STATE BILL COLORADO
Gov. Bill Ritter announced that Colorado Homeland Security Director Mason Whitney is retiring effective Aug. 31 and will be replaced by former Denver Fire Chief Larry Trujillo.
Trujillo spent 25 years rising through the ranks of the Denver Fire Department. He served as chief from 2003 until his retirement in 2007. He was a senior safety adviser to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
Gov. Bill Ritter lead a delegation of Colorado leaders to Israel today on an economic-development mission to establish long-term business, investment and research partnerships in innovative fields such as energy, clean-tech and water, GovMonitor reports.
Ritter, administration officials and more than a dozen other Coloradans will be in Israel through Sunday. They will sign several Colorado-Israel agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to promote an exchange of knowledge, ideas and best business practices.
For the past 40 years, the state of Colorado has been leasing the land where Transportation Technology Center Inc. operates its test track east of Pueblo — from itself, The Pueblo Chieftain reports. A budget line-item in the 2010-11 Long Bill and corresponding memorandum show that one state department — the Colorado Land Board — leases the 33,493 acre test-track site to another, the Department of Personnel and Administration, at an annual cost of $120,000 to the state general fund. In turn, the state subleases the land to the Federal Railroad Commission at no charge.
The attorney general’s office has asked that a whistle-blower complaint filed by state real estate division director Erin Toll be dismissed, and information obtained Tuesday by The Denver Post called into question a key element of the embattled regulator’s complaint.
In a filing with the State Personnel Board last week, Toll cast her involuntary, paid leave and possible termination as punishment for publicly revealing that state Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, and his employer, American Home Funding, were under investigation by her office. She also chastised her boss, Department of Regulatory Agencies director Barbara Kelley, for quashing the investigation into Harvey’s firm.
A panel of lawmakers this morning gave state auditors the go-ahead to review whether state agencies use paid administrative leave properly and in a cost effective way, The Denver Post reports.
The probe stems from a February report by Channel 7 that the state spent $1 million over three years paying employees to stay home from work.
Pssst! Want to buy a Colorado interstate highway tunnel or a college football skybox with club seating? Or how about the National Guard Armory in Watkins, only $11 million?
The Associated Press says these are just a few of the $9.5 billion in assets the state of Colorado has listed for possible sale in the event of a statewide emergency, like the Hayman fire in 2002 that destroyed 600 buildings, including 133 homes, as it burned trees and vegetation on about 215 square miles in the Colorado Rockies.
House Bill 1211 knocks the late fines back to $10 for trailers, The Durango Herald reports. HB 1212 tells the Department of Revenue to make exceptions for people who register late because of medical emergencies, weather, computer failures or other factors beyond their control.
Many Colorado government offices will be closed today as thousands of state employees take another furlough day ordered by Gov. Bill Ritter to help save money, The Denver Post reports.
Editor’s Note: Listen to Gov. Ritter’s budget press conference here.
Gov. Bill Ritter said today he plans to fill a remaining $47.5 million hole in the state budget by ending some tax breaks sooner and withholding more in severance tax grants to communities affected by energy development, The Denver Post reports.
A State Parks subcommittee that in 2009 gave grant applicants hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they asked for has come under scrutiny as environmental groups, hunters and law enforcement agencies seek a share of annual off-road vehicle sticker fees, The Denver Post reports. Rep. Mark Ferradino, D-Denver, who last year considered taking some of the off-roaders’ money to cope with a massive state budget hole, questioned whether the panel tried to spend down funds to make them a less likely target for future raids.
