Fast and Furious at Special Session

First of all, it’s not a special session.  It’s the 2006 First Extraordinary Session (see the legislature’s web site).

Second, some 50 bills were introduced on this first day of the Extraordinary Session.

I can’t figure out the General Assembly’s web site right now, so I’m relying on the Rocky for this report, which only mentions three bills passing the Senate Committee today.

The first is Senate Bill 1:

Senate Bill 1, by Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, and Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, would prohibit state and local governments from providing services to illegal immigrants over age 18, except emergency services and others mandated by the federal government such as K-12 education, immunizations and prenatal and child birth services for low-income mothers.

Under the bill, state and local governments would have to verify a person’s legal status and require the applicant to sign an affidavit stating that he or she is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. The measure makes it misdemeanor crime to knowingly falsify one’s legal status in an affidavit.

At the urging of Colorado public health officials, the measure was amended to exempt federal grant programs that fund food banks and day care programs for disabled adults and senior citizens. Also, excluded from the bill are federally funded clinics that provide cancer screening and treatment for women regardless of their legal status.

This is almost the exact wording of the now-defunct Defend Colorado Now ballot initiative.  Dick Lamm, leader of Defend Colorado Now, is already on the record saying a “legislative solution” would leave him, dare I say, pacified.  I’m guessing Senate Bill 1 is the product of Romanoff, Pe

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