50 employees) for taking up to 18 hours of unpaid leave during an academic year, in less than three-hour increments, to attend school meetings for their children. HB 1290 "Soldiers to Students": Representative Dennis Apuan's (D-Colorado Springs) bi-partisan bill will help members of the Colorado National Guard go to college in Colorado. House Bill 1290 helps soldiers who want to continue their education by providing scholarship funds. The Department of Higher Education can now provide up to $800,000 a year to the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs for Guard scholarships.

HB 1312 Renewables For Schools: Governor Ritter and the Governor's Energy Office drafted and promoted Rep. Andy Kerr's (D-Lakewood) House Bill 1312 to create an innovative "Renewables for Schools" program to provide schools access to affordable clean-energy with low-interest loans. By purchasing high-efficiency school buses and producing energy on-site with wind and solar, schools can both reduce their utility bills to create a buffer against future energy price spikes and put more money toward educating our kids.

Other

SB 1 Wildfire Plans: At the top of the Governor's agenda was Senate Bill 1. With the Governor's leadership, Summit County lawmakers Sen. Dan Gibbs and Rep. Christine Scanlan crafted a law which will establish comprehensive, locally-led, community wildfire protection plans throughout the state.

SB 148 Pass Bicyclists With Care: More and more, Coloradans are biking to work and biking for fun. Now they can do so more safely. Avid bicyclists Governor Ritter, GOP Sen. Greg Brophy and Rep. Michael Merrifield (D-Colorado Springs) worked together to increase road safety by making sure that, starting Wednesday, passing cars and trucks must stay at least three feet away from bicyclists.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed