Special-needs children will have the opportunity to receive scholarships to attend a school of their parents' choice--one that would more adequately address their needs--under a bill being presented Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Education.

Senate Bill 142, sponsored by assistant Senate Republican leader Nancy Spence, of Centennial, and Rep. Spencer Swalm, R-Littleton, would establish a pilot program for Colorado children with disabilities in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The measure is part of the Republican legislative agenda for 2008. 

As the ranking Republican member on the Education Committee, Spence says there are too many disabled children whose needs simply are not being met by the public school system.

"My hope with this legislation is to alleviate one of the many burdens that parents of special-needs children face," Spence said.  "These parents need meaningful options."

A seemingly routine Democrat bill making its way through the legislature would change the mission of the state Public Utilities Commission to the detriment of utility ratepayers, the Senate's top Republican charged today.

House Bill 1227, introduced in the House by that chamber's majority leader, Boulder Democrat Alice Madden, would bring other cabinet agencies in the Ritter administration into the deliberations of the quasi-judicial regulatory board.

The bill also would require the PUC to consider "economic, social and environmental" factors in matters that come before the body. Right now, the PUC's members are supposed to consider price and access when regulating the rates and quality of service of telephone, gas, electric and water utilities in the state. 

"Apparently, the people behind this bill think we don't pay enough to heat our homes, so they want to help the PUC drive the price even higher," said Senate GOP leader Andy McElhany.