Hudak’s Senate Notes – End of Session, May 2009

Month: 
May
Year: 
2009

 

IT’S OVER!

 

The 2009 session of the State Legislature (General Assembly) – my very first! – is over. The pace was frantic during the final three weeks, and now we’re waiting to see which bills the Governor will sign and which he will veto. I do know that he will be signing the three Senate education bills that I sponsored – SB 90, 160, and 163 – on May 21 at the Career Education Center, 2650 Eliot Street (the time will be determined soon). Thus, he will have signed every bill for which I was the prime sponsor!

 

TOWN HALL MEETING:

My next town hall meeting will be on Saturday, June 20, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at Covenant Village, 9053 Yarrow Street, in the Smith Fellowship Hall. The topic will be issues of concern to senior citizens. Please note that I will have two more meetings in 2009, both at the Standley Lake Library, on September 26 and November 21. (Most likely the topic for the September meeting will be health care, since I had to cancel the April meeting, which was to be on that topic. Let me know what topic you’d like to see covered in November.)

 

KEY ACTIONS (the most important things that happened in the final days of the session):

  • SENTENCING REFORM – The two bills I mentioned in my last newsletter that would have reduced future prison spending did not fare well. SB 288, which would have capped the number of prisoners funded by the state, was killed in its first committee hearing, at the request of the sponsor. SB 286, which would have reduced sentences for nonviolent crimes, was changed to a request that the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice look at the issue and make recommendations.

  • SCHOOL FINANCE ACT – The annual bill for the funding of public schools went through significant changes from its introduction to final passage. The Senate version of the bill, which I described in my newsletter for the 2nd half of March, focused on changes in funding for at-risk students. However, these changes would have been too costly, so the House stripped them out. Even so, because of uncertainty about the sufficiency of next year’s state revenues to meet just the basic funding requirements for public schools, the final version of the bill that was approved requires that a portion of the funding – totaling $110 million – be held in districts’ reserves until the revenue forecast at the end of December comes out and the 2010 Legislature authorizes it to be spent.

  • CONTROVERSIAL BILLS – The session ended with more controversial bills. The one that got the most attention was HB 1274, which aimed to eliminate the death penalty and use the money the state had been spending on appeals by people on “death row” to try to solve “cold cases.” It died by one vote in the Senate during the final hours of the session. Another one was HB 1299, which would have authorized Colorado to participate in the National Popular Vote program, giving all of our state’s electoral votes to the Presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationally. The Senate sponsor of the bill asked for it to be killed, although it had already passed the House. Finally, SB 291, which did finally pass, caused another “filibuster” before passing the Senate, part of which consisted of Senator Mitchell speaking against the bill for 3 hours straight. The bill prohibits school districts from receiving extra funding from the state if they succeed in passing an election to “re-Bruce.”

 

MY BILLS:

I was the prime sponsor of 4 bills, as well as 2 Senate Joint Resolutions; this is the outcome:

  • SB 38 – Clarification of Judicial Fees – Signed into law on April 16.

  • SB 90 – Parent Involvement in Education – To be signed into law on May 21.

  • SB 160 – Alternative Teacher Programs & Licensure – To be signed into law on May 21.

  • SB 163 – Education Accountability System – To be signed into law on May 21.

  • SJR 43 – National Teacher Day Public Education – Adopted unanimously in the Senate and adopted in the House with only one NO vote.

  • SJR 46 – Equal Pay Day – Adopted by the Senate and the House on April 28, which was Equal Pay Day for 2009.

 

I was the Senate sponsor of 6 House bills and 1 House Joint Resolution; this is the outcome:

  • HB 1072 (with Rep. Middleton) – Library Districts – Signed into law on April 2.

  • HB 1116 (with Rep. Frangas) – Children’s Dental Program Moneys – Passed by the House and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee; killed in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

  • HB 1125 (with Rep. Merrifield) – Limit Incentives for School Attendance – Signed into law on April 16.

  • HB 1227 (with Rep. Frangas) – Neighborhood Equity Skimming and Nuisances – Signed into law on April 21.

  • HB 1264 (with Rep. Benefield) – Higher Education Costs for State Inmates – Signed into law on April 16.

  • HB 1296 (with Rep. Green), Extension for Reading Assistance Grant Program – Signed into law on April 22.

  • HJR 1021 (with Rep. Benefield) – Support Telecommuting – Adopted unanimously in the House and adopted in the Senate on a 25:10 vote.

 

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BILLS:

A summary of the key bills of the session will be in the forthcoming issue of The Voters’ Voice, a publication that my predecessor, Sue Windels, initiated over 10 years ago; she has authorized me to continue producing it. As always, it will be hand-delivered to nearly every door in Senate District 19 over the summer. Don’t forget that you can look on the “Issues” page on my website for a description of the bills I sponsored, as well as my commentary on some other bills that were particularly noteworthy. To see the status of other bills, go to the General Assembly website at http://www.leg.state.co.us.