June 07, 2012
TOWNHALLS & COMMUNITY MEETINGS
Please join us this Monday June 4, 2012, 7:15 AM - 8:30 AM for Coffee with Carroll, Ryden, Fields at Mimi's Cafet, 205 S. Abilene, Aurora, to review a legislative re-cap and for open topic to discuss the issues you want addressed. ALL welcome!
While not one of our usual townhalls, I also wanted to let you know about an Aurora Fracking townhall (Don't Frack Our Schools!) that will be hosted by Clean Water Action Tuesday June 5, 2012 at Vista Peak Prep School, 24500 E. 6th Ave, Aurora, CO, in the main gym (enter through the front entrance), 6:30pm – 8:00pm.
Thursday June 21, 2012, 7:00 - 8:30PM Meetings with Morgan, Su, Rhonda & Nancy, Community College of Aurora, 16000 E. Centreteck Pkwy, Aurora. TOPIC: Substance Abuse & Addiction -- What we should all know.
RECAP OF MORGAN'S BILLS IN THE 2012 SESSION
JOBS & ECONOMIC RECOVERY
SB 3 Employment Opportunity Act (M. Carroll - Fischer): 60% of employers are now using credit scores in hiring decisions. Workers who lost their job in the recent recession clearly have had negative impacts to their credit. This practice is making it harder for them to get back to work. The bill limits use of credit scoring in hiring and employment decision to when it is relevant to the job. 20 million Americans have material errors on their reports. Lose your job = bad credit. Bad credit = no job. For more information see recent report Discrediting America PASSED SENATE 3RD READING 20:15. KILLED GOP HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE 03/19/12.
SB 143 Local Business Database & App (M. Carroll - Pabon): Because buying from local businesses in our community returns three times impact to our local economy, this bill creates a database and smart phone app through the Office of Economic Development where customers can search by type of good or service or by location if they want to help support buying local. The project is funding by a $10 annual listing fee for businesses and will help increase customer traffic to local businesses, and create jobs for Colorado. PASSED SENATE 3RD READING 20:15; KILLED GOP HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 03/28/12.
FAMILY & CIVIL JUSTICE
SB 56 Judicial Appointments in Family Cases (M. Carroll - Holbert): Courts appoint a variety of people in cases involving children's best interests or child custody. This bill ensures that those appointees are independent, neutral and do not have conflicts of interest or existing relationships with any of the parties. PASSED 3RD READING SENATE 35-0; PASSED HOUSE JUDICIARY 62:0:3. SIGNED BY GOVERNOR.
HB 1233 Legal Separation Simplified Court Proceeding (Labuda - M. Carroll): This bill extends the option of parties completing a legal separation without the need for a court appearance if no children are involved and will save an estimated 1,000 hearings per year. It will also save time and money for parties involved. PASSED HOUSE 3RD READING; PASSED SENATE 3RD READING 33:2; SIGNED BY GOVERNOR.
GOOD GOVERNMENT
SJR 34 Reverse Citizens United (M. Carroll - Jones): This resolution was introduced in order to draw attention to the new staggering influx of corporate spending on elections in the wake of Citizen's United and to call for the reversal of Citizens United and the doctrine of corporate personhood for the sake of preventing corruption of our elections. INTRODUCED; PASSED SENATE 3RD READING; KILLED GOP HOUSE ON THE CALENDAR.
HEALTH CARE
SB 93 Hospital Disclosure of Services Refused on Religious Grounds (M. Carroll - Duran): This bill gives patients notice of any medical services refused on the basis of religious grounds by a hospital and notifies a patient of their right to get those services elsewhere. Hospital mergers are increasing and depending on who owns what hospital may decide what services or care will or won't be provided for end of life care, contraception, AIDs counseling, reproductive services, including tubal ligations or vasectomies. PASSED 3RD READING SENATE 20:14; KILLED GOP HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 03/21/12.
FRACKING: ENVIRONMENT & PROPERTY RIGHTS
SB 107 Water Rights Protection Act (M. Carroll - Wilson). This bill requires the COGCC to promultate rules addressing drilling around: (a) radioactive materials; (b) superfund sites; and (c) explosives and munitions. It also directs rule-making around best practices for pressure drops that indicate leaks. The bill requires before and after reporting of the quantity of water used and the where the water right was acquired. The bill prohibits injecting known carcinogens into the ground, requires environmental bonding around high-risk drilling operations. It also requires water quality testing before and after drilling to detect possible contamination by fracking fluids, diesel or gas. INTRODUCED; PASSED SENATE JUDICIARY 4:3; KILLED SENATE APPROPRIATIONS.
HB 1110 Appraisal Management Companies (A. Williams - M. Carroll). This bill regulates appraisal management companies consistent with the recommendations of the Dept of Regulatory Agencies given the role of appraisal problems in the housing crisis. INTRODUCED; PASSED HOUSE 3rd READING 35-29; SENATE 3RD READING 21-14; PENDING ACTION BY GOVERNOR.
HB 1239 Special District Approval (Vaad - M. Carroll). This requires county approval before a water or sanitation district can expland their current boundaries and cannot expand into to property areas without the approval of the residents. PASSED HOUSE 3RD READING 65-0; PASSED SENATE 3RD READING 34-1; HOUSE CONCURRED; SIGNED BY GOVERNOR.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES
HB 1085 Hearsay Exception Developmental Disabilities (Fields - M. Carroll). This bil creates a hearsay exception for victim's with developmental disabilities when they are victims of a crime. Prosecuting crimes against victims with developmental disabilities can be difficult because it is often one person's word against another and statements made pertaining to the crime are often made out of court. This mirrors the children's hearsay exception and still requires the declarant to be available for cross-examination in Court. PASSED HOUSE 3RD READING 56-8-1; PASSED SENATE 3RD READING 34-0-1; SIGNED BY GOVERNOR.
HB 1310 Omnibus Criminal Bill (B. Gardner - M. Carroll). This is series of changes throughout the code arrived at by consensus from both the district attorneys and defense attorneys. PASSED HOUSE 3RD READING 64-0; PASSED SENATE 3RD READING; PENDING ACTION BY GOVERNOR.
LEGAL PROCESS
HB 1209 Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (B. Gardner - M. Carroll). This bill enacts UELMA which creates a systematic archiving system for tracking the increasing volume of electronic materials that are stored online to ensure we do not lose important historical legal archives. PASSED HOUSE 3RD READING 63-0; PASSED SENATE 3RD READING 32-0; SIGNED BY GOVERNOR.
SB 175 Update Court Deadlines (B. Gardner - M. Carroll). This bill makes conforming statutory changes to court deadlines after Supreme Court rules committee modified amendments to be multiples of 7 rather than 10. INTRODUCED; PASSED SENATE 3RD READING 34:0; ?PASSED HOUSE 3RD READING; PENDING ACTION BY GOVERNOR.
SOME OTHER KEY BILLS
SB 2 Civil Unions (Steadman - Ferrandino) - This bill was defeated twice on procedural maneuver's despite have enough votes to pass the Senate and the House and a commitment from Governor Hickenlooper that he would have signed the bill. KiLLED by House.
SB 48 Local Foods, Local Jobs (Schwartz): This bill eases impediments for local food growers and home-made food to get products to market. SIGNED By Governor.
HB 1127 Unemployment Insurance Rate Reduction (Jahn): This bill helps start up companies with lower rates of payment into the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, freeing up funds for additional hiriing. SIGNED By Governor.
SB 157 Telecomm Reform (Scheffel / Tochtrop) - This bill would have ended a subsidy for rural landlines, removed a requirement to serve rural Colorado, reallocate the funding the of the "high cost fund" among different providers and removed some of PUC oversight. KiLLED by Senate.
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