November 2010 - 2nd half
Month:
November
Year:
2010 ELECTION RESULTS
I promised you in my last newsletter I would tell you how I think the election results will affect the State Legislature. See my article below for that. Every time an election is over, I think of the old saying “you win some and you lose some” - the election of 2010 was no different!
NEXT TOWN HALL MEETING
My Town Hall meeting is this Saturday, November 20, returning to the Standley Lake Library, 8485 Kipling Street, at the usual time of 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. We have a panel presenting on the “Future of Higher Education in Colorado”: the Chair and Vice Chair of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE), members of CCHE’s Advisory Committee, and staff from the Colorado Department of Higher Education. There will not be a Town Hall meeting in December, but we will resume in January on the 15th.
ELECTION RESULTS IN SPLIT OUTCOME
The results of the 2010 election have been finalized. The State Senate will continue to have a Democratic majority (20-15) and the State House of Representatives will change to a Republican majority (33-32). The new Governor will be a Democrat. The “Bad 3” ballot issues were defeated, and in fact, ALL the ballot issues were defeated except the referendum to temporarily relocate the state seat of government in the event of a declared disaster emergency. Two of the three incumbent State Representatives representing parts of my Senate District lost; now House District 27 will be represented by Libby Szabo and House District 29 by Robert Ramirez, while House District 24 will continue to have Sue Schafer.
How will these results affect the Legislature? With the House and Senate being controlled by different parties, the likelihood is that bills will have more bipartisan sponsorships, but at the same time, many more bills will die than we’ve seen in the last several years. Overall, I expect less cooperation and therefore less good legislation. The new Governor will have difficulty getting final support for his budget and his policy agenda. In fact, it may be difficult for the Legislature to get a budget passed. Also, I doubt that the Legislature will be able to agree on a bill for redistricting, and the court will have to make that decision. I hope my pessimistic predictions are wrong; I’m just basing it on what happened the last time we had these dynamics.
OFFICE HOURS
You have two more opportunities to meet with me during my office hours in November, on the 23rd at 2-4 p.m. and the 30th at 1-3 p.m. My office is Room 330, located on the 3rd Floor of the State Capitol, on the west side. To schedule your meeting, contact my office at the number or e-mail address listed below. If you want to meet with me in December or during the legislative session (January 12 – May 11), you’ll have to contact my office and make an appointment.
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING AS YOUR SENATOR
These are some of the things I’ve been doing as your State Senator since my last newsletter:
- Met with the Summit Ridge Middle School’s CDM to review the requirements of SB09-163.
- Held my monthly Legislative Coffee.
- Participated in the Senate Democratic Caucus elections for State Senate President, President Pro-Tem, Majority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader, and Caucus Chair, as well as the Senate Democratic members of the Joint Budget Committee.
- Attended the CCHE press conference and reception for the release of the new Higher Education Strategic Plan.
- Participated in my first meeting as a member of the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Board.
- Represented Colorado on a legislative study tour of Israel, sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures [I will review this in either my next newsletter or a blog on my website].
- Attended a meeting of the Juvenile Justice subcommittee of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.
- Attended a meeting of the State Advisory Council on Parent Involvement in Education.