COYAC Interim Committee 08/08/2019 When you arrive at the Colorado legislature they say “Don’t marry your bills!” It’s really self preservation, to develop some distance between the issues and the process. Sometimes things just don’t work out. Usually it’s just politics, but every so often everything goes according to plan. With all that in mind there are still favorites, and the bill that became my baby last year was to create an interim committee for the students in the Colorado Youth Advisory Council (COYAC). Our committee
When you arrive at the Colorado legislature they say “Don’t marry your bills!” It’s really self preservation, to develop some distance between the issues and the process. Sometimes things just don’t work out. Usually it’s just politics, but every so often everything goes according to plan. With all that in mind there are still favorites, and the bill that became my baby last year was to create an interim committee for the students in the Colorado Youth Advisory Council (COYAC). Our committee
Juvenile Justice Reform Committee 07/05/2019 Sitting in court for a day is a very valuable thing to do. It should be like jury duty, something that every few years is a requirement. Hearing the litany of charges and admissions and excuses is a window into humanity. A police officer once told me that he loves his job partly because he gets to offer compassion on someone’s worst day. Their second worst day is in court. There is a reason I care about these things. The single greatest power we hold as a government is to take someone’s
Sitting in court for a day is a very valuable thing to do. It should be like jury duty, something that every few years is a requirement. Hearing the litany of charges and admissions and excuses is a window into humanity. A police officer once told me that he loves his job partly because he gets to offer compassion on someone’s worst day. Their second worst day is in court. There is a reason I care about these things. The single greatest power we hold as a government is to take someone’s
Criminal Justice Reform 06/01/2019 The Constitution means something to me. It’s not just a little book that I carry in my jacket pocket, it’s the way we organize ourselves, the way that we establish how we will protect one another, the establishment of our rules. There is no place more important to remember our founding document than when we talk about how we dole out punishments for violating our laws. Government has the sole ability to rob someone of their freedom and we should be very careful in how we go about that
The Constitution means something to me. It’s not just a little book that I carry in my jacket pocket, it’s the way we organize ourselves, the way that we establish how we will protect one another, the establishment of our rules. There is no place more important to remember our founding document than when we talk about how we dole out punishments for violating our laws. Government has the sole ability to rob someone of their freedom and we should be very careful in how we go about that
Colorado Red Flag Bill 03/13/2019 They say we don’t get paid enough. After ten hours of testimony, dozens of stories of troubles and tragedies far worse than any of us want to experience the Red Flag bill was voted out of the Colorado House Judiciary Committee. The Extreme Risk Protection Oder bill was offered with assurance that these would be solutions to many of our worst nightmares. I walked in to that hearing with skepticism and I walked out, after voting No, with many of the same concerns. The death of Deputy Zacharia
They say we don’t get paid enough. After ten hours of testimony, dozens of stories of troubles and tragedies far worse than any of us want to experience the Red Flag bill was voted out of the Colorado House Judiciary Committee. The Extreme Risk Protection Oder bill was offered with assurance that these would be solutions to many of our worst nightmares. I walked in to that hearing with skepticism and I walked out, after voting No, with many of the same concerns. The death of Deputy Zacharia
Youth Deserve a Seat at the Table 02/11/2019 There is almost nothing more rewarding than seeing the light bulb go on with a young student. That moment as they grasp a concept or as they see a way to achieve what they dream is something exceptional. I have gotten to see that working with the Colorado Youth Advisory Council. High school students from each of the 35 Senate Districts in Colorado make up the Council and they meet in Denver several times a year to talk about issues that are of concern to them and try to find solutions. Their
There is almost nothing more rewarding than seeing the light bulb go on with a young student. That moment as they grasp a concept or as they see a way to achieve what they dream is something exceptional. I have gotten to see that working with the Colorado Youth Advisory Council. High school students from each of the 35 Senate Districts in Colorado make up the Council and they meet in Denver several times a year to talk about issues that are of concern to them and try to find solutions. Their
Not in a Hundred Years! 02/28/2018 Something happened Tuesday at the Capitol, something that was not only unprecedented, but was shocking. A memo was read by Majority Leader KC Becker that outlined a process upon which she has embarked to ask for the expulsion of Representative Steve Lebsock from the Colorado House of Representatives. The furor surrounding allegations of sexual harassment perpetrated by Rep. Lebsock has risen to a crescendo with the arrival of a report (yet unseen) that finds those allegations credible. And so,
Something happened Tuesday at the Capitol, something that was not only unprecedented, but was shocking. A memo was read by Majority Leader KC Becker that outlined a process upon which she has embarked to ask for the expulsion of Representative Steve Lebsock from the Colorado House of Representatives. The furor surrounding allegations of sexual harassment perpetrated by Rep. Lebsock has risen to a crescendo with the arrival of a report (yet unseen) that finds those allegations credible. And so,
