Last week, the Colorado Legislature’s Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed Senate Bill 24-175, which aims to improve perinatal health outcomes, especially in Black and historically marginalized communities by requiring large employer health benefit plans to cover doula services in alignment with Medicaid. The bill would also instruct hospitals that provide labor and delivery or neonatal care services to participate in at least one maternal or infant health quality improvement initiative.
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Co Springs School District Hires Conservative Law Firm to Fight Union
With its teachers union contract up for renewal, Colorado Springs School District 11 (D11) has spent $118,000 on attaining additional legal counsel and communications support for upcoming interest-based bargaining (IBB) sessions with the Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA). This is a new move for the district, which has not utilized legal counsel during the annual IBB sessions in the past.
Libertarian Hazlitt Coalition Trains State Legislators to Target Public Schools
The national libertarian youth activism organization, Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), has assembled a network of extreme conservative state legislators as part of its Hazlitt Coalition. Pulling its members from legislatures across the country, the Hazlitt Coalition’s Colorado delegation includes Reps. Scott Bottoms (R-Colorado Springs), Ken DeGraaf (R-Colorado Springs), Brandi Bradley (R-Littleton), and Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose).
Dave Williams, Vickie Tonkins Accused of Criminal Tampering With Delegate Process
According to a news release, a criminal complaint was filed today with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s office by Colorado Congressional District 5 candidate Joshua Griffin, who is alleging that El Paso County Chair Vickie Tonkins and Colorado GOP Chair — and CD5 candidate — Dave Williams withheld delegate lists from candidates to the advantage of Williams.
Conservative Activists Oppose Charter School Accountability, Propose Ballot Initiative
Conservative activist group Advance Colorado is leading the charge against House Bill 1363, “Charter Schools Accountability.” The bill would impose additional regulations on Colorado’s charter schools, removing automatic waivers for things like teacher licensure and readiness assessments, allowing community members to appeal a local board’s decision to approve a charter school, and granting boards broader powers to revoke or not renew a charter.
Two Anti-Trans Ballot Initiatives Move Closer to November Ballot
This week, the Colorado Title Board approved two ballot initiatives targeting transgender people in Colorado. “Public Athletic Programs for Minors,” which would require transgender athletes to compete according to their sex assigned at birth in school or intramural athletics, and “Prohibit Certain Medical Procedures for Minors,” which would ban gender-affirming care for anyone under 18, had their titles set during Tuesday’s meeting.
Dems Defeat ‘Extreme’ Anti-Abortion Bills
This week, Democrat-controlled Colorado House committees voted down two proposed anti-abortion bills from state Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-Colorado Springs). Bottoms’ “Personhood of Living Unborn Human Child” bill was killed by the State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee, and his “Require Information about Abortion Pill Reversal” bill met the same fate in the Health and Human Services Committee.
Hickenlooper Sponsors Bill to Protect IVF
Democrats in Washington have introduced legislation that would establish a statutory right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology services. U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) has co-sponsored the Access to Family Building Act, which he says will ensure no hopeful parent or doctor is punished for trying to start or grow a family.
Conservative Conference Speakers Highlight Republican Divisions
The Leadership Program of the Rockies (LPR) held its annual retreat this weekend at the Broadmoor Hotel, the historic Colorado Springs hotel, resort, and conference center owned by billionaire conservative activist Phil Anschutz. LPR, Colorado’s premiere conservative political training program, is known for its long list of notable alums actively engaged in Colorado politics, media, and education policy, and for its far-right speakers.
Ballot Initiatives Target Transgender Students
Relegated to minority status in the Colorado legislature, Republicans are turning to ballot initiatives in an attempt to pass laws targeting transgender people.