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    <title>From the State Senate</title>
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        <link>https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/from-the-state-senate/clock-winding-down-on-colorado-assembly-21/</link>
        <title>Clock winding down on Colorado Assembly ’21</title>
        <description>The clock is winding down. In the last days of the 73rd General Assembly, mayhem has arisen. If you have watched a feeding frenzy of sharks with blood in the water, you can understand what is going on in Denver....</description>
        <pubDate>Sat, 05 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[The clock is winding down. In the last days of the 73rd General Assembly, mayhem has arisen.If you have watched a feeding frenzy of sharks with blood in the water, you can understand what is going on in Denver. With state revenue better than expected and CARES Act federal stimulus funds, legislators are running bills and spending money like drunken sailors. (My apologies to drunken sailors for casting you in the same light.)With the promise of $3.8 billion in pending federal funds, it has been shocking to hear what, all of a sudden, is a priority. Rather than concentrate on paying off certificates of participation (financial obligations) and building infrastructure, roads, bridges and schools, we are instituting newfound policies and programs that are unsustainable after this windfall is over.It was humorous to watch members’ frustrations when we learned that more bills are pending than we have money to fund. Naturally, their pet projects are more important than ones that have already been through the process.I also have some bills that are still waiting. One such bill that is in limbo will create more biomass from our forests. It is scheduled for the Appropriations Committee. It may survive – because it does not require funding until 2023. If not, we’ll try again next year, as the need will still be there.In the 1980s, I owned trucks. As you know, equipment breaks down, with sometimes minor and other times major problems. My fellow truckers referred to me as “MacGyver,” a television character who could somehow always find a temporary fix to a bad situation. In my 11 years in the General Assembly, I have used the same tactic, taking a bad bill and making it workable. In general, I have been pretty successful, but not always.I was recently a co-primary sponsor of Senate Bill 21-264. This is a greenhouse gas bill that will implement the use of renewable natural gas. I was hoping to expand methane capture from coal mines. Several years ago, Sen. Gail Swartz and I introduced a bill allowing a partnership between the Oxbow Elk Creek Mine, Holy Cross Energy and Aspen Ski Corp. This has been very successful and worthy of expansion.Sadly, the night before this bill was to be in committee, environmental organizations got drafting privileges and completely rewrote the bill. What started out as a bill created after months of stakeholder meetings and agreements with utilities and energy producers was completely changed. When it did go to committee, the opposition was overwhelming. I know of a couple of Democrats that had intended to vote “No” on the bill, assuming that I would vote “Yes.” Upon learning I no longer supported the bill, voting was delayed; the chief of staff and director of the Energy Office were on the scene. Long story short, it passed committee on a party line vote. The next day, another stakeholder meeting was held and utilities and producers stated how it was impossible to meet the new guidelines. My question to a member of the environmental community was: Is it the intention of this bill to stop natural gas production? The answer was yes.I don’t think they plan to fail, but rather have failed to plan. The California all-electric model has been a failure with electric rates in California near 20 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to Colorado at less than 14 cents per KWH. Considering Colorado’s cold winters, increased costs will be devastating to those who can least afford it. I am an “all of the above” energy advocate and have no problem with more renewables, but was never an advocate of throwing the baby out with the bath water.On third reading and presumed final passage, I will vote no and remove my sponsorship. You can put lipstick on a pig – but it’s still a pig.Sen. Don Coram is a Republican representing District 6 in the Colorado Legislature.]]></content:encoded>
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        <link>https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/from-the-state-senate/don-coram-the-race-to-wind-up-the-legislative-session/</link>
        <title>Don Coram: The race to wind up the legislative session</title>
        <description>Senator Don Coramdu1-i-syn With three weeks left in the session, the Senate exercise seems to be gaining momentum – that is, flying off the handle and jumping to conclusions. We have had three highly debated bills since my last report....</description>
        <pubDate>Sat, 22 May 2021 05:00:00 -0600</pubDate>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Senator Don Coramdu1-i-synWith three weeks left in the session, the Senate exercise seems to be gaining momentum – that is, flying off the handle and jumping to conclusions. We have had three highly debated bills since my last report.Transportation Committee heard SB 21-200, which expedites the current plan for reduction of greenhouse gases. Environmental groups are all-in with the elimination of fossil fuels much sooner than previously planned. Local governments, chambers of commerce and energy producers have voiced strong opposition.Most surprising was the opposition of the Colorado Energy Office and the strong opposition by Gov. Jared Polis, who has said that if SB 21-200 passes, he will veto it. Neither the House nor the Senate will have the two-thirds majority to override a veto. The governor’s opposition is that it gives the appointed Air Quality Control Commission far too much power over the Colorado economy. That is an opinion I share.The other issue that might be heard by the time this article reaches press is SB 21-087, the Agricultural Workers Bill. Senate leadership assigned the bill to the Business and Labor Committee. Not a lot of expertise on this committee in regard to agricultural production.To quote President Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Farming is easy when your plow is a pencil, and the corn field is a thousand miles away.” Farming is not a 9-to-5 job. Fifteen dollars an hour is not an uncommon wage, but overtime will actually end up costing most farm workers take-home pay. Common sense and good business people will compensate by having a new employee come on shift after eight hours instead of paying overtime.To require a tent be sent up for shade for their 15-minute break every four hours is ridiculous. To crawl out of an air-conditioned tractor with stereo, microwave, refrigerator and driven by GPS to take a break in a tent is laughable. Seriously, do you think the tent would ever be used? Having tents available for our livestock employees, in our high-mountain ranges when in many places a road does not even exist, is once again absolutely beyond any practical thinking. This is looking for a solution to a problem that does not exist.There is a lot of interest in the proposed Public Option for Health Care. Constituents throughout my district have been asking when this bill be heard in committee. Checking the Friday calendar, it was not scheduled. Checking the Monday calendar, it was slated for committee that day. I was quite surprised and disappointed to learn that some of those who wanted to testify remotely were denied that opportunity. In order to testify remotely you had to register 24 hours before. Some tried but were unsuccessful. I am concerned that this “one-size-fits-all” option will lead to the loss of hospitals and medical staff in rural Colorado. To lose your medical license if you do not treat patients covered by this plan is extortion. A big concern is whether you are covered by this plan if you have an incident outside the boundaries of Colorado. That question has not been answered.For two years, I have expressed my displeasure with appointments to boards and commissions. A bill I co-sponsored with Sen. Jeff Bridges passed this week. It moves the Broadband Commission from Department of Regulatory Affairs to the Office of Information and Technology and reduces committee members from 16 to 11, which amounts to an amendment of an existing law. The original statute read that no more than five members of the commission could be from one party. What has been happening is five Democrats, five unaffiliateds and one Republican have been appointed, most hailing from along the I-25 metro corridor. And some of the unaffiliateds who were appointed had been registered Democrats until as little as 38 days before. Our proposed amendment stated that a minimum of three from each major party and three who are unaffiliated, with geographical diversity, should be appointed. Bridges announced that the governor did not like the amendment, but fairness prevailed and the amendment passed unopposed.Sen. Don Coram is a Republican representing Distrrict 6 in the Colorado General Assembly.]]></content:encoded>
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