Capitol Update: The Long Bill and a long (but productive) Senate Education hearing
Things are moving fast and furious under the Gold Dome! This week, the House of Representatives debated the annual state budget, known as the “Long Bill.” The Joint Budget Committee (JBC) members have been hard at work for the last several months considering budget requests from state agencies and other interest groups. Months of hearings culminate in the Long Bill, which stands at over $36 billion for the next fiscal year. The Long Bill is introduced just like any other piece of legislation, and is debated in each chamber where legislators have an opportunity to add amendments. The Children’s Campaign worked with Reps. Duran and Woodrow to add $1 million in legal aid for families facing eviction. That amendment made it on successfully! The Long Bill now heads to the Senate, where it will repeat the same process and where we will work to ensure the funding for eviction legal assistance remains in next year’s budget.
The Long Bill and eviction legal aid were not the only Children’s Campaign priorities this week! We also had two priority bills receive bipartisan approval in the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. First, House Bill 1202: At-Risk Measure for School Finance was unanimously approved by the committee. Our V.P. of K-12 Education Initiatives, Leslie Colwell, testified to the importance of having a more accurate way to determine students who are living in poverty so that the state and school districts can direct more resources to students that need them most. Thank you to Sens. Zenzinger and Coleman for championing this bill in the Senate.
Then, we had House Bill 1295: Department of Early Childhood and Universal Preschool up for a vote. After more than 8 hours of witness testimony and debate, the bill passed on a bipartisan 5-2 vote! Our V.P. of Early Childhood and Policy Initiatives, Bill Jaeger, did a masterful job answering questions for more than an hour in front of the committee. Finally, a huge thank you to Senate President Fenberg and Sen. Buckner for sponsoring this critical bill. Both pieces of legislation have cleared important hurdles on the path to becoming law!
Our dedicated policy and advocacy team tracks hundreds of bills that impact Colorado kids and families every legislative session. To view the bills we have been tracking this legislative session, click here.
Here are this week’s Capitol Highlights:
HB22-1287 (Boesenecker & Hooton) Protections for Mobile Park Residents
The bill amends the “Mobile Home Park Act” and the “Mobile Home Park Act Dispute Resolution and Enforcement Program.” These amendments would update the requirements, responsibilities, and obligations of a landlord to act in a manner that more adequately protects the rights of mobile park residents. Additionally, the bill will allow the attorney general to enforce statutory provisions providing protection for mobile home owners; and allow a resident, local government, or a nonprofit to file a complaint with the division under the dispute resolution program. To learn more about this bill and its journey through the legislature, click here.
