The legislative session wrapped up this past Wednesday after weeks of long days on the House floor. Four of my bills passed this year with bipartisan support, and I also picked up three more along the way.
SB25-118 will expand access to prenatal care by guaranteeing three prenatal visits with no cost-sharing for expecting mothers.
SB25-296 extends coverage with no cost sharing for breast cancer screenings for at-risk individuals, to now include diagnostic tests and screenings that will catch cancers earlier.
Finally, SB25-195 renews funding for the Rural Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program, which provides funding for treatment centers across rural Colorado.
These bills will expand access to life saving health care and lower costs for working families, and I was proud to work with their sponsors in the Senate to get them across the finish line.
HB25-1247, my bill to increase the cap on the county lodgers tax, is in line to be signed by the governor soon. Sen. Cleave Simpson and I worked with the La Plata County commissioners on this legislation.
It will allow counties to put initiatives on the ballot, to let voters decide whether to raise their county lodgers tax up to the new cap of 6%. It also adds two new ways county lodgers taxes can be used: to fund infrastructure projects and public safety services, like law enforcement, fire and EMS.
HB25-1247 will boost local control by giving voters the power to choose how to address the wear and tear that comes with tourism in the ways that work best for each community.
It has been a privilege to sit on the Health and Human Services Committee this year, and one of our biggest policy conversations was around improving the transparency around the 340B program.
340B is a drug rebate program run by the federal government that provides medication at discount prices to nonprofit hospitals that serve many Medicaid patients. Qualified hospitals use the savings gained from federal reimbursements to fund care for patients in need because Medicaid often cannot cover the full cost of treatment.
340B is essential to rural hospitals, but it is also an incredibly complicated program. This year we passed SB25-071, which will improve data collection and help us better understand how hospitals are spending 340B savings. This data will give us the information we need to best support patients and hospitals in the future.
This legislative session was also a major year for education funding. As many of you know, Colorado had a $1.2 Billion budget crisis this year, and K-12 funding was under serious threat. We worked hard to tighten up the state budget while preserving the money set aside for our kids. The School Financing Act managed to prevent cuts and even secure moderate increases in K-12 funding for most districts in Colorado, including every single district in HD59.
I’m glad to be returning home in time for Mother’s Day weekend, and I’m looking forward to spending a lot more time back in the district now that the legislative session is over. The learning curve has been quite steep, but it’s been wonderful to work with other rural and Western Slope legislators to move Colorado forward together.
Simpson and I will hold two Legislative Session Wrap Up Town Halls on May 17. The first is 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Cortez, (check facebook.com/KatieforColorado for the location which was unconfirmed at press time), and the second is 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Pine River Library in Bayfield.
Please join us to hear a longer overview of what we got done at the Capitol this year, share your thoughts and ask questions. A big “thank you” to the League of Women Voters for organizing these events. It has been an honor to serve HD59 this session, and I look forward to continuing my work in the coming months, in preparation for next year.
Katie Stewart represents House District 59 in the Colorado State House, which encompasses Archuleta, La Plata and San Juan counties and most of Montezuma County. Reach her at katie.stewart.house@coleg.gov.
