Author: Paula Noonan
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NOONAN | An argument for Prop CC’s investment in public schools
It’s nearly turkey time so it’s time to talk turkey. Public schools in Colorado need more money. Proposition CC will give them some. Prop CC total estimates are about $260 million in 2020-21, the combined revenue from $20 to $200 refunds based on the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, not tax overpayments. One-third will go to public education.…
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NOONAN | It’s time to protect Coloradans from the ill effects of drilling
“Hypothetical people of all age groups” and “hypothetical facilities” took center stage in the final report to Colorado from ICF International, an environmental consulting firm, on human health risk and air quality related to oil and gas development. Citizens of Erie must feel eerie with that nomenclature, as it’s their health that’s at stake, as well as everyone…
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NOONAN | Immigration reforms abound — and are tied up in committee
Paula Noonan The U.S. Senate and House have plenty of immigration bills. They just don’t go anywhere. Of the top 34 US immigration bills, 13 have Democrats as sponsors and 21 have Republican sponsors. Only one bill has crossed from one chamber to the other. The bills address numerous aspects of immigration. HB-1044/SB-386, the Fairness…
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NOONAN | ‘House speaker is on a roll and the legislature is at a tipping point’
Fortunately for Coloradans, House Speaker K.C. Becker did not use Cersei of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros or Daenerys of the House of Targaryen from Game of Thrones as her leadership role models. Republican House members may feel scorched, but that fire was a result of the 2018 election. Speaker Becker managed a House with…
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NOONAN | A pending fix — with dizzying details — for troubled conservation easements
Paula Noonan April is the cruelest month, said T.S. Eliot in his historic poem “The Waste Land.” He was referring to April 15, when the nation’s tax bills come due. Some taxpayers catch a break on Tax Day. Farmers and ranchers who put some portion of their land under conservation easement can get tax credits…
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NOONAN | Let extractive industries pick up more of the tab for the messes they make
Paula Noonan Mining clean up costs finally hit the state’s checkbook in a way that aroused legislator attention this week. The “Protect Water Quality Adverse Mining Impacts” bill (HB19-1113), that protects taxpayers from mining reclamation costs, passed the House Rural Affairs and Agriculture committee. Two mining catastrophes, Summitville owned by Galactic Resources in Rio Grande…
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NOONAN | Overloaded bill docket defeats good legislation and public oversight
Editor’s note: The status of bills described in this essay was as of May 2. Lots of bills stack up at the end of each General Assembly, and usually the most important legislation remains stuck in the stacks. This year is no exception. In the last eight days of the session, almost 300 bills out…