Top Legislative Issues for CEA Members in 2010

• CEA Bill Summary: A summary of public education and education employee bills CEA is following in the 2010 General Assembly



• NOT SO FAST: NO on SB 191
CEA opposes SB 191, the teacher evaluation and due process bill.
• Senate Bill 1: Signed into law by Governor Ritter, February 23
Governor Ritter signed SB 1 into law on February 23. CEA, a leading member of the Colorado Coalition for Retirement Security, supported the bill after originally opposing it and lobbying for amendments. Read the whole story.
• Special Interest Giveaways: CEA supports several measures, now law, that suspend or eliminate a wide variety of tax exemptions and "loopholes." The bills, which Gov Ritter signed Feb. 24, will save the state money which could help prevent more cuts to K-12 education. Read CEA's Capitol Connection blog post from February 26 for more information.

• The House Finance Committee PI’d (“postponed indefinitely”) two school voucher bills: HB 1295 and HB 1296. On February 23, the committee defeated HB 1296 by Rep. Spencer Swalm. The next day the committee PI'd HB 1295 by Rep. Kent Lambert. Both bills would have used taxpayer dollars to pay for children to go to private and religious schools. CEA has longstanding opposition to using public dollars in this way.

• Both the House and the Senate have approved HB 1273 by Rep. Michael Merrifield (D-Colorado Springs). CEA initially opposed the bill because we do not want students to have to demonstrate proficiency in visual or performing arts in order to graduate from high school. CEA lobbyist Karen Wick said that our Association worked successfully with Rep. Merrifield to get the bill amended. "It was changed," Wick said, "to reduce the requirement that students have to be proficient in the arts. Now the bill requires a high school student to complete a course in visual or performing arts." CEA lobbyists changed our position to Track. The House also amended the effective date of the bill. The new requirement would begin for students entering ninth grade in 2011. Rep. Merrifield, who chairs the House Education Committee and is serving his last term in the House because of term limits, said, "I think the jury is no longer out on the value of the arts." We don't disagree with Rep. Merrifield on that. We never did.

  
  
  
  
  

  About the 2010 Session (January 13 - May 12)

  • Colorado General Assembly (Legislature's Web Site)
  • Members of the Colorado Senate and Colorado House

  • Legislature’s Schedule and Bill Deadlines
  • Senate Committee Schedule

  • House Committee Schedule
  • Senate Committees and House Committees

  • 2010 Legislators by UniServ Unit
  • Senate and House Capitol Phone Numbers and Email Addresses

  

  Related Information

  • 2010 Legislative Agenda
  • Previous Session Information
  • Colorado School Finance Adequacy Lawsuit-January 2010
  • CEA Positions on General Legislative Issues
  • Backgrounder on TABOR and Amendment 23

  • Other Organizations' Legislative Information
    

  

  How the Colorado Legislature works

  • The legislative process: How a bill is passed

  • How a Bill Becomes a Law Chart

  • Terms used in the legislative process

  • Making effective contacts with legislators