Colorado legislative roundup: Beginning of session
Members of the House of Representatives forfeited their trophy this week to the Senate in a truly Colorado battle for best brew. The Senate won the 2015 Hop the Vote brewing competition at the Great American Beer Festival with the Senate Shout Out Stout. The House won the competition last year and had to deliver the trophy to the Senate chambers on Tuesday and face a bit of friendly taunting.
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Gov. John Hickenlooper, as promised in his State of the State address unveiled 16 priority trails for 2016, trail segments and gaps this week. The list included the Ring the Peak project that would close one of two gaps and almost finish a loop 62-mile loop around Pikes Peak The Ute Pass Regional Trail would go from Manitou Springs to the El Paso County line.
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Rep. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, got his first bill out of committee on Tuesday, when the House Finance Committee approved House Bill 1049. The bill amends a law Lee helped get passed in 2015 that enables crowd-source funding like Kickstarter or GoFundMe for startups raising capital to grow or develop. Lee said it was “a technical modification to this absolutely marvelous bill.” HB 1049 deals when startups can access the money invested in their companies and how it is held in escrow until that point.
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Rep. Terri Carver, R-Colorado Springs, also got a bill out of its first committee last week, with House Bill 1018 that passed the House Transportation and Energy Committee. The bill expands the role of the statewide transportation advisory committee so it can dispense advice to both the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado Transportation Commission on a wider variety of issues.
A renering of the proposed Woodland park aquatic center.





