{"id":101958,"date":"2018-01-11T13:56:46","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T20:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/catlin-brings-momentum-to-house-58-seat\/"},"modified":"2018-01-11T13:56:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T20:56:46","slug":"catlin-brings-momentum-to-house-58-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/catlin-brings-momentum-to-house-58-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Catlin brings \u2018momentum\u2019 to House 58 seat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jim
Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<br><br>Republican Marc Catlin, of Montrose, is looking to retain his seat representing the 58th House District of the Colorado legislature.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Republican Marc Catlin is running to keep his 58th District House of Representative seat in the Colorado Legislature.<\/p>\n

The district includes Montezuma, Dolores, San Miguel and Montrose counties.<\/p>\n

Catlin has served one year in the legislature after being appointed when Don Coram became a state senator.<\/p>\n

During his first year, he supported legislation to help rural hospitals,and carried a hemp water bill that protects farmers who rely on water stored in federal facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took some of the worry away for hemp farmers, and put the federal government on notice that they can\u2019t overreach into Colorado water rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Making sure Southwest Colorado gets a fair share of transportation money is also a priority for Catlin. There is too much focus \u201con adding another lane for commuters on the Front Range,\u201d he said. \u201cKeeping our two-lane highways maintained is critical for our rural farm to market economy and tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promoting development of high-speed Internet for the 58th District is another Catlin plan. He is developing legislation that directs larger providers to install appropriate broadband infrastructure and technology for rural areas when bidding for state grants.<\/p>\n

At the urging of Montezuma County sheriff Steve Nowlin, Catlin is sponsoring a bill that protects law enforcement horses by increasing penalties against anyone who abuses them.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice canines have those extra protections, so should police horses,\u201d Catlin said.<\/p>\n

He is also participating in a young and beginner farmers committee that would provide stipends for agricultural internships and apprenticeships through the Colorado Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to replace our farmers when they retire, and right now we don\u2019t have a very deep bench. So giving young and beginning farmers support is critical,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Catlin objected to a state increase to instream flows on the lower Dolores River, and works to prevent more Western Slope water from being diverted to the Front Range.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransbasin diversion of our water for ornamental lawns on the Front Range is a loss for Western Slope agriculture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Catlin is a native of Montrose with a farming and water management background. He currently serves on the Colorado River District Board of Directors. He had a 17-year career with the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got good momentum, and will continue to focus on bills that have an positive impact on this district,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican water expert represents local views<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[14,21,44,60,265,1561,1509,294],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-101958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado-state-house-of-representatives","tag-cortez","tag-dolores","tag-montezuma-county","tag-politics","tag-san-miguel-county","tag-state-elections","tag-water-supply"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101958"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=101958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}