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JBC Chair and Pueblo Rep. Daneya Esgar sees 4 bills signed into law; Buentello’s bills to boost rural economies and support rural law enforcement become law
PUEBLO, CO — Representatives Daneya Esgar and Bri Buentello today released the following statements after Governor Polis signed seven of their bills into law.
“During this unprecedented session, we worked to help hardworking Coloradans make ends meet and prioritized our most vulnerable as we crafted the most challenging budget in our state’s history,” said Joint Budget Committee Chair Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo. “The bills signed today will help our small businesses recover, prioritize our students’ achievements, and lower electricity costs for Coloradans. We also helped create our newest state park, Fishers Peak, which will be an enormous boost to Southern Colorado and generate new opportunities for our small businesses and for Coloradans to enjoy our great outdoors.”
“We can’t leave Colorado’s rural communities behind as our state recovers from the pandemic,” said Rep. Bri Buentello, D-Pueblo. “The legislation signed today will improve a critical economic development initiative and enhance seed regulation to help Colorado’s agriculture producers. To support our communities that are struggling with smaller and smaller budgets, we created a new scholarship to help them afford to hire and train new law enforcement officers. I’m proud of our work to boost rural economies and help build an economy that works for all parts of our state.”
Legislation Signed Today Sponsored by Representatives Esgar and Buentello:
SB20-003, sponsored by Representative Esgar, provides $1 million in funding to the state’s parks to open Fishers peak and to make improvements at parks throughout the state to accommodate additional visitors and upgrade park facilities and infrastructure.
SB20-002, sponsored by Representatives Barbara McLachlan and Buentello, strengthens and cements a successful existing program, REDI, in the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to ensure that the program continues and make improvements to spur rural economies. To help Colorado agriculture producers, HB20-1184, sponsored by Representatives Buentello and Rod Pelton, improves seed regulation in Colorado.
HB20-1366, sponsored by Representatives Esgar and Julie McCluskie, establishes a new higher education funding formula that focuses on student outcomes, helps secure the long-term sustainability of rural institutions and protects the rural economies that rely on public colleges and universities.
HB20-1229, sponsored by Representative Bri Buentello, establishes a scholarship fund for rural and small communities to assist in paying for the cost of potential police officers to attend an approved basic law enforcement training academy.
HB20-1116, sponsored by Representatives Esgar and Tom Sullivan, extends the Colorado Procurement Technical Assistance Center for five years. PTAC provides free consulting with procurement counselors, as well as a variety of subject matter experts, to Colorado’s small, women, veteran and minority-owned businesses applying for and performing government contracts at the federal, state and local levels.
SB20-030, sponsored by Representative Esgar, imposes various requirements on public utilities and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) related to information reporting, billing, and customer interactions. The bill nearly doubles the level of income that the PUC may use to means test the medical exemption, allowing more Coloradans with medical needs to take advantage of the program.