{"id":42794,"date":"2022-01-11T18:05:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T18:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-governor-and-democrats-unveil-2022-legislative-platform\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:09:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:09:38","slug":"colorado-governor-and-democrats-unveil-2022-legislative-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-governor-and-democrats-unveil-2022-legislative-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado governor and Democrats unveil 2022 legislative platform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jesse
Jesse Paul\/The Colorado Sun file \u2013 06\/14\/2019 Denver \u2013 The Colorado Capitol in downtown Denver.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado Democrats \u2013 who control the state Senate, House of Representatives and governor\u2019s office \u2013 unveiled their election-year legislative platform during a Monday news conference.<\/p>\n

Democrats hear Coloradans\u2019 concerns about the rising cost of living and \u201chave a plan to make it easier to get by,\u201d House Speaker Alec Garnett said on the steps of the Colorado Capitol.<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 budget request<\/a>, submitted in November, included $104 million in fee relief for individuals and businesses. If approved by the Joint Budget Committee and the Colorado General Assembly, the money would cover fees to start a business and health care workers\u2019 professional license fees. It would also reduce the premiums paid by employers and employees in the first six months of a paid family and medical leave program that voters approved in 2020.<\/p>\n

An amendment submitted Jan. 3 to the governor\u2019s original budget request would provide additional fee relief for vehicle owners. The money would allow the state to delay implementing a gas fee included in Senate Bill 21-260, the transportation package<\/a> that passed last year, as well as extend SB-260\u2019s temporary reduction of vehicle registration fees.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Polis has proposed<\/a> using $600 million in state and federal money to replenish some of the state\u2019s COVID-battered unemployment insurance trust fund, and help small businesses pay the higher premiums resulting from the fund\u2019s insolvency.<\/p>\n

Besides the fee relief, Democrats say they want to pass state legislation expanding access to health care and reducing health care costs, reducing child care and housing costs, preparing students for success, and making communities safer.<\/p>\n

Polis\u2019 original budget proposal included funds for helping rural health care providers better use data and technology to improve patient care. The amended budget request would also direct state general fund dollars and federal matching funds to initiatives supporting the nursing home workforce and industry. This would include temporary payments to nursing home facilities that accept patients being discharged from hospitals.<\/p>\n

As for public safety, Polis\u2019 budget proposal includes grant funding for local law enforcement agencies to help them implement co-responder teams with behavioral health workers and fund community policing programs as well as grants to help train and recruit local police officers.<\/p>\n

Democrats who spoke at Monday\u2019s news conference highlighted the federal money that\u2019s being directed toward affordable housing and behavioral health, two areas that Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg and House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar emphasized in an interview with Newsline last week<\/a>. Two legislative task forces met over the summer and fall to develop recommendations on how to spend a combined $850 million on housing and behavioral health.<\/p>\n

Democrats\u2019 main talking points echoed some of what Colorado Republicans outlined in a legislative platform they released in August 2021 \u2013 irking GOP officials. House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, who spoke with Newsline after Monday\u2019s news conference, called the Democratic platform a \u201ctheft\u201d of Republicans\u2019 longtime priorities.<\/p>\n

The GOP platform includes three main pillars, according to an August statement from the state Republican Party: \u201cmaking Colorado affordable, prioritizing public safety, and expanding educational choice for families across our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the similarities between the Republican and Democratic platforms, Polis said they pointed to potential opportunities for bipartisan collaboration.<\/p>\n

But McKean was skeptical. His caucus wants to see new fees reversed, not just delayed, and more money going to the unemployment insurance trust fund, easing the burden on businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you just delay all of these fees, you\u2019re not making Colorado more affordable,\u201d McKean said. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to make yourself more electable.\u201d<\/p>\n

All state House districts and 17 Senate districts will hold elections in November. The offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general are also up for election. Polis is running for reelection to a second term as governor.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Newsline, vist www.coloradonewsline.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dem\u2019s main talking points echoed what Republicans outlined in August 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[394,663,819,28,265],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-democratic-party","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42794","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=42794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85459,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42794\/revisions\/85459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42794"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}