Wheat Ridge lawmakers warn of tight state budget, outline local bill priorities

Majority Leader Monica Duran and state Senator Danielson told Wheat Ridge City Council members on March 17 that Colorado is facing a difficult budget session and urged local officials to alert them to bills that affect the city.

The city convened a legislative forum during its study session to introduce the new Wheat Ridge legislative committee and to hear directly from Duran and Senator Danielson about key bills and budget pressures. Council created the committee to review legislation, recommend advocacy positions and authorize staff lobbying; Cole Haslip is the city staff liaison, Councilor Holten is chair and Councilor Larson vice chair of the committee.

Duran said the state has a significant revenue shortfall and that legislators are trying to reduce the fiscal impact of bills. "We have really stressed to every legislator to make sure that their bills have a 0 impact, a fiscal impact, where we can because we just don't know what to anticipate,"…