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< Back Rep. Lukens: Increasing affordability across Colorado Aug 7, 2024 See more This story was originally published in the Craig Daily Press here . It is clear one of the most pressing issues for families across House District 26 and throughout Colorado is affordability. All of our community members deserve to live in our beautiful towns, but with the growing crisis of the high cost of living, many are struggling to make ends meet. From Eagle to Rio Blanco counties, I continue to hear your concerns about rising costs, and I am excited to share how we have turned those worries into action. This legislative session we focused on making Colorado more affordable. We are reducing the cost of housing, cutting taxes and making childcare, health care, transit and higher education more affordable. Housing Affordable housing is crucial for our Western Slope communities. This session, we passed two key bills to address this challenge. SB24-233, Reducing Property Taxes, is a bipartisan effort that will reduce over $1.3 billion in property taxes. This significant relief will help ease the financial burden on families throughout Colorado. We know Coloradans are searching for more affordable housing options, and recent legislation we passed will help us create more housing quicker. HB24-1036 boosts tax credits for modular, prefabricated homes which means more housing sooner in our community. Child Care Supporting Colorado families is a top priority of mine. I’m proud to have sponsored HB24-1237, Programs for the Development of Child Care Facilities. This law makes it easier to build and open child care facilities, addressing the critical shortage of affordable child care faced by the Western Slope. This will help parents access affordable child care while simultaneously supporting our local businesses and workforce. We also passed two tax credits to make it easier to raise children in Colorado. HB24-1134 expands the state Earned Income Tax Credit to help working families offset the increasing cost of raising children, and HB24-1311 will provide up to $3,200 per child to lower income Coloradans, offering significant financial relief to those who need it most. Additionally, HB24-1223 supports parents who may struggle to afford child care, making it easier for families to access this vital support. These combined efforts will make a real difference for families across House District 26, easing the financial pressure of raising children in our beautiful, but increasingly expensive, region. Higher Education Investing in education is an investment in our future. This year, we passed groundbreaking legislation to make higher education more accessible and affordable. HB24-1340 ensures that eligible students can now attend community college for free, and covers two years of a four-year degree at all public institutions in the state. This opens doors for countless students across House District 26. I sponsored HB24-1365, the Opportunity Now Grants & Tax Credit program, which will help students enter fast-growing industries. This initiative bridges the gap between education and our evolving job market, benefiting both our youth and our local economies. Another law I championed, HB24-1305, makes important changes for concurrent enrollment students. This will expand opportunities for high school students to earn college credit, easing the transition to higher education and potentially reducing the time and cost of earning a degree. These efforts collectively aim to make higher education more attainable for all Coloradans, regardless of their economic background or where they live in our diverse district. House District 26 From reducing property taxes to expanding educational opportunities, I am working hard to address the challenges faced by families across House District 26. As your representative, I am committed to continuing this work, ensuring that the Western Slope remains a place where people can afford to live, work, and thrive. Together, we can build a more affordable and prosperous future for our communities. Let’s keep in touch and keep making a difference in House District 26. You can contact me at repmeghanlukens@gmail.com , through social media or in person at one of my town hall meetings. I also send out more regular legislative updates through my newsletter, which you can join by emailing me. Onward! Rep. Meghan Lukens represents District 26, which includes Routt, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Eagle counties, in the Colorado House. Previous Next

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< Back Cecelia Espenoza Rep. Cecelia Espenoza represents House District 4 in North/West Denver, a community she has Called home for over 30 years. Born to migrant farmworkers from Colorado, she was the first in her family to graduate from college and she went on to be the second Latina to pass the bar in Utah. She returned to Colorado as the first tenure-track Latina to teach law in Colorado. She was also the first Mexican-American to become an appellate judge on the highest immigration court in the country. She is focused on addressing the housing crisis, investing in our K-12 public schools, combating gun violence, and protecting reproductive rights while supporting the most vulnerable in our communities including: immigrants and refugees; and Colorado’s LGBTQ+ community. Rep. Espenoza serves on the Judiciary and State, Civic, Military & Veterans Affairs committees.

< Back Rep. McLachlan: ‘Long nights, in-depth debate, good legislation for Colorado’ Mar 1, 2024 See more This story was originally posted in the Durango Herald here . We are a third of the way through our time in the Legislature this year, and I anticipate the next two-thirds will consist of long nights, in-depth debate, dozens of meetings and some good legislation for Colorado. Several of the bills I am sponsoring are starting in the House, or have already passed through the Senate and headed my way. The flow is steadily increasing, as is the workload. In the House Business committee last week, I presented House Bill 24-1160 to continue a successful program, which increases the capacity building of small businesses. The Economic Development Organization Action Grant Program in the Office of Economic Development provides grants to Colorado-based economic development organizations that attract, retain, promote and expand local businesses. In the two years the initial program has been going, 55 organizations in 34 counties received money, helping businesses continue to support and guide local economic activity. The fund created 33 new businesses, and 612 businesses received assistance. Some 268 jobs were created and 19 more were sustained. The EDOs added 414 new members to their rosters, 669 relationships were maintained between EDOs and businesses, and 2,847 entrepreneurs started and maintained their businesses. We had compelling testimony from business leaders from around the state, and the bill passed unanimously. I am proud to not only promote the benefits of shopping locally, but am doing something about it. In the Education Committee next week, I am presenting a bill modeling the successful partnership between traditional and charter schools we have in Durango. The legislation, House Bill 24-1154, does not mandate, but opens the opportunity for other districts to run bonds with their Charter School Institute schools for capital construction, land or facility needs. As they do in Durango, the bond funds are split proportionately between the schools. As District 9-R discovered, asking voters for money for both charters and traditional schools helps all public school students. Rep. Ron Weinberg (R-Larimer) and I are getting an encouraging response as we head to our first public forum, and we’re hoping that continues. On March 14, I am running a bill to help address the recruitment and retention of Colorado teachers. It seemed the Colorado Department of Education website was too confusing if all a person wanted to know how to become a teacher, so we devised a one-stop-shopping model. The CDE and I have been working on a website for all potential teachers, whether they are in college, exploring options in high school, employed and ready to switch jobs or working at one school, looking at what is available at others. The website will be shared on all school district sites, who will be able to post their job openings for everyone, not just those in their geographical area. This makes finding relevant information a lot easier. Another bill I am running concerns principal and superintendent PERA retirees, who may want to fill an open position in a rural district. Two years after they retire, they can return to a school to work, without hurting their current PERA benefits. They will still pay into the system, as will the districts, so PERA will not lose money. When talking with district superintendents last fall, I heard about the necessity of this bill as rural schools, in particular, are affected most by the administrative shortage. I am happy to respond. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango, is serving her fourth term in the Legislature, representing La Plata, Montezuma, Archuleta and San Juan counties. She has been a journalist and teacher. Previous Next

State-driven tax cuts have wildly different impacts on Colorado communities, so let’s leave it to local governments to make adjustments < Back Rep. deGruy Kennedy: After Colorado legislature’s latest special session is finished, we must restore local control over property taxes Aug 20, 2024 See more This story was originally published in the Colorado Sun here . Over my eight years representing Jefferson County in the state House, I’ve learned that good policy is about thoughtful stakeholding, delicate balancing, and, ultimately, hard choices. As the state embarks on yet another special legislative session on property taxes, those shaping this round of policy solutions should keep in mind the lessons we’ve already learned. Those are: All voices — including those not in the room — need to be considered, not just those with the resources to make their voices the loudest. Despite posturing to the contrary, proponents of the extreme, badly crafted measures are seeing the writing on the wall and are eager for a deal. And, state-driven policy on issues that are inherently local is fraught with problems. It needs to stop. Let’s start with the consensus-driven process that created Senate Bill 233 , the bipartisan property tax legislation we passed this year that will lower property taxes by $1 billion. Even as I struggled with some of the sacrifices we had to make to maintain strong support from across the aisle, the bill provides meaningful property tax cuts and a cap on future growth without undermining K-12 funding, which is still well below the national average. And it delivers more property tax relief to regular folks and small businesses without giving exorbitant tax breaks to the wealthiest homeowners and largest corporations. Importantly, it was the result of countless hours of public discussion. Fairness and inclusion should continue to be the guideposts for any new policy emerging from the special session. Lawmakers should not feel as though they need to put the interests of everyday Coloradans on the back burner in order to kowtow to whomever is bankrolling Initiatives 50 and 108 , the chaotic conservative measures that would create a fiscal trainwreck at the state and local levels. While it’s understandable that many stakeholders are afraid of the possibility that these measures might pass in November, polling shows they are headed toward defeat. I think proponents of 50 and 108 know that too. Otherwise, why would they express an openness to relatively small cuts in exchange for pulling down their ballot measures? I’ve always thought that the classic negotiation strategy of staking out an extreme position and wiggling back toward a middle ground was silly. Shouldn’t grown-ups just be able to sit down, put their cards on table, discuss their differences, and let the democratically elected representatives cast their votes? But that’s never what happens, because that’s not what serves the special interests. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a corporate lobbyist bluff their way through a negotiation. They come in hot, suggesting they have the upper hand and convincing legislators that the only way to get the votes for a bill is to cut a deal. Are the proponents of 50 and 108 bluffing? I don’t know. Maybe they’re willing to bankrupt state and local governments to prove a point. But I think they very much want a deal so they can claim victory for cutting taxes without having to spend millions of dollars on a campaign that may or may not succeed. The third lesson we should take from the thoughtful deliberations that went into crafting Senate Bill 233 centers on local control. What we need is stable state policy, restoring true local control to our duly-elected city councilors, county commissioners and district board members. They have the tools to engage with their voters and balance the impact of taxes with the needs of public services. And these communities are all different. Some have more residential while some have more commercial properties. Many rural counties didn’t see significant home value growth, and the property tax cuts hurt their ability to provide services when their constituents did not experience the same property tax increases seen elsewhere. Many local governments had passed voter-approved revenue changes in previous years. But many other local governments had never passed revenue increases, meaning their constituents were paying lower taxes to begin with. The 2023 value increases finally caught them up with their neighbors and allowed for investments that had been deferred for years, if not decades. Additional state-driven property tax cuts will have wildly different impacts across our state, and they will be permanent. That means that economic downturns could have serious consequences in communities. Our local leaders, on the other hand, have the tools to temporarily lower their mill levies in times like these. And they have the ability to focus on the needs of their own communities, allowing them to find the sweet spot between additional tax relief and funding their unmet needs. So, if the state is going to have one last hurrah in property tax policy, then fine. We’re well positioned to get a good deal that prioritizes regular folks and carefully balances statewide priorities like K-12 and higher education funding. But this should be the very last time. After that, we must restore local control over property taxes. Chris deGruy Kennedy of Lakewood was one of the prime sponsors of Senate Bill 233 and outgoing Colorado House Speaker Pro Tem; he is now the president and CEO of the Bell Policy Center. Previous Next

Colorado Democrats delivered results to reduce property taxes, support hardworking families and prevent evictions. With urgent property tax cuts, more rental assistance, and tax relief for working families, Colorado Democrats delivered results during the 2023 Extraordinary Session of the 74th General Assembly to make Colorado more affordable for all. DOWNLOAD IN ENGLISH & ESPAÑOL

< Back Tisha Mauro Representative Tisha Mauro is the Vice-Chair for the Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee and a member of the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee. Representative Mauro represents House District 46 which spans the majority of Pueblo County, including Avondale, Beulah, Colorado City and Rye. Rep. Mauro’s focus is on legislation that conserves and protects Colorado’s water, land and air. As a chile farmer herself, she’s an advocate for the workers, small business owners, farmers, and ranchers who keep local economies running. In the last three legislative sessions, Rep. Mauro has championed legislation to expand and improve EV charging stations across the state, increase railroad safety for railroad workers and local communities, prevent and respond to wildfires, and incentivize economic development and investment in Southern Colorado.

41 Colorado Democrats fighting for hardworking Coloradans at the Capitol & across our state DOWNLOAD

< Back Rep. Meghan Lukens: Strengthening rural health care Mar 27, 2025 See more This story was originally published in the Vail Daily here . As we move through the 2025 legislative session, I am excited to share updates on the vital health care initiatives I am advancing to support our Western Slope communities. Health care accessibility, affordability, and quality remain top priorities for families across Eagle, Moffat, Rio Blanco, and Routt counties. This session, I am championing several health care bills that address the unique challenges faced by our rural and mountain communities. Preserving access to rural independent pharmacies For many in our Western Slope communities, the local pharmacy is not just a place to pick up prescriptions — it’s an essential health care resource. That is why I am proud to sponsor HB25-1222 , which helps preserve access to rural independent pharmacies, a bill idea brought to me directly by a constituent in Oak Creek. This bill does a few things. First, it ensures fair reimbursement for rural independent pharmacies and allows the delivery of life-saving drugs by rural independent pharmacies to underserved communities. Next, it makes sure audit recovery practices are fair so rural independent pharmacies don’t close. Finally, it gives pharmacies much needed flexibility to serve their communities through remote operations. These protections will help ensure that our community members can continue to access vital medications and health care services close to home, without having to travel long distances or face unnecessary delays. Supporting our rural health care infrastructure Rural hospitals and health care facilities are lifelines for our communities, providing essential services that save lives and improve health outcomes. However, these facilities often face unique financial and operational challenges that can threaten their sustainability. That’s why I am sponsoring HB25-1085 , which modernizes outdated rules for Colorado county hospitals by allowing government officials to serve as board trustees, making board meetings more flexible, and extending budget deadlines. These common-sense changes were requested directly by a constituent wanting to support Colorado’s rural county hospitals to help them operate more efficiently and effectively. Building on this work, I am also proud to sponsor HB25-1223 , which establishes a task force to study the current capital needs of our rural and frontier hospitals. This legislation will help determine the financial resources required to bring these facilities up to date with existing standards and codes. By identifying these needs, we can make targeted investments to ensure our rural healthcare infrastructure remains strong for generations to come. Additionally, I am sponsoring SB25-078 , which allows nonprofit, small hospitals to enter into collaborative agreements with other hospitals to increase patient health care access. These partnerships will help smaller facilities leverage resources, share expertise, and ultimately provide better care for patients across our rural communities. Protecting our student athletes The health and safety of our young people is a top priority, and that includes during school sporting events. SB25-191 requires high schools — particularly at sporting events — to follow nationally recognized guidelines for all automated external defibrillators in schools. This means there will not be AEDs behind locked doors, and it will be widely known where AEDs are located. With sudden cardiac arrest being the leading cause of death among student athletes, these changes will help schools implement life-saving measures more efficiently. Every minute counts during a cardiac emergency, and having AEDs readily available at sporting events could save a life. Continuing our work together These health care initiatives address specific challenges our communities face while being mindful of our state’s fiscal realities. Each bill responds directly to feedback from health care providers, patients, and community leaders across House District 26, focusing on practical solutions that will make a real difference in people’s lives. As always, I believe we make the best policy when we listen to those closest to the issues. If you have insights about health care in our communities or thoughts on any of these bills, please share them with me. You can reach me at meghan.lukens.house@coleg.gov or attend one of my upcoming town halls. For more frequent updates throughout the legislative session, join my newsletter by sending me an email. Let’s keep in touch and keep making a difference in House District 26. Onward! Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs is the representative for Colorado’s House District 26, which encompasses Moffat, Rio Blanco, Eagle, and Routt counties. Previous Next

< Back Michael Carter Rep. Michael Carter is proud to call Aurora home. His wife has taught in the community for over two decades, his three children attend Aurora Public Schools, and he practices law in Aurora to protect the community’s most vulnerable. Becoming a state representative is not his first experience in public service. Rep. Carter is a third-generation Army Veteran and he served as the Vice President of the Aurora Public School Board of Education. After receiving his law degree from the University of Denver, he worked as a public defender and a private criminal defense attorney. From safer schools for our students to affordable housing for working families, Rep. Carter is committed to developing policy solutions that work for all Coloradans and move our state forward. He will utilize his experience in the criminal justice system and K-12 public education to improve public schools and uphold the values of justice. Rep. Michael Carter is the representative for House District 36 serving Adams and Arapahoe counties and he serves as the Vice-Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the State, Civic, Military & Veterans Affairs Committee.

< Back Rep. Mike Weissman: ‘Dobbs’ anti-abortion decision joins shameful Supreme Court rulings Jun 25, 2022 See more The following op-ed was published in The Aurora Sentinel. “I am no longer a person”. “I cried for hours this morning.” “I don’t know what it is to be American.” These were the reactions of several women friends I talked to about to the radical, dangerous Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last Friday. In overturning 50 years of settled law, the Court did two kinds of grievous harm: first, to every woman in our country and second, to its own legitimacy. The first harm is obvious. By throwing out long-standing law that the U.S. Constitution protects abortion rights, Dobbs instead subjects women to the whims of politicians in state legislatures, some of whom are even more radical and dangerous than the Court’s decision itself. “Trigger” bans are already going into effect, extremist laws have recently been passed in states like Oklahoma, and vigilant enforcement mechanisms have been passed in states like Texas. These are not laws that women should be subjected to in any free society. It is important to note that abortion remains legal, available and safe in Colorado. Fortunately, this is the case in some other states as well, states whose laws respect women’s autonomy. But Dobbs means that a woman’s right to control her own body and life now depends on what state she lives in. The radical justices who overturned Roe may believe their decision will reduce abortions. However, their decision will mostly make access to abortion less equal. Women with means living in restrictive states will travel to other states to exercise their right to bodily autonomy. Women with lesser means may rely on financial support from abortion funds, which have attracted much new notice for precisely this reason, or may have to self- manage an abortion without support from a medical professional. Even in the least trying of circumstances, women in restrictive states will pay for the Court’s decision in time away from home and work and certainly in emotional turmoil for being put through such travails by their own government. That travail and turmoil is the basis of the second grievous harm of the Court’s decision – to its own legitimacy. We’ve been here before, and the injuries have been very slow to recover from. The 1857 Dred Scott case helped precipitate the Civil War. The 1896 Plessy case upheld the Jim Crow-era “separate but equal” doctrine. Numerous early 20th century cases exemplified by the Lochner decision struck down worker protection laws during a period of rapid industrialization and dangerous working conditions. During World War II, Korematsu upheld internment of Japanese Americans in camps, some of which were here in Colorado. More recently, Bowers v. Hardwick upheld criminalization of consensual sexual activities between adults. Dobbs now joins this shameful history of cases that have departed from our nation’s core principles. Americans’ opinions about abortion rights vary, but very few people would agree with the idea that the U.S. Constitution should offer zero protection at all, leaving the matter entirely to the whims of radical state politicians who could criminalize medical providers, those who assist women in obtaining abortions, or even pregnant women themselves. Yet in substituting their own feelings about abortion rights for decades of settled law, that is exactly what the Court majority has done. A Court that acts in this way cannot be counted on to safeguard other rights that Americans enjoy. For example, last week, days before Dobbs, the Court’s Vega decision weakened the landmark, decades-old, Miranda case concerning the right against self-incrimination. The most radical members of the Court are, at least, not hiding the ball. In a concurring opinion, Justice Thomas explicitly urged reconsideration of cases affirming the Constitutional rights to use contraception, to consensual sexual activities between adults, and to marriage equality. In the face of a Court bent on eliminating Constitutional rights, state legislatures matter more than ever. In Colorado, our legislature acted this year to protect abortion rights in state law, and I was proud to support this. In Colorado today, women still have sovereignty over their own bodies and lives. Tragically, this is not true in all other states. In the face of decisions like Dobbs, I’m sure my friend isn’t the only one struggling with “what it is to be American” right now. She added, “my heart is in pain” due to the decision. Mine is too. But as a man who believes women are his equals under the law, as an attorney, and as a state legislator, I will find resolve in that pain for the struggles that now lie ahead. State Rep. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, represents House District 36. Previous Next

< Back Junie Joseph Majority Caucus Co-Chair Junie Joseph is serving her second term as the State Representative for House District 10, which includes most of the City of Boulder and a small part of Gunbarrel. She is also a member of the House Finance Committee, the Energy & Environment Committee, and the Appropriations Committee. Rep. Joseph has a passion for human and civil rights. She has worked in the human rights and development field where she offered her expertise on transitional justice issues in South Africa while working for a non-governmental organization as part of an academic research placement. She supported the mandate of the United Nations as an intern by providing both research and organizational assistance to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. She has also served as a global law and development fellow on a USAID project in Côte D’Ivoire, West Africa, promoting the rights of persons with disabilities to access the Ivorian Judicial system. Most recently, she worked as a Human Rights Officer within the United Nations Mission to the Central African Republic, serving internally displaced persons in the region of Bria. After returning from the Central African Republic, Junie moved to Colorado to study law. She holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Colorado Law. In addition to her law degree, Rep. Joseph holds a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Florida and a Master’s in Applied Human Rights from the University of York in England. Rep. Joseph is committed to equity and justice in her work. In her first session as a legislator, she passed gun violence prevention legislation, fought for criminal justice reform, and allocated funds to help Coloradans build wildfire-resilient homes.