Legislature
Document detailing possible Trump infrastructure priorities includes Colo. I-70, I-25 improvements
DENVER – Two major Colorado infrastructure projects and an energy proposal with Colorado ties are among a list of nationwide infrastructure projects prioritized for federal funding under the Donald Trump administration, according to documents obtained by McClatchy DC and the Kansas City Star.
The documents show that among the projects proposed to be earmarked for federal funding are the I-70 Mountain Corridor, and improving and widening I-25 between Monument and Castle Rock. Continue reading
Bill would require probable cause for police access to people’s prescription records
DENVER – A bill under consideration in the Colorado Legislature would make it harder for law enforcement agencies to gain access to Coloradans’ prescription drug information.
Senate Bill 32 would require Colorado law enforcement agencies and regulatory boards to have a judge or neutral third party approve a warrant backed by a sworn affidavit or testimony before they can access the state’s prescription drug monitoring program. The bill was proposed by Sen. Michael Merrifield, a Democrat from El Paso County.
The state’s program is aimed at mitigating the abuse or misuse of prescription drugs. Pharmacies and doctors are required to upload prescription information for all Schedule II-V drugs prescribed and distributed to patients into the program’s database each day. The bulk of prescription drugs fall under those categorizations.
In Colorado, the law currently requires the requesting agency or board to prove that the information is related to a specific “practitioner, patient or pharmacy” amid an ongoing “bona fide investigation.”
But Coloradans could still have their private information and past prescriptions shared with law enforcement agencies that fill out an administrative subpoena which does not go before independent court officials before it is issued by the agency.
As revealed by a five-month investigation last August by Denver7’s Washington bureau, Scripps News, Colorado was one of 31 states that allowed law enforcement and regulatory boards to access that private consumer information without probable cause.
The Scripps News investigation uncovered an incident in Utah in which local police investigating the theft of drugs from an ambulance accessed the private prescription records of all 480 employees of the United Fire Authority of Salt Lake County. None of the employees were suspects, no court approved the search and no probable cause ever existed that any of the employees were involved in the theft.
Two of the employees were eventually charged after police used the information they obtained, though their charges were not related to the theft and were eventually dropped altogether.
Utah auditors later found that warrantless access to the database “may have resulted in questionable use” of the database by other law enforcement agencies in more than half the sampled cases.
The Scripps News investigation found that in 2014-15 alone, law enforcement nationally had accessed at least 344,921 Americans’ prescription histories in the 31 states that don’t require a warrant or court order.
Utah has since changed its law to require warrants be approved before the information is released.
Sen. Merrifield told Scripps Monday that his bill is aimed at providing better protections for Coloradans, and simply requires law enforcement agencies and regulatory boards to establish probable cause for the search.
“We need to protect Coloradans’ constitutional right to privacy,” he said. “It simply isn’t right that any law enforcement official or regulator could access private health records without any form of judicial oversight. As technology advances, and these records become digitized, Colorado needs to make sure investigations into people’s prescription health records are done so with a judge’s approval, just like any investigation into any other personal database.”
The bill is scheduled for its first hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee Feb. 1.
Scripps News’ senior national investigative correspondent Mark Greenblatt contributed to this report.
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Colorado lawmakers again trying to repeal ban on large-capacity magazines for guns
DENVER – Two bills introduced in the Colorado Legislature aim to again allow high-capacity magazines in the state and to eliminate a state ban on so-called “gravity knives” and switchblades.
Senate Bill 7, which is sponsored by Sen. Vicki Marble, Rep. Stephen Humphrey and Rep. Lori Saine – all Republicans – would eliminate a section of state statute that bars “large-capacity magazines.”
Statute written in 2013 banned any weapon magazine that could hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition, and in the case of shotguns, any magazine that could hold more than 28 inches of shells. It also banned any magazine that could hold more than eight shotgun shells when combined with a fixed magazine.
The statute also banned the possession, sale or transfer of any large-capacity magazines after July 1, 2013, and required any person in possession of or manufacturer who was making such magazines at the time to have a stamp or marking noting it was made after that date.
The bill, which was assigned to the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, would repeal that entire section of state statute.
The bill also contains a so-called “safety clause” that declares that the Legislature finds the bill “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety.”
The Senate voted to repeal the magazine limit last year, but that bill died before reaching the governor’s desk.
The issue has gone to court several times since Gov. Hickenlooper first signed the high-capacity magazine ban in 2013 but has never been overturned.
OTHER BILL WOULD ALLOW ‘GRAVITY KNIVES’ AND SWITCHBLADES
Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. Owen Hill, R-El Paso, and Rep. Steve Lebsock, D-Adams, would repeal portions of state statute that ban gravity knives and switchblades.
Gravity knives are currently defined as “any knife that has a blade released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force.” Switchblades are defined as “any knife, the blade of which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, springs, or other device in its handle.”
The proposed bill would remove those two types of weapons from a section detailing the possession of “a dangerous or illegal weapon,” but would leave in place bans on metallic knuckles, blackjacks and gas guns.
Proposal to fix K-12 funding shortfall calls for higher pot tax, less in senior property tax breaks
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper wants the state Legislature to cut a property tax exemption for senior homeowners and to increase the state special sales tax on marijuana for the upcoming fiscal year in order to bridge a state budget gap that hits K-12 education the hardest.
The request, made by the governor and the Office of State Planning and Budgeting and submitted Tuesday to the Joint Budget Committee, seeks to address a projected $106.2 million shortfall in the budget first submitted last November. Continue reading
New poll finds large increase in support for government-backed health care coverage over past year
DENVER – A new survey from the Pew Research Center shows increased nationwide support for government-supported health care and that low-income Republicans have increasingly warmed to the idea of health care coverage for all Americans over the past year.
The report, published Friday, found that 60 percent of Americans support government-backed health care coverage for all Americans – a 9 percent increase from a poll last year and the highest percentage Pew has found since a 2006 Gallup survey.
But the numbers are still widely split between Democrats, 85 percent of whom polled support federal health care coverage, and Republicans, of whom only 32 percent said they supported government-backed health care.
The report also found that 52 percent of Republicans with household incomes of less than $30,000 per year support government-backed health care for all – up from 31 percent nine months ago.
The near-20 percentage point increase was also seen among “middle class” Republicans earning between $20,000 and $74,999 per household each year. Thirty-four percent of those polled said they supported government-backed health care coverage, compared to 14 percent last year.
Just 18 percent of Republicans making more than $75,000 a year said they supported government-backed health care coverage.
The splits in the report mostly boiled down to a family’s income level. Seventy-four percent of households making less than $30,000 a year support the government backing health care coverage, but only 53 percent of households making above $75,000 a year agreed.
But there were also splits when those surveyed were asked whether they supported a single-payer system or one like the current system set up under the Affordable Care Act in which the government subsidizes people’s plans that they buy through private insurance companies operating on national or state exchanges.
Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said they supported a single-payer, government program; 29 percent said they wanted a mix of government and private programs; 32 percent said the government should not be responsible for ensuring nationwide health care but wanted the government to continue Medicare and Medicaid coverage; and just 5 percent said there should not be any government involvement in health care coverage of any kind.
Congressional Republicans have already passed the initial steps to repealing the ACA, though there is no replacement plan in place despite promises from President-elect Donald Trump and others that they would “repeal and replace” the ACA.
There were rallies held across the country Sunday, including in Denver, to ask that Congress not repeal the ACA, often referred to as Obamacare.
Sunday, Trump said he wanted “health insurance for all” but his spokesman, Sean Spicer, walked those comments back.
Gallup data from December found that some of the counties and states that voted for Trump in November also saw the highest enrollments in the Affordable Care Act coverage last month.
The Pew Research Center poll was based on telephone interviews of 1,502 adults in all 50 states and was conducted Jan. 4-9.
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2 different Republican-backed bills aim to expand concealed-carry handgun rights on Colo. campuses
DENVER – Two Republican-backed bills in the Colorado Legislature aim to expand concealed-carry handgun rights at schools across the state.
One bill, House Bill 1036, would completely strip from state statute that currently forbids people from carrying concealed handguns on public school grounds – even if the holder has a permit.
It strikes most of the language in Colorado Revised Statute 18-12-214, but upholds language in 18-12-105.5 that says it “shall not be an offense” if a person with a valid permit to carry a concealed handgun brings it on campus.
The bill also has language that says the enactment of the bill “is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety.”
The bill in sponsored by Rep. Patrick Neville, Rep. Kim Ransom and Sen. Tim Neville – all Republicans.
The other bill filed relating to concealed-carry weapons in schools is also sponsored by Rep. Patrick Neville, along with Sen. Chris Holbert.
Senate Bill 5 also allows some school employees to carry concealed handguns on campus, but carries more stringent requirements than HB 1036.
If passed and signed by the governor, the bill would allow school districts to work with county sheriffs to establish a training course and curriculum that would be taught to teachers with concealed-carry permits who would then be able to carry the weapons on campus, with some restrictions and parameters.
The bill would also apply not only to public schools, but also to charter schools and institute charter schools.
The first step in the process the bill creates would require the district board of education or charter board to work with the sheriff’s office to establish a handgun safety training course that includes any of the district’s or charter school’s existing emergency response methods. The teacher would already have to have a concealed-carry handgun permit.
Then, that person would have to meet a series of thresholds in order to be able to carry the gun while it is concealed while they are on campus.
The board of education or charter institute would first have to approve the curriculum for the training; the employee would have to complete the training; the employee would have to get permission from the board or charter institute to carry the concealed handgun on campus and would then have to notify said board or charter institute.
Also, the bill would allow each school board or charter institute to establish a maximum number of employees allowed to carry concealed handguns on campus and allow them to deny permission to an employee if that would put the school over the limit.
Concealed-carry handguns are allowed on many of Colorado’s college campuses.
Last month, the Hanover School District, southeast of Colorado Springs, voted to allow “qualified teachers’ to carry guns while on campus. District board members who supported the measure cited mass shootings and illegal marijuana grows nearby as reasons for enacting the policy. The district also cited its few school resource officers as reasons for allowing the program.
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Colorado GOP pushes bill to repeal state health care exchange, but governor will fight
DENVER – Two of the first bills filed in the Republican-controlled Colorado Senate aim to make huge changes in state health care – one that would repeal the state’s health exchange and one that would require state Medicaid recipients to enter into a written agreement if they use a non-enrolled provider.
Both bills are being pushed by new Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City. Senate Republican Leader Chris Holbert, R-Parker, affirmed the party’s opposition to the state exchange Thursday. Continue reading
Hickenlooper signs bill extending some recreational marijuana rules to medical pot industry
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday signed a bill that will extend several of the rules for the state’s retail marijuana operators on to medical marijuana licensees and manufacturers.
House Bill 1034 passed the Senate unanimously after passing the House by a 63-1 vote in early February.
The bill affects several changes aimed at helping medical marijuana licensees.
First, it creates a license for medical marijuana business operators who receive profits from the industry but are not owners of a property, something already required for recreational marijuana business operators.
The bill also changes state rules that currently allow medical marijuana licensees only to move their business within the city or county, and allow them to move anywhere in the state, as long as it is approved by the state and the local jurisdiction the licensee is moving to.
The change puts medical licensees on the same plane as retail licensees.
Another facet of the bill allows medical marijuana licensees to try and “remediate” any product that tested positive for substances “injurious to health,” such as pesticides, before having to destroy it. However, this rule would apply only to products that test positive for microbials.
That rule currently also applies to recreational retail marijuana licensees, but not to medical licensees, and could help them save product that would otherwise be considered a total loss.
A final change the bill makes is it allows manufacturers of medical marijuana-infused products, like edibles, to buy and sell medical marijuana to or from one another.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, and Sen. Randy Baumgardner, a Republican from the Western Slope.
The original bill did not include the remediation or transfer of medical marijuana between manufacturers, but the language was added by the House ahead of its passage.
The Legislative Council found the bill would have minimal state and local fiscal impacts.
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