Who won, who lost in legislative session?
Consumers and students were both winners in the just-adjourned Colorado legislature.
Alan Gathright has this wrapup on how the legislature and Gov. Bill Ritter fared on key issues:
Gov. Bill Ritter's trio of blue ribbon commissions estimated it would take $1.1 billion annually to provide universal health care; $1.5 billion annually to keep highways, bridges and transit apace with a growing population; and $750,000 annually to raise state funding for Colorado's universities and colleges up to the national average.So, Ritter, who campaigned as a "pragmatic problem-solver," narrowed his sights on one tax measure for the Nov. 4 ballot, signaling a boost for higher education. The governor said he'd take smaller strides toward addressing "marathon" transportation and health care challenges.
Jeff Smith has this wrapup on pocketbook and consumer bills.
"It was a great year for consumers on many fronts," said Chris Lines, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.Approved bills ranged from one that requires health care insurers to justify their rates to reinstating Sunday liquor sales after a 75-year ban.
EARLIER
The Colorado legislature will adjourn by Wednesday night and both majority Democrats and minority Republicans are taking credit for the session's accomplishments.
Democrats say they are responsible for advances in education, environment, health care and a "new energy economy." Republicans claim credit for several of the ideas that became law, particularly in education.
Chris Barge reports:
Democrats took control of both the House and Senate four years ago. They picked up the governor's office in 2006 and strengthened both legislative majorities while they were at it. The result of all that momentum was a decidedly Democratic agenda this year, focused on education, the environment, health care and a "new energy economy."For the most part, Democrats were successful passing the cornerstones of that plan.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, with help from State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, got legislation passed allowing the state to borrow up to $1 billion to repair and rebuild the state's crumbling schools.
"I think this was a really good year to be a kid in Colorado," said Romanoff, who also is term-limited.
Democrats working with the governor's budget office found money to provide health care coverage to 50,000 of the state's 150,000 uninsured children over the next three years.
Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, got a "net metering" bill passed, requiring power companies to credit customers who produce their own wind and solar power.
And Gov. Bill Ritter found broad support for a package of proposals on the business-development front.
Two of the session's major pieces of legislation were bipartisan efforts co-sponsored by Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and other Republicans.
Penry tipped his hat to the governor "for recognizing good ideas and embracing them."
Those bills will fund higher education building projects and realign the state's K-12 educational content standards with the aim of better preparing students for college.
The Rocky's editorial says the clear winner is higher education.
By any account, colleges and universities were big winners during the second session of the 66th General Assembly.First, higher ed received an 8 percent increase in general fund spending over last year.
Next, colleges and universities got permission to hike tuition far above the inflation rate - up to 9.5 percent for research institutions, 7.5 percent for four-year colleges and 5.5 percent for community colleges.
They also stand to gain a solid new source of funding, too, thanks to Senate Bill 218, which will shift a portion of revenues from mining and energy production on federal lands into a permanent fund whose earnings will be theirs to tap.
And finally, higher ed institutions should land a major share of a $26.5 million grant program targeting the commercial development of biotechnology, biofuels and medical devices.
I pity you jay... time and time again your lies are revealed and all you can do is post to yourself with soothing balms. Are you that lonely? Is your life THAT empty? Could your party be in WORSE shape.
I understand the pressure of another losing season. It can just make a guy crack....
Posted by on May 12, 2008 6:41 PMyou guys on the far right pegged it. we're all the same person. we're out to make you look like the dumb kid in class.
workin so far.
Posted by jay on May 12, 2008 9:27 AMMan, you guys are dicks... Just can't handle the fact that your in the minority and irrelevant huh?
Hahaha...
Looks like I've pegged you guys pretty good to get you all upset and bothered! Punks... You got NOTHING... so keep coming with the baseless insults, it's all you have left. Losers!
Sure, anything you say jayhole.....
LOL
Posted by on May 10, 2008 6:52 PMI don't generally even try responding to other posters who seem to exist solely to bait and insult, but with all these accusations flying around of "schizo posts" and the like, it makes me wonder just how desperate the talk-radio dittoheads must be.
If your method of discourse has been reduced to name-calling. misidirection, and hollow accusations, maybe it's time to reflect on the value of the positions you're trying (clumsily) to defend.
Posted by Captain America on May 10, 2008 3:59 PMJeeze - jay always sends himself soothing affirmations when his alias blogging gets out of hand. What a supreme loser.
Posted by Maggie Mae on May 10, 2008 2:46 PMSure JayMh - its all the parent's fault. Why is it whenever a blogger calls you out for your ignorant posts, the wagons circle and the schizo self-support session begins?
This pattern repeats like clockwork every time your idiocy is highlighted.
Is your life really so empty that you have no where else to make friends than on an anonymous blog where you have to play dress up and boost your fragile self esteem?
You soo need a grip.
Posted by jayisanidiot on May 9, 2008 10:49 PMJMH and jay, you 2 fruits are a riot. Get a room.
Posted by anonymous on May 9, 2008 8:05 PM"the real question now is how many of our nation's voters are gullible and naive enough to put policy aside and vote for the prom king." - jay
Truthfully, I think all the "Prom king" stuff will go nowhere. Most rational people have seen enough. Politics is usually a game to most, but when it starts hitting Americans in the pocketbook, they sure seem to take notice don't they? (If we were able to tax just Bush supporters to pay for the occupation of Iraq, think we would be out of there already?)
As far as "Prom King" stuff, I'm not sure they can even run on that. On one side you have a young, handsome, charasmatic man you represents the changing (and browning) of the nation full of new ideas and energy. On the other, the "Crypt-keeper" with nothing more to offer than more of the same... Who do you think the "Prom King" will be?
Of course I expect the "right wing noise" machine to drum up every stupid thing they can think of, in hopes of distracting us, but I don't think it will work this time. Look at Obama, first he was a Muslim operative who would be in league with the terrorists... that didn't stick. Then he was too young to be a good president... no one is buying it. Now he is some Black Panther out to enslave the white race (never mind he is half white)... still aint sticking. OK, maybe with the rednecks, but they weren't gonna vote for him anyway. Let them try to find something, but with the GOP putting up an elitist, career Washington politicain, it is pretty safe they probably don't want us looking into McSame's history!
Right now, we are seeing record turnouts in every state to vote in the Dem primaries for the person who gets to go up against the establishment. An excitement that hasn't been seen in a long time in a country that is beaten down the last few years. It really comes down to the question Reagan posed - "Are you better off now?" The answer for just about every American that isn't a billionaire is definity "NO"!
America can't afford to be distracted by fear again... and I think this time they are paying attention!
Posted by JMH on May 9, 2008 12:30 PMthanks for the kind words, jmh, ditto. it has been fun reading and contributing to this blog over the last couple of years. there are some great minds here that do a fanastic job of vetting issues and their solutions. there are still a few poo flingers...but substantially less than there used to be. the biggest change i've seen as this election has drawn near, is conservative posters movement away from discussing policy and towards the discussion of prom-queen qualities....to use a jw'ism. this trend was long predicted as yet another election season sees the republican party unable to run on policies and records...but i didn't think it would be as absolute as it's been. if you listen to some of the talking heads like rosen, rush, etc...there is very little of substance on the major policy issues. few numbers. few facts. instead we see a steady drumbeat of topics like "bittergate, bowlinggate and wrightgate". but hey, at least they're predictable. the real question now is how many of our nation's voters are gullible and naive enough to put policy aside and vote for the prom king.
Posted by jay on May 9, 2008 11:55 AM"oh...and cruton at 6:16...you my friend have cracked the code...it really is a conspiracy against you...all of us on this blog that are centrists or left of center are actually one person. be afraid. be very afraid. we're watching you." - jay
This always cracks me up jay... Like I posted earlier, it seesm these wingnuts can't get it in their heads that they and their warped sense of reality are in the minority in this country and their numbers are dropping even more now that the results of the GOP policies are becoming clear to most Americans.
I love how these people who live in a tiny bubble have convinced themselves that you are the only one with progressive ideas. I know on AM radio, these sheep are told they are in the majority and the rest of us are really a small minority of American hating, tax & spend, illegal immigrant welcoming nuts in league with al-Quida. It is obvious from some posts I read that the reality is scaring them and it is much better to think it is just one guy (you) who is doing nothing but posting under different alias' all day instead of looking at themselves and the pile of BS they have bought into these last 7 years so the rich could get richer at their own expense.
My hats off to you though jay... It is plainly obvious that you are in their heads. That and all the posts from the more intelligent ones on this blog - you, JW, Captain America, just sayin', Holier, Tree, gr8ful and others is really scaring them. They don't like us speaking up against authority and actaully thinking outside the bubbles they have placed themselves in... and the fact they are having to suddenly deal with that (the fact that they are the radicals and the minority) must scare them to no end. After all the GOP is built on fear!
Posted by JMH on May 9, 2008 10:59 AMthe question is whether or not the dems had a good enough session this year to remain in power.
on the national front we see the republicans ending an historic reign and seemingly about to lose more power because of the results of their policy decisions.
it's a great equation in politics, business, etc...if you do a good job...you get to stay...if not...there's the door, spanky.
so...have the state dems passed the test that the national republicans failed?
oh...and cruton at 6:16...you my friend have cracked the code...it really is a conspiracy against you...all of us on this blog that are centrists or left of center are actually one person. be afraid. be very afraid. we're watching you.
Posted by jay on May 9, 2008 10:32 AM"JayMH writes: "public education has not failed"
This once again is insight into the empty spaces euphemistically called minds of the liberals among us.
Our children cannot pass standardized exams, even with years of teaching the test. Our children cannot survive at the freshman level in community college because of the lack of basic preparation. Students "graduate" high school unable to speak English.
Now you know why public education continues to fail.... it is because morons like Jaymh think this is a record of success."
Posted by Maggie Mae on May 8, 2008 6:23 PM
Maggie May,
You must be one of the "home schooled" types huh? Don't get out much do you?
A few things here...
For one, I am my own person. I know you dim-wits on the right can't comprehend from inside your "little bubble of ignorance" the fact that you are radicals and in the minority in this country... but you are. Accept it. I am my own person, not jay or any other. I am just another memeber of the 70% of Americans that have seen the failures of your idiology. Sorry you are too stupid to do so...
Second, alot of the problems with public education have to do with the parents, not the schools. I grew up in a predominitly poor school district. I received a very good education and have went on to earn my college degree without a rich mommy and daddy paying my way. The children that are falling behind were the ones who got no discipline at home, that caused trouble in class because they had no one at home teaching them right from wrong, etc.
The problem with public schools isn't the teachers, classes, etc. It is the idiotic parents out there who think school is nothing but a "baby sitter" for them. These schools are for learning and the vast majority of students do. The few that fall behind are the same ones who have parents that think the schools are set up to RAISE their children. But the schools are not there to raise children, the parents need to do that job. If they are not, there is only so much a teacher in any kind of school can do for a child... Teachers have a tough job and most do it very well. It is the parents of these failing students that need to step up to the plate more!
Another benifit of public education is that besides recieving a "book" education, you also receive a "life" education. Your usually in school with people of all walks of life and you get to see other cultures, patterns of life, etc. Unlike these "lily white" private schools where kids are in school with only other little rich kids and that's it. No wonder rich people end up in the GOP and scared of everything that is different from them. They never are around brown people, poor people, good and bad... and you always fear what you do not understand.
Public education, gets you ready for the REAL world, good or bad, and studies have shown private schools aren't any better in terms of education...
So Maggie... How is life in your "little bubble of ignorance"? I'm sure none of this will penitrate it huh?
Posted by JMH on May 9, 2008 8:28 AM"if we switch our education system to the private sector...does that mean that only 75% of students will actually receive an education?"
If we privatize our system, we get more Shaggys and Hogars. scary isn't it?
Posted by on May 9, 2008 7:37 AMColorado lost:
Oficial score of this session -
Democrats 1 - Colorado 0
JayMH writes: "public education has not failed"
This once again is insight into the empty spaces euphemistically called minds of the liberals among us.
Our children cannot pass standardized exams, even with years of teaching the test. Our children cannot survive at the freshman level in community college because of the lack of basic preparation. Students "graduate" high school unable to speak English.
Now you know why public education continues to fail.... it is because morons like Jaymh think this is a record of success.
Posted by Maggie Mae on May 8, 2008 6:23 PMSheesh, another circle jerk for schizo jay and his aliases.
Spare me.
Posted by on May 8, 2008 6:16 PM"By the way Captain, I enjoy your posts. Nice to see someone else with a little more intelligence & common sense then that of a 3rd grader posting around here."
Thanks very much, JMH. Same here. I started posting here in part because of the complete nonsense I saw printed in the Rocky column, and figured that there needed to be some new blood to mix it up a little. I don't mind disagreeing with a person, so long as we can have a solid, rational discussion about it.
Posted by Captain America on May 8, 2008 12:01 PMif we switch our education system to the private sector...does that mean that only 75% of students will actually receive an education? will we continue to have more expensive, lesser quality education than our peers?
worked out for our healthcare system didn't it?
Posted by jay on May 8, 2008 8:52 AM"Public education hasn't "failed," but it does need improvements. Abandoning it is the last thing we need to do now, though, which is all the critics of public education seem to want to do."- Captain America
That is because these same critics don't really care about public education, they send their kids to "lily white" private schoools and thus want us to help them pay for it.
The critisisms of public education has nothing to do with "the quality of education". Nor is it "about the best interests of the children"... it has to do with greed and self-interest.
It matters not that public education is in the best interests of America, thus giving ALL Americans a chance to succeed and keeping America strong and competative... no, it is about selfish rich people being upset because they have to pay taxes (big suprise there!)into the public system, but they get no taxpayer money given to them to help them send their children to some uppity, elitist private school. They have the right to do so, but it is their CHOICE and they should pay for it! All the critisims of public schools are from the same people who wouldn't send their kids to one anyway...
By the way Captain, I enjoy your posts. Nice to see someone else with a little more intelligence & common sense then that of a 3rd grader posting around here.
Posted by JMH on May 8, 2008 8:23 AMAny time the Legislators spend more money the citizens of Colorado who actually work for a living lose while the deadbeats who love socialism win.
Posted by on May 8, 2008 8:10 AMAny time the Legislators spend more money the citizens of Colorado who actually work for a living lose while the deadbeats who love socialism win.
Posted by on May 8, 2008 8:07 AMActually, Alphonse, I was talking about higher education, which has nothing at all to do with the NEA. Still, at least schools got some much-needed money for maintenance and improvements.
Public education hasn't "failed," but it does need improvements. Abandoning it is the last thing we need to do now, though, which is all the critics of public education seem to want to do.
Posted by Captain America on May 7, 2008 9:42 PMEducation won?
Another cycle of throwing money at a failed public education system that reliably fails our children each and every year?
I think not.
Thank you Colorado Democrats and their overlord, the NEA.
Posted by Alphonse on May 7, 2008 6:56 PMDouglas Bruce doesn't play politics? That's all he's done. Instead of actually dealing with the immigration issue, for example, he used that as an opportunity to make a non-politically-correct statement about Mexican immigrants that did nothing but distract from the discussion at hand. How is that not wasting the taxpayer's money?
Bruce and TABOR will either go down in state history as a sad chapter, or as the thing that destroyed the Colorado standard of living we all love. Either way, he's not looking at a positive legacy.
Posted by Speak Up! on May 7, 2008 4:52 PMRational discourse was a winner in this wrapped-up legislative session? That's bogus. Plenty of people are ready and waiting in line to take a swipe at Bruce, when they must realize taxpayers have once again, been taken to the cleaners by the prodidgious waste of time and money spent paying this bunch of yahoos to write up platitudes and "certificates of merit" instead of working. Naw, Douglas Bruce just refuses to play the game of politics, and he gets beat up for it every time.
Posted by on May 7, 2008 3:14 PMEducation won, and in Colorado, it's about time. How a society can depend as much on future generations as we do, and not see the need to invest in quality education for our kids and in our colleges is beyond me.
Another winner: rational discourse. Douglas Bruce got his hand slapped every time he tried to be abrasive, rude, or otherwise inappropriate. None of the nonsense issues got time or attention. The state stuck to its mandated job of running the state and her affairs, which is what they should be doing.
10:13 I concur.
Posted by Ben- Former Democrat on May 7, 2008 6:23 AMWho lost? Colorado taxpayers, of course. Who won? As usual, the legislators, who wasted countless hours on frivolous "acknowledgements" for "this day" and "that day" baloney. Douglas Bruce is the ONLY legislator to point out and protest the ludicrous waste of taxpayer dollars at the expense of getting any actual WORK done. For his efforts, Bruce is harrassed mercilessly, by memebers of both parties (yep, they do party plenty, don't they?) and now has to deal with trumped-up charges because he "looked" at a statehouse staffer?
And another thing: legislators are paid with tax dollars, and then they get public-sector benefits as well--isn't that called double-dipping?
Posted by the inmates at the statehouse are running the asylum on May 6, 2008 10:13 PMWho won: Middle class Coloradians, bi-partisianship & education
Who lost: Social conservatives and their "wedge-issues" - A.K.A. Gays, God & Greed
Posted by JMH on May 6, 2008 4:06 PMWho lost: Consumers of energy lost.
Who won: Illegal aliens.
Posted by SASQUATCH on May 6, 2008 3:35 PMWho lost?
The taxpayers of course.
