Final approval of budget given without funding for Yuma schools

The back and forth in the General Assembly over whether to send $356,701 to the Yuma school district to pay for mascot replacement is back to “no,” after lawmakers gave their final approval to the 2023-24 budget.

Senate Bill 214 is the budget bill that funds state government to the tune of $38.5 billion. It puts an extra $900 per pupil into K-12 education, adds $822 million to the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to help with the transition in Medicaid when the federal designation of a public health emergency ends and gives State employees at five percent across the board raise.

Both the House and Senate, in their deliberations over the budget, also agreed on paying for the costs of replacing mascots, but that’s where the similarities ended. 

The Senate wanted to send the $356,701 just to the Yuma school district, which attempted to obtain a grant from the State’s Building Excellent Schools Today program in the Department of education. But the legislation put the grants for mascots at a dead-last priority and no school or district that applied for the grant got one. 

That grant funding was contained in Senate Bill 21-116, sponsored by Senator Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge. 

In the House, and with the support of SB 116’s sponsor, Representative Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango, the money was approved again, but this time to be divided up among schools that had mascot costs, with a maximum of $30,000 per school.

When the Joint Budget Committee, the six-member bipartisan panel that crafted the budget, met to discuss House and Senate amendments, the money for the mascots once again came out of the budget.

However, those lawmakers, who were tasked in resolving the differences between the House and Senate versions, pledged to find another source for those dollars: the State Education Fund, which in the coming year will have a balance of more than $1 billion.

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, who had been the deciding vote on the funding in the Senate, told her colleagues they don’t have the authority to award those dollars to any school. However, an agreement has been reached to use State Education Fund money, through the School Finance Act, to cover those costs.

The School Finance Act, the last major piece of budget legislation in the 2023 session, is expected to be introduced this week.

The budget bill was approved by both the House and Senate and is now on its way to the Governor for signing. 

Also about to hit the governor’s desk: right to repair for agricultural equipment. House Bill 1011, sponsored by Reps. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada and Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, won final approval for amendments last week.

The measure would allow farmers, ranchers and other owners of ag equipment, along with independent repair shops, to obtain parts, including computer software, to repair ag equipment. Successful Farming reports 95 percent of equipment repairs can be done by the owner or repair shop, but the industry raises concerns about illegal tampering, including for emissions controls, for example.

Almost every ag-affiliated organization in the state supported the measure, including the wheat, corn, fruit and vegetable growers, the wool growers, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.

John Deere, which signed an agreement in January with American Farm Bureau on right to repair, opposed the measure; Colorado Farm Bureau was neutral because of that agreement.

Republicans in the legislature mostly lined up with the manufacturers. In the House, 15 out of 19 Republicans voted against HB 1011, including Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron.

In the Senate, 10 out of 12 Republicans voted “no.” The Eastern Plains senators split their vote, with Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, voting in favor and Sen. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, voting against.

The Governor is expected to sign the measure.

A bill to ban so-called “assault weapons” will finally, after more than three months of discussion and controversy, will finally get its first hearing in the House this week.

House Bill 1230 is sponsored by Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver but lost the support of another key sponsor in the weeks leading up to its introduction. It is scheduled for Wednesday, April 18 in the House Judiciary Committee.

Under HB 1230, the state would ban the possession of “rapid-fire trigger activators and the manufacture, importation, purchase, sale or transfer” of assault weapons. 

The bill provides a long list of definition of an assault weapon: a semiautomatic rifle or pistol that can accept a detachable magazine or which can be modified to do so; a semiautomatic rifle or pistol with a fixed large-capacity magazine; a .50 caliber rifle, a shotgun with a revolving cylinder, a semiautomatic shotgun with certain features, a semiautomatic firearms that can accept a belt ammunition feeding device, a semiautomatic firearm that has been modified into a shotgun with a revolving cylinder and a semiautomatic shotgun with certain features.

While four gun control bills have been sent to the Governor, and a measure on unserialized firearms, known as ghost guns, is expected to be the fifth, the Governor does not support the measure and it is not expected to reach his desk.

The ghost guns bill, Senate Bill 279, was introduced on April 12. 

A ghost gun is an unserialized firearm that can be assembled with kits or even made on a 3D printer. 

Two recent mass shootings in Colorado have been tied to ghost guns: the East High shooting last month in which two school administrators were shot but are expected to recover. The shooter, a 17-year-old, later committed suicide with a ghost gun. The Club Q shooting last November, where five people died, also was reportedly committed with a ghost gun.

The bill is sponsored by Fields and Sens. Chris Hansen, D-Denver. They told reporters that the bill provides a compliance period through the end of the year for those who own or possess ghost guns to get them serialized, which can be done by licensed firearms dealers. That would also likely come with other requirements, such as background checks.

While the bill bans the manufacture and possession of ghost guns, it does not prohibit purchasing kits or other components used in 3D printing, leading to concerns that the measure will only result in more 3D-constructed (and unserialized) firearms. 

Violations of the law is a class one misdemeanor for the first offense and a class 5 felony for the second and subsequent violations.

With the General Assembly less than three weeks away from adjourning for the year, lawmakers are now submitting ideas for constitutional amendments.

Two Republicans are hoping to put concealed carry language into the State Constitution.

Under House Concurrent Resolution 1003, any person could carry a concealed weapon anywhere in the State, except for certain designated areas listed in the measure. The resolution is sponsored by Weinberg and Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta.

That includes where firearms are prohibited by federal law, public schools, or any other public building with permanent screening devices. 

The resolution, however, would need 46 votes in the House and 24 in the Senate, and with a 46-19 Democratic majority just in the House, it’s not likely to move forward. 

Another measure, to expand eligibility for property tax exemptions for disabled veterans, is likely to move forward. 

House Concurrent Resolution 1002 would expand eligibility to disabled veterans, under certain circumstances, who can demonstrate they are unable to obtain employment because of their disability. I t is sponsored by Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch and Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora.

The measure won 62 votes in the House and is awaiting action in the Senate.

The General Assembly’s last day for 2023 is Monday, May 8. Lawmakers still have more than 300 bills to work through in the final weeks.