A state senator said Thursday he wants to ask voters to impose a special tax on medical marijuana, The Denver Post reports. Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said he intends to amend a bill that creates regulations for medical-marijuana dispensaries to include a provision that places an excise tax on medical marijuana, similar to the special excise tax that already exists for alcohol. Because of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, that provision — if first approved by lawmakers — must be put before the voters before the tax could be imposed.

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General Motors officials argued their case Thursday against a bill in the Colorado legislature that they say would hinder the carmaker’s return to profitability, The Denver Post reports. The bill would require GM and Chrysler to make special accommodations to Colorado auto dealers that were involuntarily shut down last year following the bankruptcy filings of GM and Chrysler.

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Green-power advocates have turned to the Legislature for help in getting their allies elected to the boards of rural electric cooperatives, The Durango Herald reports. A House panel approved a bill Thursday that would require a more open election process for the utilities, which serve large parts of rural and suburban Colorado.

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By Debi Brazzale, COLORADO NEWS AGENCY

It was a poetic moment for the former music teacher and longtime legislative advocate for the arts: Rep. Michael Merrifield’s proposal to require that classes on performing and visual arts be taught in all Colorado public schools made it over its first legislative hurdle today. Dubbed the “Merrifield Legacy Bill” by colleagues of the term-limited veteran Colorado Springs Democrat, House Bill 1273 passed the House Education Committee amid muted opposition and overwhelming support from those who came to testify on the legislation. The bill is now headed to the House floor.

The measure also passed over objections of two Republican dissenters, who said they could not impose the mandate on local school districts that are struggling financially.

The concern was echoed by representatives of the public school district boards and adminstrators. Jane Urschel, of the Colorado Association of School Boards, said unfunded mandates at a time when schools are tightening their belts made the bill unworkable and that the school boards regrettably could not support the bill.

“This is perhaps the most difficult testimony that I’ve ever given,” said Urschel. “The intent of this bill is genius but how the bill is executed is not. We can’t have art on demand by the state–that decision has to be made locally.”

Also opposing the bill, and delivered with the same regrets, was the Colorado Association of School Executives. Both groups suggested that if the mandate were replaced with an incentive for the schools, they could support the bill.

Rep. Ken Summers, R-Lakewood, voted for the bill but agreed with Urschel and said he would prefer incentives over mandates as well.

“We’ll need creative accounting to pay for this,” Summers said.

Yet, the overwhelming majority of those who came to speak to the committee spoke emphatically in favor of requiring an arts curriculum in public education.  Many who spoke were students or former students whose lives were enriched by their exposure to the arts. Others said they simply couldn’t imagine an education without art.

“Performing arts are just as important as math and reading.  To have an education without these things is just unthinkable,” said Dan Ritchie, the former University of Denver chancellor who has an arena on the DU campus named after him.

Some lawmakers, such as Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, lamented the loss of arts in favor of math and science–which she said are given priority for the sake of standardized testing. She said only wealthier schools have the means to support arts in the curriculum.

“High-stakes testing has crowded out the arts, especially in lower-income schools,” said Solano.

Rep. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, a former schoolteacher, said she always found ways to integrate the arts into curriculum and that Merrifield’s measure mandating the arts curriculum won’t be burdensome on school districts.

“I don’t look at this as a mandate.  With my students, I took their artistic sense and was able to integrate the arts into other subject areas,” said Todd.

Mark Hudson, of the Colorado Music Education Association, said it came down to deciding what’s most important.

“Can we afford to do this? The question is–can we afford not to?” Hudson asked the committee.

Merrifield said the measure is simply overdue.

“There are ways for us to be creative in finding a way to do this,” said Merrifield. “I’m calling this the ‘no more buts’ bill.”

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The state budget crisis leaves lawmakers with little choice but to let some state colleges and universities increase tuition without legislative approval, Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday, reversing his position on the issue, The Denver Post reports. The proposal is being drafted in the form of a bill that could be introduced as early as next month. It would require heads of state schools to submit financial plans showing how they would assure a public-college education would remain affordable in the face of tuition hikes.

In other coverage:

Rocky Mountain Collegian: Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday that Colorado’s legislature will keep tuition hikes in check for the next fiscal year, despite looking at possible models for what leaders are calling “tuition flexibility,” which will allow state institutions more authority in increasing college prices. In a discussion between news reporters and members of his recently commissioned strategic planning team in his office at the Capitol, Ritter said, “tuition flexibility is not tuition autonomy.”

Boulder Daily Camera: Gov. Bill Ritter signaled Thursday that he’s warmer to a proposal that the state’s public colleges and universities be able to set their own tuition rates. While Ritter didn’t go so far as to say he’d support a measure that would allow colleges and universities to raise their own tuition without directions from state leaders, he acknowledged the recession’s toll has been tough on higher education. In the past, Ritter vowed to veto any attempts to allow schools to hike their own tuition rates, citing concerns that students would have a difficult time affording public colleges.

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By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Following the deaths of 35 children over the past three years who “slipped through the cracks” of the state’s child protection system, lawmakers Thursday unveiled a bill that would create an independent investigator to address weaknesses in the system.
At a news conference Thursday, Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, unveiled her Senate Bill 171, the Child Protection Ombudsman Bill. The measure would create an independent “advocate” to help protect children and provide accountability of the child welfare system.
“How many children have to die before we take action?” asked Newell. “Today, we need to make a stand for those who are too young to stand up for themselves.”
It remains unclear exactly how the program would be run — either directly through the Department of Human Services, or through a nonprofit. Karen Beye, director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, said those details will be worked out by lawmakers as they debate the bill.

Necessary?
But supporters of the legislation, including Gov. Bill Ritter, say the move is necessary to fix the broken system.
“This legislation will provide transparency, consistency, accountability and ongoing input for Colorado’s child welfare system and help us improve critical services for Colorado’s most vulnerable children,” said Ritter.
The proposal stems from one of 29 recommendations made by the Child Welfare Action Committee, which was formed in April 2008 by an executive order from the governor. The committee met for 18 months before making its recommendations.
Several recommendations are already being implemented, including the Child Welfare Training Academy, a differential response program that allows stakeholders to skip the court process, and beefed-up response to mandatory reporters, to name a few.

High-profile cases
Several high-profile cases raised caution flags over the past three years.
One case was 3-year-old Neveah Gallegos, who was suffocated, placed in a garbage bag and then buried in her pink princess tennis shoes underneath a tree stump and debris in a Denver ravine. Critics said it was unacceptable that the case slipped past the welfare system’s radar, especially considering the mother’s boyfriend was a registered sex offender, and that little Neveah had been treated at an emergency room for vaginal bleeding.
Seven-year-old Chandler Grafner was another child to slip through the cracks. He weighed only 34 pounds when he was found dead. Grafner’s biological parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against child-welfare agencies in Denver and Jefferson counties. The suit claimed that the Department of Human Services in Jefferson County failed to adequately investigate whether Grafner’s foster parents were fit to supply a foster home. The suit went on to claim that child-welfare agencies in both counties then failed to keep Grafner safe while living in the foster home. There were even reports at the time that surfaced from Grafner’s school indicating abuse.

Ombudsman’s duties: Stop such tragedies from occurring
Ritter said the purpose of the ombudsman would be to really stop such tragedies from occurring.
“Before kids get in the system and when they’re under the watchful eye of social services, but parents believe or foster parents believe that the system isn’t necessarily responding to those kids’ issues the way they should be, before a (guardian ad litem) is involved, before a juvenile court is involved and there’s dependence and neglect — are we doing as much as we can for the sake of these kids?” asked the governor.
The ombudsman’s office would be charged with reviewing complaints, making recommendations and filing an annual report concerning improvements to the system. An aspect of community outreach and education would also be tied to the job.
While the ombudsman would be independent of state departments, the program would be an independent component of the Department of Human Services.
Supporters point out that 29 other states have created a similar program.
Newell says rather than play the blame game, it’s time for lawmakers and state departments to take action.
“For years there has been finger pointing from and to all parties — the state, the counties, the advocates, the providers — it is finally time to put down our fingers and join hands and band together for the solution to help children, to stop the blame game and come together to be part of the solution in protecting kids,” she said.

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

In other coverage:

The Denver Post: Gov. Bill Ritter and legislators will try to create an ombudsman office that would provide impartial oversight of the child-protection system and seek resolution of complaints concerning child-protection services. “In 2007 and 2008, we experienced what many people believe, and I believe, was an unacceptably high number of deaths among Colorado children who were at some level under . . . the watchful eye of social or human services,” Ritter said, referring to 13 abuse-related deaths of children who were in protective services, including Chandler Grafner, 7, who starved to death.

KDVR: Gov. Bill Ritter and Democratic lawmakers laid out a plan to address systematic weaknesses in Colorado’s child protection system that have resulted in the deaths of a few dozen children in protective care, from Chandler Grafner, who starved, to Neveah Gallegos, who was murdered.

Associated Press: Gov. Bill Ritter and state lawmakers want to create an independent office to investigate complaints about how child abuse cases are being handled following the deaths of 35 children in the last three years. Under legislation introduced Thursday, the child protection ombudsman office would be set up as an independent office in the state human services department.

TheDenverChannel.com: Legislation was introduced Thursday that would institute an independent ombudsman to look into child abuse cases if a person reporting the abuse believes the county human services workers are not doing enough. “We cannot wait for one more child to be bruised, starved or even die while in our protective custody,” said state Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, who sponsored the bill. “Over the past three years, there have been 32 deaths of children while in our protective custody.”

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Lawmakers Take on Indecent Exposure

By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
For the guy who can’t make it home from the Broncos game without pulling over to the side of the road to urinate — relief may be coming.
Lawmakers are working on a bill that would separate public indecency and indecent exposure so that the guy who couldn’t hold it anymore doesn’t have to register as a sex offender. Colorado law currently does not separate between the two crimes, so public masturbation is considered a crime of public indecency, just as urinating in public is considered a crime of public indecency.
House Bill 1334, sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, would move the crime of masturbating in public to the indecent exposure statute, making the act a class 1 misdemeanor instead of a class 1 petty offense. Indecent exposure would also include “exposing one’s genitals in public with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of any person,” according to the bill’s summary.
The legislation would also expand the definition of the lesser public indecency offense to include acts such as streaking, or “knowingly exposing one’s genitals in a way that is likely to cause affront or alarm to another person,” according to the summary. Someone previously convicted of that offense would then be charged with a class 1 misdemeanor.
But most important, as King and supporters point out, for the drunk guy or man with frequent urination problems, urinating in public would no longer be considered a crime worthy of registration on the state sex offender list.
“The problem with the law as it is now is that if you left a bar and went into an alley and were caught urinating in public that would be listed as a sex crime and you would end up having to register and so forth,” said King.
He said his bill has the support of both the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council and the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender.
HB 1334 is scheduled to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee Monday at 1:30 p.m.
Ted Tow, executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, said that while the bill wasn’t his organization’s idea, prosecutors back the legislation because they believe the measure would provide for more appropriate charges in certain circumstances.
“The way some of the crimes fall in between (public indecency and indecent exposure) doesn’t make sense,” said Tow.
“The guy who can’t make it home from the Broncos game and pulls over to the side of the road and relieves himself is a sex offense,” he continued. “All this (legislation) is doing is trying to reorganize the two statutes in a more logical way with the recognition of the post-conviction effect of the case.”

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

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A bill that seeks to uphold local governments’ ability to enforce deed-restricted housing is moving through the House of Representatives, with an affirmative vote passed by a General Assembly committee on Tuesday, The Aspen Times reports. House Bill 1017, sponsored by Rep. Daniel Kagan, passed 6-5, after a four-hour hearing in which Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland, Pitkin County Attorney John Ely, Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority (APCHA) attorney Tom Smith and local developer Tim Belinski testified. The bill clarifies that nothing in the rent-control statute shall prohibit or restrict the right of a property owner and a public entity from voluntarily entering into an agreement that controls rent.

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Colorado Republicans’ top health-care bill is coming before a House committee today. But don’t expect you’ll ever hear about it again this year, The Denver Business Journal reports. HB 1163, sponsored by Rep. Cindy Acree, R-Aurora, would authorize the Commissioner of Insurance to enter into multi-state agreements so that insurance policy issuers can offer individual health-care plans in Colorado that are regulated by other states. The issuer must be financially viable and ensure proper access to health care in Colorado through the plans, and Colorado would have the sole responsibility to ensure the plan complies with its insurance laws.

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The Senate on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to almost $500 million in budget cuts that would balance the state’s budget, surmounting what was a $2.2 billion deficit, The Pueblo Chieftain reports. A final vote on the budget-balancing bills is expected as soon as Friday. While most of the items the Senate worked on Wednesday involved taking funds from departments, projects and programs, it gave $2.1 million to the state’s parks.

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