DENVER—State Rep. B.J. Nikkel was honored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Allied Jewish Federation at a luncheon held earlier today. The JCRC presented Nikkel with their 2012 JCRC Legislative Appreciation Award for her leadership and conduct in the last legislative session.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by an organization committed to the advancement of a just society,” Nikkel, R-Loveland, expressed. “I’m glad I was able to contribute to their cause.”

The JCRC is an extension of the Allied Jewish Federation that works extensively in matters concerning democratic pluralism and social justice. They present their legislative appreciation award to either a current or former member of the State General Assembly or the U.S. Congress who demonstrates leadership on issues of importance to the Jewish community as well as a commitment to the value and principles of the JCRC.

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DENVER—Today, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed House Bill 1146 into law. The measure, sponsored by state Rep. B.J. Nikkel, will greatly aid high school dropouts and at-risk youth to complete their high school graduation requirements and open the door to new employment opportunities.

“I believe in second chances,” said Nikkel, R-Loveland. “This program provides hope and new opportunities to struggling students and at-risk youth across Colorado.”

House Bill 1146 creates the Dropout Recovery Concurrent Enrollment Program, which allows community colleges and local schools to collaborate and form recovery programs for students who have dropped out or who are at risk of dropping out of school. Through these programs, pupils can complete their high school diploma at their local community college while simultaneously earning credits toward an associate’s degree or certificate.

Under Nikkel’s measure, students will attend classes exclusively at a community college, where they will be placed in age appropriate classrooms with a designated pathway to college level work.

“This measure respects the authority of local education providers to create their own curriculum while fostering the development of educated, skilled workers for the future,” said Dr. Nancy McCallin, president of the Colorado Community College System. “It’s a responsible bill that will result in near and long term benefits to Colorado’s economy, education and criminal justice system.”

Nikkel’s bill passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support before reaching the governor’s desk.

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“This is one of the most significant pieces of regulatory reform Colorado has seen in decades,” Acree, a Republican from Aurora, said.

Acree sponsored House Bill 1008 to require departments to identify and work with interested parties when crafting new rule changes. Under the new law, state agencies must notify interested parties of new fee or penalty increases as well as publish their regulatory agendas for the year and report to legislative oversight committees.

“This law will help prevent damaging rules by affording business owners and working individuals more participation in the rulemaking process,” Acree said. “By bringing stakeholders into the regulatory process, we ensure against poor policy decisions that could cost our state jobs and derail our economic recovery.

Acree’s bill passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support before reaching the governor’s desk.

“Transparency and participation are cornerstones to our democracy,” added Acree. “This bill embodies both principles and gives them a place in Colorado’s political process.”

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DENVER—Gov. John Hickenlooper signed state Rep. Tom Massey’s child literacy bill today. The bill prioritizes literacy for children in kindergarten through third grade.

“This is an important mile marker on our road to improving the education and future success of Colorado’s school children,” Massey said. “Literacy is absolutely crucial to the development of our students.”

House Bill 1238 creates the Colorado Early Literacy Act to help ensure school children in Colorado know how to read before graduating into more advanced coursework. The bill also includes provisions to keep parents informed of their child’s intellectual development while also giving them more resources to improve their child’s literacy if they are found to be at a deficient level. These resources include notifying the parents, enrolling a child in a Reading to Ensure Academic Development, or READ, plan or recommending the student be kept from advancing to the next grade.

Before reaching the governor’s desk, Massey’s bill passed out of the House 51-12, with only Democrats voting against it. The Senate passed the measure unanimously.

“Teaching our kids how to read is one of the fundamental expectations parents place on our educators,” Massey, R-Poncha Springs added. “This bill helps ensure those expectations are met.”

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DENVER—The first extraordinary session of the 68^th General Assembly came to an end today.

Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, issued the following statement concerning the special legislative session’s end:

“Gov. Hickenlooper’s special session has now been shown to be unnecessary. While I am pleased we were able to reduce red tape on special mobile machinery, the water projects bill and the Unemployment Insurance bonding bill could have and should have passed last Wednesday.

“Gov. Hickenlooper convened the special session for political purposes and is clearly reading from President Obama’s campaign playbook as he attempts to distract voters from the real issue: the economy.”

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DENVER—With a unanimous vote of 63-0 today, the House of Representatives sent Senate Bill 12S-001 to the Governor’s desk. The measure, sponsored by State Reps. Laura Bradford and Kevin Priola, cuts red tape and reduces expenses for business owners of special mobile machinery fleets, such as construction equipment or large vehicles for rent.

“This bill creates a streamlined and comprehensive registration process for mobile equipment fleets so our state’s job creators can focus on running their businesses,” Bradford, R-Collbran, said.

Bradford and Priola’s legislation will allow an owner of more than 10 pieces of special mobile machinery to register all new special equipment quarterly with a county government and obtain a special decal, certificate or license plate designating that their registration is pending. This allows business owners to renew all registrations for machinery on the same date each year, eliminating the need for businesses’ frequent visits to county offices with stacks of titles and bills of sale in hand to register each piece of equipment separately.

“Less time filing paper work means Colorado’s job creators spend more time growing their businesses and accelerating our economic recovery,” Priola, R-Henderson, added. “This bill clears away regulatory burdens to job creation and makes Colorado a more business friendly state.”

The lowered expenses and streamlined process SB 12S-001 offers will greatly aid businesses looking to expand or move to Colorado.

The bill now awaits Gov. John Hickenlooper’s signature before it can become a law.

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DENVER—Today, the state House of Representatives unanimously passed Senate Bill 12S-002, which will appropriate millions of dollars from the Colorado Water Conservation Board to fund vital water projects around the state.  State Reps. Randy Baumgardner and Jerry Sonnenberg sponsor the measure in the House.

“Colorado’s climate demands preparedness and caution, especially when it comes to natural disasters like flooding or drought,” Baumgardner, R-Cowdrey, shared.  “This common sense bill is good for Colorado and responsibly plans for our future.”

Baumgardner and Sonnenberg’s bill pours $28 million dollars into vital water conservation projects around the state that focus on resource planning and management, drought response, data collection and watershed restoration.

The bill also repurposes Colorado’s flood response program to include drought preparedness, and renames the flood response fund to the flood and drought response fund.

“These water projects benefit local water districts and help ensure the future sustainability of our state’s most valuable resource,” Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, said.  “I am glad to see this bill pass both chambers of the legislature and look forward to the governor signing it into law.”

Among other projects funded by the bill are: tackling the growth of invasive “water loving” vegetation, continuing the Colorado River Water Availability Study and revising flood plain studies and maps.  The bill also provides funding for the planning, design and rehabilitation of the Rio Grande Reservoir and various other projects.

The bill now awaits the governor’s signature before it can become law.

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DENVER—Today, the state House of Representatives passed state Rep. Larry Liston’s House Bill 12S-1002, which  has been hailed by many business leaders as one of the best business bills of the 2012 legislative session.

“This bill will immediately take the state of the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund from red to black,” Liston, a Republican from Colorado Springs, said. “Passing this bill means that in the next five years our state’s job creators will save tens of millions of dollars.”

Current law allows the state of Colorado to issue bonds to pay off federal debt and return the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund to solvency. Liston’s bill provides a mechanism for employers to improve their experience rating through their bond repayments, which in turn lowers premiums. Liston’s bill also helps to reduce interest paid on debt and will eliminate solvency surcharges business owners currently must pay.

The improved experience ratings and lower insurance taxes that will follow the signing of Liston’s bill into law are expected to save Colorado’s job creators $20 to $40 per worker over the next five years. The millions in savings business owners are expected to receive have the industry’s leaders cheering.

“Passage of this bill ensures the state can maintain solvency of the UI trust fund in the most cost effective fashion for all Colorado employers,” said Travis Berry, of the Colorado Competitive Council.

Liston’s bill passed the House unanimously and now moves to the Senate for further consideration.

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“The regular legislative session ended with a stark difference in priorities.

“While Republicans focused our efforts on putting Coloradans back to work, Gov. Hickenlooper and his Democratic allies in the legislature brought these efforts to a grinding halt by pushing a last-minute, divisive attack on our traditional views on marriage for short term political gain.

“Make no mistake about it. Gov. Hickenlooper has called this Legislature into an expensive special session for the sole purpose of dividing Coloradans.  Instead of using his authority and his bully pulpit to unify Coloradans behind a pro-growth agenda of economic recovery and job creation, he is using his authority to tear Colorado apart. Again. That’s where his priority is.

“What had been a regular legislative session defined by remarkable bipartisan progress turned bitter and cold when Democrats brought the work of the state House of Representatives to a grinding halt by demanding that a bill creating same sex marriage in Colorado be prioritized and forced to the front of the line. It is unfortunate it happened, but it did.

“Gov. Hickenlooper’s special session will not result in one more job being created, or making gasoline any cheaper.

“Unlike President Obama, Gov. Hickenlooper and their campaign operatives, Colorado families aren’t preoccupied with promoting a divisive social agenda – because they have more pressing concerns.

“Colorado’s unemployment is still above eight percent. Gas prices have skyrocketed since President Obama took power, and now, Gov. John Hickenlooper is reading straight from Barack Obama’s political playbook in Washington, D.C., to try and distract voters from the terrible economy.

“Their strategy is one of division and misdirection.  It is a political strategy aimed at distracting Coloradans from the indisputable fact that we are not better off today than we were four years ago.

“They don’t want to talk about the high gas prices that are crushing Colorado families.

“They don’t want to talk about the stifling taxes and regulations that are killing Colorado small businesses.

“They can’t defend their record of failed policies, so they have chosen instead to push and promote same sex marriage. And that’s unfortunate.  Because the hardworking families of this state don’t have the time, the inclination or the patience to pay for these election year political stunts.

“Elected leaders should be focused on helping Coloradans get back to work, on reducing unemployment and helping make it easier for small businesses to get back to business.  That’s what the people of this state expect all of us, regardless of political party, to do.  That’s why they sent us here.  To address their priorities – not the political priorities of well-heeled campaign contributors.

“Our call to Gov. Hickenlooper is to end the political gamesmanship and the permanent campaign, and to join House Republicans in focusing our time, energy and effort to create jobs and get Coloradans back to work.”

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DENVER—A vote of 64-1sent state Rep. Glenn Vaad’s bill to protect local governments from unfunded mandates to the Governor’s desk today. Senate Bill 026 prohibits a state agency from promulgating a rule that creates a mandate on local government unless certain provisions are met.

“This measure provides systematic and thoughtful approach to analyzing the impact of new rules affecting local governments,” Vaad, R-Mead, said. “It gives local governments a seat at the table to help protect their interests.”

Under SB 026, agencies are prohibited from issuing mandates on a local government unless the mandate is specifically required by state or federal law; the agency consults with local governments prior to issuing the rule; and the state provides funding for the direct costs a local government would incur from complying with the new mandate.

An agency that issues a rule that creates a mandate on local governments must also submit several pieces of information to the Office of State Planning and Budgeting detailing the proposed rule, the extent to which local governments were consulted, any written communications made between the state and local authorities and the state agency’s rationale for the rule.

“Senate Bill 026 restores local authority and protects against uninformed and expensive new rules,” Vaad added.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman sponsored SB 026 in the Senate, where it passed unanimously. The bill now awaits the governor’s signature before becoming law.

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