A day after Colorado's attorney general found that state workers still have the power to strike--despite an executive order by Gov. Bill Ritter that says they don't--the Senate GOP called on Ritter and fellow Democrats to enact a Republican-authored strike ban.

The Ritter administration and some legislative Democrats have said publicly they would support the proposed  ban on strikes by all state employees, which will be sponsored by Rep. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, and Assistant Senate GOP leader Nancy Spence, of Centennial, in the 2008 legislative session. However,  Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell, of Broomfield, said now is the time to "start counting votes."

"The governor and some legislative Democrats have said they're OK with the Republicans' proposed strike ban , and that's fine and well, but it's also early in the game and easy to make promises," Mitchell said. "My guess is the governor is still hoping this whole issue goes away. That is why we must make one thing clear to the administration and its allies in the legislature: 'We will hold your feet to the fire.' "

A leading Republican voice for education reform says she welcomes a state panel's endorsement of performance incentives for schoolteachers--a policy initiative she fought for in the last legislative session and will champion again in 2008.

Assistant Senate GOP leader Nancy Spence, the ranking Republican on the Senate Education Committee, will introduce a bill that would help fund efforts by local school districts to reward teachers who excel in the classroom. The bill--similar to one Spence introduced last session that is based on Florida's prominent STAR program--is part of the Republican education agenda for 2008.

Now, the governor's P-20 Education Coordinating Council seems to like the idea, too. The panel released a list of recommendations this week that included a proposal much like Spence's plan, establishing a state fund to help local school districts set up alternative forms of teacher compensation.

"It is great to have them on board," said Spence, of Centennial.

Addressing growing concerns over the future health of the environment, GOP lawmakers announced their blueprint for environmental sustainability today at the Capitol.   Touted as a balanced approach to developing Colorado's resources, the plan includes measures to empower citizens through incentives to buy energy-efficient appliances as well as a comprehensive approach to preserving forestland from pine beetles and wild fires. 

Republicans from both chambers stressed the need to safeguard Colorado's natural beauty and quality of life while also preserving the state's dynamic economy.  They say their plan can achieve these goals without imposing "heavy-handed, across-the-board mandates" -- a charge that has been leveled at the governor and his fellow Democrats' approach to the environment.

"Gas prices are through the roof and going higher, we need to maximize all of our energy production to protect the pocketbooks of working Coloradans," Sen. Greg Brophy of Wray said.  "The good news is that the Republican agenda will do that while still protecting Colorado’s incredible environment."

Sen. Mike Kopp was unanimously elected the new chair of the Senate GOP caucus this week at the Capitol.  Kopp, a Littleton Republican, was named to the leadership position by Republican senate leader Andy McElhany.

"I'm honored to be elected to caucus chair by my Republican peers in the Colorado Senate," Kopp said. "I will strive to ensure communication among our members and shine a spotlight on all the exceptional leaders and great policy thinkers in our caucus to come up with new ideas for the betterment of our great state."

Kopp will succeed former chairman Sen Ron May, R-Colorado Springs, who announced his retirement life in late October to devote more time to his career in information-technology consulting. 

The Littleton lawmaker was chosen for the leadership position despite having only served one year in the legislature, due to his natural ability to lead and build consensus within his caucus, say Senate GOP colleagues.

Lawmakers at the Capitol reacted with disbelief today at a report in the Rocky Mountain News that Boulder's public schools will eliminate the time-honored distinction of recognizing their top high school graduates.

Two Republican lawmakers said the development--ending the practice of designating the student with the best grades as the valedictorian--reaffirms the need for a bill they will introduce as part of the GOP's 2008 education agenda. That measure would establish Colorado's first-ever statewide curriculum standard to graduate high school.

"The action in Boulder not only is a swipe at competition, which makes our economy go 'round, but also at academic excellence," said Sen. Josh Penry, R- Fruita, who is sponsoring the graduation-standards proposal with the GOP's Rep. Rob Witwer, of Genessee.

"It sends out a message to students across Colorado that academic performance doesn't matter all that much," Penry said. "That is precisely the opposite of what we should be telling our kids so they can compete in the 21st century economy."

Only weeks after a Ritter administration panel talked of doubling the state gasoline tax and raising vehicle-registration fees to pay for transportation, legislative Republicans are proposing to secure and expand highway funding--without hiking taxes or fees.

In a transportation plan unveiled today , Senate and House Republicans would stop annual legislative raids on transportation funding by asking voters to protect all auto-related sales tax revenue in the state's constitution for use on transportation.

"That is the only sure way to prevent the General Assembly from siphoning off the money that is supposed to be going to highways," said Senate Republican leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs. "We have to end the highway robbery, not only because it is the right thing to do but also because the public is in no mood to fork over even more than it already does."

The chief elections officer for the state's largest county hopes to sidestep statehouse Democrats and require proof of citizenship for those registering to vote--echoing a pending immigration-reform proposal by the legislative GOP. In a front-page story, The Colorado Springs Gazette reported today that El Paso County Clerk Bob Balink is exploring ways to take such action because Democrats who control the legislature

refuse to safeguard the voting process against abuse by non-citizens.

"A (Democrat) party agenda here in the state says access to the ballot for everyone is more important than determining their eligibility," Balink said. “That’s nuts in my mind."

The governor's executive order last Friday pumping up union power in the ranks of state personnel has left state budgeters in a quandary, says the Senate GOP's member on the powerful legislative Joint Budget Committee. The order gives unions a new and highly controversial role representing state employees in bargaining for pay. 

As a result, Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, called today for legislative legal advisers to offer guidance to the committee--which writes the state's budget--on how it is to proceed in calculating the cost of the state's payroll.

"This has left a cloud over the budget process," Johnson said. "The governor never consulted with the budget committee on this. He never even talked to us, and salaries are the biggest part of our budget."

Promising that the fight has just begun, Republican lawmakers today fired off a letter to the governor demanding that he wait 120 days before implementing his controversial executive order granting unions unprecedented power over state personnel. The Republicans also pledged additional steps, to be disclosed soon.

The order, signed by the governor late Friday, grants a form of collective bargaining for the first time ever to Colorado's state government workers. Business leaders reacted with alarm at the development, and the state's two largest newspapers the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, denounced the executive order--the Post in a rare, front-page Sunday editorial. 

Republicans have decried not only the "budget-busting" effect that bargaining by unions will have on state government but also what they say is the back-door way in which the governor cut the legislature out of the debate altogether by issuing an order.

"The governor not only wants to drive up the cost of running our state government as payback to his allies in organized labor, but he also apparently wants to avoid any open debate on it," said Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell, of Broomfield. "By sidestepping the legislative process, he has done an end-run on the public."

Veteran Republican lawmaker Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs was selected by a vacancy committee today to replace retiring Sen. Ron May.

Cadman has served in the House of Representatives since 2000 representing Colorado's 15th district.  He was House Majority Whip during the 2003-2004 legislative session and is currently the House Republican Caucus Chair.

"I'm looking forward to serving with my friend, Bill Cadman," said Senate GOP chief and fellow El Paso County legislator Andy McElhany.  "He's a proven leader whose legislative record speaks for itself."

A veteran Republican lawmaker who authored a groundbreaking school choice initiative signed into law in 2003 was honored today for her years of advocating education reform in Colorado.

Assistant  Senate GOP leader Nancy Spence, of Centennial, who is the ranking Republlican on the Senate Education Committee, was recognized with a Charter Friend Award for her contributions to public education policy by the Colorado League of Charter Schools. Spence has been a leader in wide-ranging education reform for years in the General Assembly and before that as a longtime school board member.

Spence has fought against attempts in recent years to roll back key education reforms and has championed the increasingly popular charter-school movement. Charters, which are publicly funded schools independently run and designed by parents and others, now number about 150 in Colorado.