WESTERN SKIES - March 26, 2005

*** CAPITOL COVERAGE ***

FUNDING CREDIT: Coverage of the Colorado legislature is made possible by KRCC members and by Pro Audio Websites, audio distribution sites for music and content professionals, ProAudioWebsites.com.

ERIC WHITNEY: The past week at the Colorado legislature has been anything but typical. Lawmakers engaged in extensive negotiations to craft a budget fix, and faced the largest protest that anyone at the capitol can remember. Stephen Raher has our regular weekly report, with additional coverage by David Wilson.

STEPHEN RAHER: House Bill 1194, also known as the Economic Recovery Act, spurred an unusually intense round of negotiations between Democrat and Republican lawmakers during recent weeks.

Last week they agreed to simplify the bill. Colorado voters will be asked in November if the state can keep about three billion dollars in anticipated TABOR refunds over the next three years.

Five Republicans co-sponsored the bill in the Senate, but others were not happy with the legislation.

SEN. JIM DYER: This is a fundamental violation of the trust of the voters.

RAHER: Littleton Republican Jim Dyer.

DYER: Members, one of the problems with this bill also, is the fact that it is a spending bill. It says "to fund."

RAHER: Dyer asked for a revised fiscal note on the bill, which delayed its consideration. But moderate Republicans, like co-sponsor Norma Anderson of Lakewood, were displeased by repeated claims that the bill is a tax increase.

SEN. NORMA ANDERSON: And is this a tax on people? It's the tax they're already paying. Now, it's whether they want a portion of it back or not, in a refund. And I am tired of hearing that it's a tax increase, because it is not.

RAHER: The Senate approved the bill, which Governor Owens is expected to sign. The next major action will be a voter education campaign in anticipation of the November election. Joint Budget Committee vice chair Tom Plant, a Democrat from Nederland, says the proponents' message should resonate well with voters.

REP. TOM PLANT: Families, as well as states will go through hard times, but I think that it's an easy concept to understand. That once times do get better, then you try and fix those things that broke during that downtime.

RAHER: The other big news at the capitol this week was Super Slab. Investors backing the proposed two hundred mile toll road were counting on House Bill 1030 to help pave the way for their project.

Bill 1030 passed the House a few weeks ago on a vote of sixty-two to three. During the floor debate in the House, bill sponsor Jim Sullivan, a Republican from Larkspur said the company proposing super slab had worked with landowners who would be impacted, and they weren't worried about eminent domain problems.

REP. JIM SULLIVAN: They feel that little or no cause will ever present itself as far as eminent domain is concerned, because the people there really like this, and they see money accruing to them that they've not seen before.

RAHER: But on Tuesday, a massive crowd came from the eastern plains to protest the road being built through their communities. The protestors, who organized via the Internet, were described by some as the largest citizens group to come to the capitol for a single bill in recent memory.

David Wilson has our report.

[sound of crowd chanting, "Kill that bill! Kill that bill!"]

DAVID WILSON: Hundreds of people representing numerous counties crowded the west steps of the state capitol Tuesday at lunchtime to voice their objections to bill 1030, the so-called "Super Slab Bill."

UNNAMED SPEAKER: The alternatives are there, we don't have to lose our homes to fix the highway problems of the Front Range.

WILSON: Both opponents and proponents of bill 1030 spilled out of the packed Old Supreme Court Chambers, where a public hearing was held before the Senate Transportation Committee. The president of the Front Range Toll Road Company, Ray Wells, spoke about the history of his Super Slab proposal, which was born twenty years ago. The vast majority of the over one hundred people who testified about House Bill 1030 spoke out strongly against it. Many long-time ranchers and rural residents were most outraged that the private toll road company would have the power to condemn land, six miles out on either side of the road. Lila Beaver taught on the eastern plains of Colorado for thirty years, then retired in Elbert County because of its peaceful tranquility.

LILA BEAVER: Now, an antiquated law that should have been removed years ago, is allowing one citizen to disrupt the lives of thousands. Where is the justice in that?

WILSON: When public testimony finally wrapped up after five hours, the bill's sponsor Suzanne Williams, attempted to put forth several amendments. But Aurora Democrat Bob Haggedorn, suggested a substitute amendment to postpone indefinitely this bill.

SEN. BOB HAGGEDORN: I think we need to step back, perhaps maybe the Transportation Legislative Review Commission this interim should take a hard look at tolling, at eminent domain, and other property rights issues.

WILSON: The rest of the Senate Transportation Committee, except for the bill's sponsor, agreed with Senator Haggedorn and House Bill 1030 was killed for the moment.

[sound of applause]

RAHER: That was David Wilson, reporting from the capitol. The day after the hearing, a spokeswoman for the company behind Super Slab said they will continue with plans for the road, despite the defeat of House Bill 1030.

Two healthcare-related bills progressed this week.

House Bill 1015 would provide substance abuse treatment programs for Medicaid patients. Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff has run this legislation several times in previous years. On Monday the twenty-first it received preliminary approval from the House Health and Human Services Committee.

And House Bill 1042 was given final approval by the Senate, over some Republican objections. This bill would require hospitals to inform rape victims of the availability of emergency contraception, like the morning after pill. The bill would not require the hospital to dispense the emergency contraception itself.

For Western Skies, I'm Stephen Raher.