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," Majority Leader Monica Duran said. She told council members the state forecast released that day looked weak and that both the legislature and the governor will face "some really hard decisions" on funding for services.

Senator Danielson said his priorities include worker protections and bills to aid Native communities and public safety. "What we wanna do is really simple. We wanna take away the second election," Danielson said, describing Senate Bill 5, the Worker Protection Act, which he said would remove a second-election requirement that currently makes union authorization harder. He described that measure as a priority for the senate and noted broad community support.

Council members described the city's new legislative agenda and committee work. Councilor Holten said the committee will bring proposed advocacy resolutions to the full council; Holten said the first two resolutions will be presented at the next council meeting in support of construction-defect and middle-market housing legislation and in opposition to another bill they judged to limit local election control.

Council and the majority leader discussed specific bills raised during the forum. Duran said the city had signaled support for "HB 25 12 72" (construction defects/middle-market housing) and opposition to "SB 25 0 0 1" because of local election control concerns. Duran encouraged council members and the legislative committee to testify at committee hearings and to contact her office with local perspectives.

Heather Stauffer, principal advocate for the Colorado Municipal League (CML), briefed the council on several bills the league is tracking, including state budget items and bill changes affecting municipalities. Stauffer said the state's new revenue forecast prompted large proposed cuts and that municipalities should watch for state actions that could shift costs to local governments.

The legislators and CML also discussed other measures mentioned by the lawmakers, including wage-theft reform work, bills addressing school finance and health care, the Indian Child Welfare Act discussions, and proposals on gun-safety measures. Senator Danielson described other priorities such as bills to recognize tribal court orders and a proposal to classify bison as wildlife, and he said supporters plan to pursue a ballot referral on a child-sexual-abuse accountability measure if the legislature does not act.

The council thanked Duran and Danielson for meeting with Wheat Ridge officials and invited ongoing contact between the city's legislative committee and state lawmakers.

Ending: The forum concluded with council members asking the legislators to be notified in advance when the city takes positions so they can weigh those positions on the floor and in committee hearings. Duran and Danielson both encouraged Wheat Ridge officials and residents to testify at hearings and to stay in contact with their offices.