STATE BILL COLORADO
DENVER − What’s good for YouTube apparently isn’t good for Colorado’s House and Senate.
The state’s recently formed Colorado Channel Authority on Friday briefly considered − then just as quickly dismissed − a proposal to allow for embedding of video of floor proceedings into other websites.
The authority handles cable and Internet broadcasts of the two legislative chambers.
Video embeds allow videos to stream on other sites without web users visiting the host site. Such technology is commonplace on YouTube and other video-hosting sites. A request came into the state seeking changes to allow embeds, but the legislative staff recommended against it.
“We kind of said, no, we didn’t want to do that,” said Scott Nachtrieb, a member of the Legislative Council staff who is advising the authority on technical and policy aspects of the broadcasts. “The reason we didn’t want to do that. … We want people coming to the Colorado Channel home page to see all of the things we’re going to offer.”
Nachtrieb cited potential coverage of the Colorado Supreme Court, the Colorado Court of Appeals and the legislative committees (though none of that coverage is imminent; authority members were told courts broadcasts wouldn’t begin until 2013, at the earliest.)
The authority broadcasts on Comcast Channel 165 and at www.coloradochannel.net.
Authority Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Benefield, a Democrat, said, “ I think it’s really important that (video viewers) come to that home page in order for all the links, if the embedded code gets corrupted or whatever … it could be a bad taste for the general public. We thought it was better to not give anyone that opportunity.”
No one else spoke on the issue at Friday’s meeting.
The person who requested embed technology wasn’t identified.
About $240,000 annually of taxpayer money goes to pay for the broadcasts, which began in the House in 2008 and the Senate this year.

ALSO ONLINE: Complete list of U.S. legislatures’ broadcast operations.

Democrats ripped state Sen. Shawn Mitchell on Thursday after he referred to a colleague as “Sen. OneYear,” implying Bruce Whitehead, D-Hesperus, is going to lose his upcoming election. They said Mitchell’s comment was uncalled for and amounted to electioneering, which shouldn’t happen on the Senate floor, The Denver Post reports.

An ethics committee Friday cleared Rep. Steve King of a violation in connection with travel expenses shortly after he apologized to his colleagues and reimbursed the state in a related matter, The Denver Post reports. The Grand Junction Republican told the House that in answering the ethics complaint filed against him by Colorado Ethics Watch, he found an issue that hadn’t been raised: He overcharged taxpayers for a rental car.

Other coverage:

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Rep. Steve King got a slap on the wrist Friday but was cleared of violating ethics rules over his handling of travel expenses. A House ethics committee ruled the Grand Junction Republican did not intend to enrich himself by getting reimbursed for gasoline and a rental car from his campaign account and a state travel reimbursement at the same time. But the panel of three Democrats and two Republicans said King handled the matter poorly.

Associated Press: The House Ethics Committee cleared Republican Rep. Steve King of accusations he violated ethics rules on Friday after King apologized to fellow Colorado lawmakers for “accounting errors” and said he has reimbursed the state for $914.53 for keeping a deposit on a rental car. “I am angry at myself for disappointing the people I am here to serve, and even more than that, I realize my error could reflect badly on the House of Representatives,” King told the 65 members of the House on Friday. “I am truly sorry.”

From The Denver Post: As legislative aides go, Mickie Clayton’s unusual. She doesn’t do e-mail. She doesn’t text. She doesn’t even drive. But her boss, Sen. Paula Sandoval, said Clayton has a way with people, which makes her invaluable. Clayton also has another specialty, too, her cooking. She served meatballs, ravioli and pizzelles at the Capitol Thursday in a meal that was dubbed “the last supper.”

People who don’t want to live in poverty should stop having children when they’re not married, Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Centennial, argued Monday during a floor debate on a bill to ease tax burdens on low-income families. His comments sparked dismay among some Democrats and their leader, House Speaker Terrance Carroll, who was born to an unwed mother and lived in poverty much of his young life, The Denver Post reports.

COMMENTARY

By Don Knox, STATE BILL COLORADO
Note to readers: I’m a grudging admirer of reporter Lynn Bartels’ work, first at the Rocky Mountain News and now at The Denver Post. But her well-documented news scoops come at a price: Her readers must endure a blizzard of “Lynn-isms” — short tidbits about life under the golden dome.
But now, at least, you don’t have to wade through them. Simply click through to the ones that may have interest. You can safely ignore everything else.
And to The Denver Post’s editors, here’s my promise: I’ll stop when she does.

FEBRUARY 9

Lynn’s most bizarre blog item ever

Lynn leans back in her chair, spies Andrew Romanoff

Lynn invents another drinking game for Capitol journalists

Lynn just loves the Cary Grant movie “Father Goose”

FEBRUARY 8

Lynn knows what D-Triple-C means

Lynn says “Happy Birthday Mama Ritter!”

Lynn says Ryan Frazier is even better than Marlon Brando

FEBRUARY 5

Lynn reads The New York Times, sees Gail Schwartz’s name

Lynn says Ben Nighthorse Campbell really likes a friend of hers

Lynn asks, “Why are all my peeps wearing red?”

Lynn says Tom Tancredo says the darndest things

Lynn says when you’re in Lamar, you have to stay at the Cow Palace Inn

FEBRUARY 3

Lynn says Sen. Spence’s nephew coaches Heritage High’s football team

FEBRUARY 2

Lynn says Scott McInnis’ style guru absolutely loves the way his new glasses frame his face

Lynn says Sen. Mitchell sure has them rolling in the aisle

Lynn says she misidentified a lawyer she called “powerful”

Lynn says she’ll drink to the two booze bills up for hearing today

Lynn says that Dan Maes is such a tease

JANUARY 28

Lynn says Jane Norton’s solving complex math problems

Lynn says lotsa people are backing J.J. Ament

Lynn says Jon Caldara’s trying to shed some poundage

Lynn says Dick Wadhams and Scott Brown are BFF

Lynn reports McInnis staff additions but buries the news

Lynn reports the other side of a story a day later

Lynn’s bringing her toothbrush to work tomorrow

Lynn says David Balmer caught phoning a friend

JANUARY 27

Lynn says Bill Ritter will never let legislators tax groceries

Lynn says there’s a blogger out there posting stuff under some dead guy’s name

Lynn says Mike Steele wants Pat Waak on his team

Lynn says Dick Wadhams is green because he recycles the news

Lynn says Obama appointee Jim Isgar misses his Capitol parking spot

Lynn says that while it’s true the Gazette has a good story today, her paper had a good story four months ago

JANUARY 20

Lynn says Obama likes sound of “Gov. Hickenlooper”

Lynn jokes about No Child Left Inside

Lynn says Suzanne Williams is one-quarter Comanche

Lynn relives last year’s chiropractor flap

JANUARY 20

Lynn says red-staters at the Capitol love Scott Brown

Lynn says Jon Caldara thinks Colorado is Bernie Madoff

Lynn says legislators are neckid without bolos

JANUARY 19

Lynn says Libby Szabo is back

Lynn only drinks Canadian beer

Lynn says Andrew Romanoff’s gonna say something at 12:15 but she has no clue what

Lynn says she won’t miss Wes McKinley’s hoedown today

JANUARY 18

* Lynn says Mike Feeley is all about the New York Jets

* Lynn goes to the Capitol only to learn it’s closed

* Lynn says Diggs Brown digs Scott Brown (ya dig?)

JANUARY 15

* Lynn calls Jon Caldara a cranky conservative who doesn’t always talk right

* Lynn cries with Sal Pace and Abel Tapia over spilled beer

* Lynn says legislators leave early on three-day weekends

* Lynn says Tom Massey’s kids are kicking it with him here in Denver

* Lynn says the Capitol sergeants wear black shirts on Fridays

* Lynn compares Buffie McFadyen to Little Bo Peep

* Lynn says she’s going to the Capitol at noon to see Jon Caldara

* Lynn watches C-SPAN, sees John Suthers AND Ken Salazar

* Lynn discovers it’s hot on the west side of the Capitol, even in January

JANUARY 14

* Lynn discovers YouTube, links to it

* Lynn says that in Colorado Springs a bleeding-heart Republican is running against a cop Democrat

* Lynn says eat at Joey’s Pizza during today’s power outage

* Lynn says Chris Romer is a lot like Lady Gaga

* Lynn, channeling Scooby-Doo, reveals that House Dems and Senate Dems are both misusing the state’s e-mail system

* Lynn says Josh Penry has always liked Joan Fitz-Gerald

* Lynn says Capitol security gets really tight when all the important people are in the same room

* Lynn says politicos elsewhere use Ritter’s catch phrase

JANUARY 13

* Lynn says Kobe’s prosecutor is running for SD-16

* Lynn says the House speaker sent nice flowers to Buffie McFadyen

* Lynn says the state’s Dem party chief’s car was towed

* Lynn says the Senate president’s mom is proud of him

* Lynn says people are laughing at Josh Penry’s pot jokes

* Lynn says Brandon Shaffer is quoting FDR

* Lynn says GOP legislators say Dem legislators are doing bad e-mail things

* Lynn says Josh Penry sure gets up early

* Lynn says, “Guess what? I gotta fever, and the only prescription is more crab cakes!” (With apologies)

* Lynn says Fox News doesn’t know who Jeanne Robb is

STATE BILL COLORADO
Probably owing to its late debate over lifting business tax exemptions Monday night, the Colorado Senate hasn’t yet released its Senate Journal, the official daily record of its activities.
The journal includes all votes and amendments taken during the legislative day.
Check back here for more details on the journal when it is released.

STATE BILL COLORADO
Colorado’s Senate debated a measure of tax bills past 11 p.m. last night and released its next-day calendar around midnight.
The calendar shows the Senate won’t convene today until 1 p.m. — four hours later than usual. Additionally, the chamber has scrapped any committees that convene at mid-morning, meaning the first bill work won’t begin until 1:30 p.m. when the Senate Transportation Committee next meets.
Read the full Senate calendar here:

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Every year, El Paso County lawmakers lead legislative lambs to the slaughter: bills so unlikely to pass that they’re considered all but dead upon introduction. The flock has only grown as the mostly-Republican delegation has fallen deeply into the General Assembly’s minority, The Colorado Springs Gazette reports.

Editor’s Note: You can listen to this testimony by clicking on this player.

By Don Knox, STATE BILL COLORADO
It’s only been three weeks, but already’s there’s a move to change a policy about televising House and Senate proceedings.
Republican Sen. Bill Cadman, a member of the board of the newly formed Colorado Channel Authority, asked the board today to set aside a 48-hour notice requirement so that the Colorado Senate may broadcast floor proceedings of the so-far volatile debate over eliminating a number of business tax exemptions. That debate begins at 9 a.m. today and can be viewed on the Internet at www.coloradochannel.net.
“We have a significant interest in these bills,” Cadman told the committee. “We have people who spent over 16 hours in the building yesterday waiting for their three minutes to testify, they don’t have the ability to do that again.”
Cadman called the effort to telecast the debate on the General Assembly’s Comcast Channel 165 is in keeping with the channel authority’s desire to make government more transparent.
The complication is that there is only one cable channel and two chambers that meet simultaneously — the Colorado House and the Colorado Senate. Under current authority policy, the chamber that “gavels in” first is broadcast live; the opposite chamber is broadcast later in the day via tape. Cadman wants the Senate to be broadcast today even if it doesn’t gavel in first. The change requires the approval of leadership of both chambers.
The authority voted unanimously to make the switch so long as the majority and minority leaders of both chambers — four people in all — sign paperwork authorizing the broadcast switch.