Colorado Springs Gazette staff editorial 

Some of the same Colorado Democrats who want health care reform, promising to make it more available and affordable, support a proposal by trial lawyers that would run up the cost of care and aggravate a doctor shortage that has only begun.

Politicians who feign support for affordable health care, while supporting Senate Bill 164, are either confused or they’re lying. Either way, they’re paying favor to trial lawyers — a loyal constituency — while selling out the cause of health care for all.

The three Democrats on the Senate’s five-member State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee recently voted to move forward with Senate Bill 164, which would substantially increase the awards granted by judges and juries in malpractice suits. If the bill passes, doctors would be hit with increases in their malpractice insurance premiums. Senate President Peter Groff introduced the bill, and Sens. Abel Tapia, Chris Romer and Sue Windels voted it through committee.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial 

We’re underwhelmed by the economic development agenda Gov. Bill Ritter rolled out to much fanfare Tuesday. These proposals have about as much chance of heating up Colorado’s business climate as Ritter’s windmill farms have of cooling the planet.

A few of the ideas might do some good at the margins. The rest seem like a warmed-over hash of half-measures and corporate welfare “incentives” that are more symbolic than substantive. The glowing reviews they received from some business leaders betray laughably low expectations on their part.

State Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, said the Joint Budget Committee, which sets spending priorities for the state, cut the budget from $276,000 last year to $220,000 for the next fiscal year beginning July 1. They cut the $60,000 travel budget in half after records obtained by The Associated Press showed the elected eight-member panel took 17 state employees, including themselves, and 11 others to dine at a restaurant in Telluride that cost taxpayers $2,028.

According to board records, chairwoman Pamela Jo Suckla alone spent $26,000 for travel expenses and Evie Hudak claimed $11,316, according to the records obtained by the AP.

By The Denver Post editorial board

After 15 months in which the only contribution Gov. Bill Ritter and most state legislators have made to solving Colorado's mounting traffic woes was a call for further study of previous studies, a plan to impose tolls on Interstate 70 offers the only remaining hope to unsnarl that vital east-west artery.

The tolling plan won a 5-2 approval in the Senate Transportation Committee last week and now faces a precarious future in Appropriations. The Post favors Senate Bill 213 as revised by its architects, Sen. Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Mike May, R-Parker.

The legislature's excuse for dithering last year was that Ritter had named a bipartisan committee to study transportation and make recommendations to this year's General Assembly. But when the committee reported this year, the governor didn't endorse any of the four options it recommended — and lawmakers also ignored them with a vengeance....

Read full editorial: http://www.denverpost.com

Official testifies in TABOR lawsuit that more money collected as a result of mill levy freeze

By Berny Morson

Rocky Mountain News

State treasurer Cary Kennedy conceded today on the witness stand that a bill passed last year by the legislature alters the way taxes are calculated with the net result that many property owners pay more.

But Kennedy continued to insist the 2007 law, SB 199, does not violate Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.

Kennedy's testimony came on the second day of a lawsuit brought by opponents of the 2007 law. They say SB 199 should have been referred to voters under TABOR provisions.

The 1992 Constitutional amendment allows tax increases only with approval at the ballot box....

Read full story: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/06/tax-receipts-went/ 

The plan, which would expand the list of accepted documents to get a driver's license, is on Gov. Bill Ritter's desk.

By Mark P. Couch 

Denver Post Staff Writer

5/17/07

      A bipartisan group of politicians and law enforcement officials pleaded Wednesday for Gov. Bill Ritter to veto a bill that they said would make it easier to get a Colorado driver's license.

      Former Democratic Gov. Dick Lamm and Republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman warned that efforts to expand the list of acceptable primary documents to get an ID pose a security risk to the country.

      "A driver's license in the wrong hands is more dangerous than a machine gun," Lamm said.

Perceived bias leads industry to organize

By Steve Raabe Denver Post Staff Writer

Colorado oil and gas producers are organizing to influence government policy in reaction to concerns about a perceived anti-energy bias in the state.

Chief among their worries are a reconstituted oil-and-gas commission that reduces energy- industry representation, efforts to delay a plan for drilling on the scenic Roan Plateau in western Colorado, and a movement to stop natural-gas production in Moffat County's Vermillion Basin.

"This vital, growing industry is threatened by overregulation," said Fred Barrett, chief executive of oil-and-gas producer Bill Barrett Corp. "We as an industry need to find better ways to tell the public what the costs of certain public-policy decisions are."

Rocky Mountain News staff editorial

...A bill pending in the state Senate threatens to unravel Colorado's "stable" environment for medical liability law - and it could undermine Gov. Bill Ritter's plans to expand health care coverage for low-income Coloradans.

Senate Bill 164, by Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, would boost the award a patient can receive for pain and suffering (noneconomic damages) in medical malpractice lawsuits from $300,000 to nearly $450,000. That's a big leap, even if some adjustment to account for inflation may well be in order.

Far more disturbing is that the bill would add a new tier of damages in these cases that could blow the lid off of the reasonable limits the legislature had placed on most jury awards....

Read full editorial: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/20/wrong-way-on-damages/ 

Rocky Mountain News staff editorial 

...A 2008 high school graduate entering the work force indeed faces daunting intellectual challenges that his or her parents and grandparents did not. A teenager needs more than a strong back and a sound work ethic to assure a stable, decent-paying career.

That quest must begin, it seems to us, with students acquiring a facility in the language upon which most of those careers depend. That's why it's encouraging to see the legislature again consider a bill requiring graduates from Colorado high schools to demonstrate competence in English.

This year, unlike 2007, the measure is likely to reach Gov. Bill Ritter, whose proposal for school reforms announced earlier this year include English competency as a graduation requirement.

Senate Bill 98, by Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, does not explicitly define competence, leaving that to individual school districts and the state's charter school institute. It does suggest that every graduate should be able to understand government and commercial documents; a student should at a minimum be able to fill out a voter registration form or open a bank account....

Full editorial: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/27/first-things-first/