After listening to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform give its report at the Capitol today, Republican legislators urged the governor and the Democrat-controlled legislature to turn to the GOP's health-care package as the only viable alternative.

Presenting their recommendations to a packed house in the Old Supreme Court Chambers, members of the "208 commission" elaborated on the five proposals they developed to address health-care reform in Colorado.  Republican and Democrat members from the House and Senate were on hand to listen to the panel's findings.

"A number of the people on the commission are at the top of their game on health-care issues, and they have put in a lot of hard work.  I appreciate that," Senate Republican Leader Andy McElhany said.  "Yet, I know of no one on either side of the aisle who believes that any of the commission's grand plans are going  to take root in Colorado anytime soon.  We simply do not have the money."

A Democrat bill denounced by Republicans as soft on crime drew a hail of fire Wednesday from prosecutors, who said the measure would make it harder to prosecute teens who participate in brutal killings.

As a result, the Democrat majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee decided to delay action pending revisions to Senate Bill 66, authored by fellow Democrat Sen. Suzanne Williams, of Aurora.

SB 66, also sponsored by Democrat Rep. Rosemary Marshall, of Denver, would treat murder in the first degree as a less serious, class 2 felony if the defendant was under 18 years old at the time of the offense, was convicted as an adult, and did not commit or assist in committing the murder.  The controversial measure throws a curve at the state’s “felony-murder” statute, used to prosecute criminal cohorts in homicide cases.

“We're taking a tool away from law enforcement and prosecutors at a time when it's needed the most,” said Republican Sen. Josh Penry, of Grand Junction, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a vocal critic of the bill.