In an effort to ensure public safety--as well as curb illegal immigration--a Republican senator is asking Colorado voters to make it harder for people in the country unlawfully to plea bargain if charged with a felony.

Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, and Rep. Mike May, R-Parker, introduced a measure Monday that would prohibit district attorneys in Colorado from offering plea-bargains to illegal immigrants--especially if the result of the bargained plea is the defendant's attempt to avoid deportation.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 4 would ask the voters of Colorado to amend the state constitution in November to require courts to not accept guilty pleas from defendants who are here in clear violation of federal immigration law.  SCR 4 targets those individuals who are given misdemeanor plea-bargains by district attorneys when their original felony charges call for deportation.

"It's wrong that we're letting people charged with a felony, who are already in our country illegally, stay here after serving a short sentence," Harvey said.  "We need to close this dangerous loophole in a judiciary system--I'm confident that the people of Colorado will view this situation in the same light."

A year after Gov. Bill Ritter and ruling Democrats in the legislature pushed through a statewide property-tax hike without consulting voters, Senate and House Republicans are introducing a plan to let the public have a say after all.

At a news conference today, Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, and Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said their resolution will give voters "veto power" over a tax hike that will cost some $3.8 billion over the next 10 years. The lawmakers also released a letter endorsed by more than 70 local elected officials of both parties across the state, calling  on the governor to support the effort to hold a popular vote on the issue.

Gardner and Kopp pointed out that the issue only has become more controversial since the policy was adopted last year. Projections of the Democrat tax hike's ultimate cost have more than doubled over time. Meanwhile, some Democrats recently acknowledged that revenue from the tax hike will be spent on other programs besides public education--contrary to earlier promises by the Ritter administration.

"The gravity of this unconstitutional property tax hike keeps growing," Gardner told members of the Capitol press corps. 

The resolution, to be introduced in the House this week, follows an opinion from the Attorney General's Office last year saying the tax hike should have been put to a vote, as well as a citizens lawsuit, filed in December, against the state for failing to consult with voters.

Senate Democrats pushed through a measure today that more than triples the state marriage license fee in order to fund a child-abuse program--while Republicans charged that the bill aims at the wrong target and amounts to a new tax on marriage. 

The proposal's author, Democrat Sen. John Morse, of Colorado Springs, also left some of his colleagues nearly speechless in debate on the Senate floor when he said people who didn't want to pay the higher license fee could live together instead.

"Certainly, if you want to avoid paying this fee, you have the option of common law marriage and you don’t have to pay for your marriage license," Morse said. When challenged on the remark by Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, Morse refused to back down, saying, "I said if they want to avoid the fee they have that as an option."

An astounded Mitchell reacted with disbelief after the vote.

"Basically, he's telling Coloradans, 'If you don't want to pay the toll, you can always shack up,' " he said. 

Morse's Senate Bill 47 raises the marriage-license fee from its current $10 to $35 in order to increase funding for the Court Appointed Special Advocates program, which intervenes on behalf of child-abuse victims.