A Republican bill creating incentives for landowners who take steps to prevent wildfires was signed into law today by the governor. 

At a signing ceremony in Summit County—arguably one of the regions most affected by pine-beetle devastation and wildfires—Gov. Bill Ritter gave his approval to House Bill 1110, adding it to the Colorado law books.  The bill, crafted by Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, and Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genesee, gives landowners the ability to write off a major portion of the costs to prep their property against the threat of wildfires.

“This is an important first step to ensure the protection of our mountain communities,” Kopp said. “The nation learned too many lessons from watching the Southern California mountain communities burn not to take aggressive action to mitigate the threat of catastrophic wildfires.”

Republican lawmakers are responding with a chorus of told-ya-sos to an admission in court this week by the state treasurer that last year's freeze in the property-mill levy has raised property-tax bills across the state. The disclosure came in testimony in a lawsuit brought by a citizens group to halt the property-tax hike.

As reported in Wednesday's Rocky Mountain News--Democrat Treasurer Cary Kennedy, an architect of the controversial policy and an ally of the administration of Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter--conceded on the witness stand  that the mill-levy freeze changes the way taxes are calculated and raises property tax bills for many home- and business owners. Legislative Republicans, who all along have referred to the mill-levy freeze as a tax hike, say Kennedy's admission vindicates them because any change in tax policy, under Colorado's constitution, amounts to a tax hike that must be put to a public vote.

"Apparently, it took a Bible and a witness stand to get the governor and his allies to admit their tax hike is, in fact, a tax hike," said a bemused Senate GOP leader Andy McElhany. "Of course, the rest of the state already knew as much, especially when homeowners and business owners got their property-tax bills earlier this year."

Ritter and his Democrat allies who control the legislature imposed the tax hike without a vote of the people during the 2007 legislative session, claiming the school districts affected by the hike already approved local mill-levy freezes. The measure is projected to cost taxpayers some $3.8 billion over the next 10 years.

A day after the conclusion of the 2008 legislature--in which critics chided Democrats for failing to propose reforms for health care and transportation--GOP lawmakers pointed to what they say was a comprehensive agenda that addressed the issues of greatest concern to Coloradans.

Senate and House Republicans--relegated to the legislative minority since 2004--say they knew they had to band together this session in order to serve the best interests of Colorado.  They came up with a new approach and offered a legislative package in both chambers. It was a package they say aimed to gird the state against recession, improve its transportation infrastructure, bridge gaps in health care and boost education.

"I'm happy to call this my final year at the Capitol--even if we were in the minority," term-limited Senate GOP leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs, said. "We were able to work together to get some meaningful legislation passed. Somebody had to guard Colorado's pocketbook and with so few of us, we had to cooperate. "

An eleventh-hour effort by Senate Republicans to gauge the potentially crippling impact of sweeping new regulations on Colorado's booming energy economy died Monday at the hands of ruling Democrats.

Killed on a party-line vote was a resolution authored by the GOP's Sen. Bill Cadman and House Democrat Rep. Wes McKinley, calling a cost analysis of the potential effect of pending new rules on oil and gas prices. Cadman, of Colorado Springs, told colleagues on the Senate floor that the regulations--soon to be released by the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission at the behest of Gov. Bill Ritter--could reduce oil and gas exploration by 20 percent to 30 percent and drive up the price of those commodities nationwide.

"Reductions of those quantities (of oil and gas production)...will impact prices, they will impact supply," Cadman said. "It's important that we have a review."

Democrats also rejected an amendment to the bill that would have required the commission to hold hearings on the impact of the regulations in the different regions of Colorado that have some of the highest concentrations of oil and gas exploration. The amendment by Republican Sen. Ken Kester, of Las Animas, sought commission hearings in all Colorado basins.

A bipartisan bloc of senators agreed today to clear the way for greater competition--and, they say, lower prices--for prescription drugs and other goods across Colorado. The Senate's adoption of Senate Bill 246, however, came only after two El Paso County lawmakers squared off over the bill's ultimate effects on the marketplace.

Senate Republican leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs, helped lead the charge for the measure, saying it would let major retail chains continue offering products like prescription drugs at low rates.

Yet, Colorado Springs Democrat Sen. John Morse pushed hard to derail the bill because of its effect on rival businesses that don't want the competition from lower prices--a concern that prompted McElhany to call for a reality check.

"Do you really want to supply the vote that kills $4 prescriptions in Colorado?" McElhany asked his colleagues during initial debate over the bill on Friday. Addressing them again today, he added, "The cost of health care is the single biggest issue for most of our constituents."

The GOP's Sen. Shawn Mitchell, of Broomfield, agreed, saying government, "should not get in the way of affordable prescriptions to Coloradans." 

In a make-my-day moment on the Senate floor today,  Assistant Senate GOP leader Nancy Spence fired back at a House committee that had killed her groundbreaking performance-pay plan for teachers. Spence, a veteran voice for education reform, restarted her bill by amending it in its entirety into the annual School Finance Act.

Earlier this morning, the Democrat-run House Appropriations Committee had voted mostly along party lines to kill Spence's Senate Bill 65 despite bipartisan backing for the novel proposal and support from Gov. Bill Ritter.

"I was astounded that the House committee would kill the bill, considering the broad support behind the proposal," Spence said after the Senate adjourned. "You would think we all could agree that we have to find ways to hold onto our best and brightest teachers."

The Spence plan, also sponsored by Democrat Sen. Sue Windels, would set up a $2 million fund to help jump-start efforts by school districts to cultivate and retain teachers based on their performance. The effort was announced last fall as part of the Republican legislative agenda for 2008.

The administration of Gov. Bill Ritter, himself a supporter of teacher performance pay, subsequently embraced Spence's effort and offered to collaborate on her bill and help find majority Democrat co-sponsors--some of whom had opposed and killed a performance-incentive bill Spence carried last year.