News
Heading into the final stretch of 2011, Rep. Millie Hamner and Sen. Jeanne Nicholson are focusing on health and education issues to tackle with new legislation in the 2012 legislative session.
The House District 56 and Senate District 8 legislators representing Summit County will head back to the State Capitol to push their new bills and face another budget shortfall in January.
Hamner (D-Dillon) and Nicholson (D-Blackhawk) are considering working together on a bill cracking down on new tobacco products packaged to target children.
“Dissolvable tobacco looks like candy or mints to children,” Hamner said. “It's not clear at this time whether legislation is needed or just better (enforcement of the sale of tobacco products), but that is an area of concern of mine, if minors in our community are able to purchase those kinds of products.”
Hamner, having successfully passed a bill to simplify and streamline the teacher licensure process in the 2011 session, is looking into taking similar steps for early childhood education teachers.
“It has to do with teachers trying to get jobs here, especially coming from out of state,” Hamner said, noting voters' intense focus on legislation that will help create jobs and bolster the economy. “I'm still trying to sort out where the problem is, but it's causing dilemmas with people trying to get jobs in early childhood (education) where we need them.”
Hamner is also considering carrying a bill that would strengthen Colorado's anti-stalking laws, prompted in part by a homicide in Lake County.
As education conversations nationwide turn to literacy rates, Hamner said she is looking into a possible bill that could help ensure “we have appropriate reading instruction and resources for young children so that they can meet that goal of reading at grade level by third grade.”
Nicholson is considering a bill that will continue efforts she started last year to close tax credit loopholes in the Conservation Easement Program.
The program, started several years ago, was intended to help keep Colorado's open space undeveloped. It provides tax credits to farmers and ranchers who agree not to develop their land.
“Unfortunately there were some people who tried to take advantage of the program by claiming the land had a higher value than it did so they could claim a higher tax credit,” Nicholson said. “It undermined the purpose of the program and meant some people weren't paying their fair share to the state coffers.”
Nicholson is also considering legislation that would make pregnant women eligible for a certain kinds of Medicaid for oral health services, which, if improved, might help prevent extensive dental problems in newborns.
“We know that when women get pregnant, if they don't have good oral health care, they can sometimes pass along a bacteria to babies that severely damages the teeth of the babies,” Nicholson said. “It costs $8 million a year to restore these babies' oral health. We could prevent some of that (cost) if we could make sure their mothers got good dental care while they are pregnant.”
In addition, Nicholson may sponsor bills that remove licensure fees for retired physicians who plan to continue practicing as volunteers and increase local improvement districts' authority.
Both Hamner and Nicholson will also have to grapple with what could be another half-billion dollar budget shortfall this year. Hamner said she will push to find ways to balance the budget without inflicting additional cuts on K-12 education.
“I'm going to work really hard to not have to make any more cuts to K-12,” Hamner said. “That means we need to look at other sources in the budget to shift … so we don't have to make those drastic reductions.”
The House District 56 and Senate District 8 legislators representing Summit County will head back to the State Capitol to push their new bills and face another budget shortfall in January.
Hamner (D-Dillon) and Nicholson (D-Blackhawk) are considering working together on a bill cracking down on new tobacco products packaged to target children.
“Dissolvable tobacco looks like candy or mints to children,” Hamner said. “It's not clear at this time whether legislation is needed or just better (enforcement of the sale of tobacco products), but that is an area of concern of mine, if minors in our community are able to purchase those kinds of products.”
Hamner, having successfully passed a bill to simplify and streamline the teacher licensure process in the 2011 session, is looking into taking similar steps for early childhood education teachers.
“It has to do with teachers trying to get jobs here, especially coming from out of state,” Hamner said, noting voters' intense focus on legislation that will help create jobs and bolster the economy. “I'm still trying to sort out where the problem is, but it's causing dilemmas with people trying to get jobs in early childhood (education) where we need them.”
Hamner is also considering carrying a bill that would strengthen Colorado's anti-stalking laws, prompted in part by a homicide in Lake County.
As education conversations nationwide turn to literacy rates, Hamner said she is looking into a possible bill that could help ensure “we have appropriate reading instruction and resources for young children so that they can meet that goal of reading at grade level by third grade.”
Nicholson is considering a bill that will continue efforts she started last year to close tax credit loopholes in the Conservation Easement Program.
The program, started several years ago, was intended to help keep Colorado's open space undeveloped. It provides tax credits to farmers and ranchers who agree not to develop their land.
“Unfortunately there were some people who tried to take advantage of the program by claiming the land had a higher value than it did so they could claim a higher tax credit,” Nicholson said. “It undermined the purpose of the program and meant some people weren't paying their fair share to the state coffers.”
Nicholson is also considering legislation that would make pregnant women eligible for a certain kinds of Medicaid for oral health services, which, if improved, might help prevent extensive dental problems in newborns.
“We know that when women get pregnant, if they don't have good oral health care, they can sometimes pass along a bacteria to babies that severely damages the teeth of the babies,” Nicholson said. “It costs $8 million a year to restore these babies' oral health. We could prevent some of that (cost) if we could make sure their mothers got good dental care while they are pregnant.”
In addition, Nicholson may sponsor bills that remove licensure fees for retired physicians who plan to continue practicing as volunteers and increase local improvement districts' authority.
Both Hamner and Nicholson will also have to grapple with what could be another half-billion dollar budget shortfall this year. Hamner said she will push to find ways to balance the budget without inflicting additional cuts on K-12 education.
“I'm going to work really hard to not have to make any more cuts to K-12,” Hamner said. “That means we need to look at other sources in the budget to shift … so we don't have to make those drastic reductions.”
