It’s been a very busy start to the legislative session, and I look forward to spending an extra day with my family next weekend for Presidents Day. We’ve had a ton of constituents visit the Capitol this past week, including the junior class of Animas High School, local fire chiefs and advocates from La Plata’s Good Food Collective. Thank you to everyone who made the trek to Denver to advocate for public schools, emergency response and children’s nutrition.
I also met with physicians from Archuleta and Montezuma counties, as well as Southwest Health System’s CEO. We discussed the stress our rural hospitals are experiencing and the difficult road ahead for providers and patients amid federal cuts to Medicaid and the ACA.
As the federal government rolls out the Rural Health Transformation Program, I have been working to ensure that the state’s systems for distributing Colorado’s share of the funds will work for Southwest Colorado. Our rural hospitals have acute and ongoing funding needs and are a crucial part of the health care ecosystem.
Bills have been moving through committees fast, and my first bill has already passed in the House and is on its way to the Senate. Under Colorado law, most retired school employees must work under 110 days per year to maintain their full PERA retirement benefits. However, there’s an exception for retired staff members of rural schools, who are allowed to work more because small districts often have difficulty finding teachers, paraprofessionals and bus drivers.
This bill expands this exception to include retired BOCES executive directors, who have decades of experience administering educational services for rural schools. There may not be many retired BOCES staff members, but this is an important step because having just one more educator on staff can make all the difference in rural schools.
I have several bills moving through House committee hearings this week and next. I am carrying a bill with Rep. Suckla to ensure the town of Rico has sufficient time to complete its grant-funded battery project. Rico experiences frequent power outages, and this battery bank will provide the town with four hours of backup electricity. This bill passed the Energy and Environment committee unanimously on Thursday and is on its way to the floor.
On housing, I am sponsoring legislation to expand property tax exemptions for nonprofit and community developers that build low-income rental properties. This will incentivize more building and lower construction costs without giving unnecessary handouts to large for-profit developers on the Front Range.
This past Monday, we passed a resolution in the Statehouse calling on the federal government to respect the rule of law while conducting immigration enforcement. Dozens of constituents have reached out to me and my office over the past week, expressing their concern about how families and children in Southwest Colorado and across the nation are being impacted by the sweeping federal operations.
I am incredibly saddened by the violence and loss of life we have seen in Minnesota. As an elected official, I have sworn an oath to uphold our Constitution, including the rights to speech, due process and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Immigration enforcement must be conducted in an orderly fashion, while respecting our fundamental constitutional rights and without violence against the many hardworking families that contribute to our community and economy every day.
As always, please never hesitate to reach out to my office. Hearing from constituents always helps me do my job better, and we are happy to answer questions about the goings on at the Capitol.
Katie Stewart represents House District 59 in the Colorado Statehouse, which encompasses Archuleta, La Plata, and San Juan counties and most of Montezuma County. Reach her at katie.stewart.house@coleg.gov.
