Tag: Pat Steadman
HB 1370 aims to rein in anonymous campaign spending on ballot...
A bill intended to clarify which groups are backing or opposing ballot measures – as well as provide administrative law judges more enforcement leeway...
Bold bipartisan bill will rework Colorado higher ed funding
DENVER-- The Higher Education Flexibility Act passed the Senate last week and is scheduled to make it to the House Monday. It's a bold bill that would rearrange the relationship between public universities and the government. It would mean greater autonomy for university administrations which, for example, would be free to levy tuition hikes under 9 percent per year. Current higher education funding in low-tax recession-wracked Colorado has become unsustainable. The new bill seeks to buffer universities against a likely $300 million funding cut next year.
Teacher tenure ‘juggernaut’ bill clears Senate, faces tougher battle in House
SB 191, the teacher tenure bill that has divided traditional political allies and made for strange-bedfellows in the State Legislature this session, passed on...
Rights activists looking to pressure Ritter on informed-consent search bill
Civil rights activists are turning up pressure on Gov. Bill Ritter to sign legislation this week that would force police to inform citizens of their right to deny police searches.
Bill to educate un-convicted imprisoned youth moves forward
DENVER-- Colorado is one step closer to providing education to youth awaiting trial as adults in jails across the state. The current status quo sees un-convicted teenagers languishing for months and years in adult prisons ill-equipped to provide even constitutionally mandated services such as education.
Steadman bill looks to limit lobbyist abuses, conflicts of interest
State Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, says the timing of his bill meant to clean up lobbying practices at the state Capitol is purely coincidental and not related to recent ethics allegations or any one case in particular. Steadman says Senate Bill 87 stems from the 15 years he spent as a lobbyist and his inside knowledge of best practices.
Bill strengthening rights against searches draws unanimous Senate support
DENVER-- A rare case of agreement has broken out at the Capitol. Lawmakers on the right and left agree that better rules should be put in place to guard against police searches and seizures. A bill that would require law enforcement (pdf) to inform individuals of their right to refuse searches of themselves and their cars passed the Senate unanimously, thirty-five votes to zero. The ACLU has launched an action campaign championing the bill and asking Gov. Bill Ritter, a former district attorney and strong law enforcement advocate, to sign it straightaway.
Schultheis proposal to count state’s illegal-immigrant students rejected
Senate Democrats Monday quashed a proposal that would have required Colorado schools to count undocumented immigrant students and report the number to the government....
Consent-to-search bill takes aim at racial profiling
DENVER-- Backed by a coalition of citizens' rights groups, Democratic lawmakers Rep. Karen Middleton of Aurora and Sen. Pat Steadman of Denver introduced a bill that would require police to inform citizens of their right to refuse voluntary searches. The groups backing the bill believe it would limit traffic stops and searches that stem from discrimination.
Controversial Schultheis public schools religion bill ends in a whimper
DENVER-- A controversial bill that sought to expand space for religion in Colorado's public schools failed to make it out of committee Monday. Even before the hearing began, the bill's sponsor, Christian conservative state Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, seemed to have accepted the fact that his "Public School Religious Bill of Rights" would very likely fail to pass and so offered amendments that significantly weakened its provisions. In the end, so little was left of the bill that the majority Democratic committee members said it simply offered no new provisions on the matter. In the end, the four Democrats voted against the bill and the three Republicans voted for it.