[1]Topics:
1. Meetings in April
2. Long Bill Debate in Senate
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1. These are the community meetings I have scheduled where you can ask questions and I will let you know what is going on in the legislature. I will also tell you how you can help us take back the legislature this November.
Friday, April 9, 2010
7:00pm – 9:00pm
The McNaught Home
4648 Malibu Dr.
Berthoud, CO, 80513
Saturday, April 24th
1:00pm – 3:00pm
Larimer GOP Headquarters
4020 S. Collage Ave., Ste B6
Fort Collins, CO 80525
For more information or to RSVP to any of these meetings please contact Laura at: lauralundberg@gmail.com or 970-691-0231
I will also attend the Homeschool Day at the Capitol on April 16th (www.chec.org ). And I am co-hosting Pastors’ and Church Leaders’ Day at the Capitol on April 23rd (www.pastorsday.us).
2. The Senate debated the “Long Bill”, the annual budget bill today. I posted several comments on the Freedom Watch page of my website. Here is the press release the Senate Republican office sent out today:
Nearly $1 billion budget cliff looming, Democrats do nothing
Colorado is headed for financial disaster next year. Stimulus money will have dried up. Cash funds will be gone. And the state will resume making its full contribution to the public employee pension fund.
Republicans have repeatedly called for across the board cuts in order to avoid falling off the looming budget cliff, and Democrats have repeatedly rebuffed those efforts. “We”ve got a $1 billion cliff just hanging out there, and it is a shame that we didn’t look at this year,” said Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley.
During debate over the 2010-11 budget bill, dubbed the “long bill” because of its tremendous length, Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R- Grand Junction, offered an amendment that would have reduced general fund personnel expenditures by 5 percent over 3 years. Renfroe offered a provision directing department heads to implement 3 percent across the board cuts. The pair of proposals would have netted the state a savings of over $408 million.
Democrats soundly rejected the fiscally responsible ideas that could have helped soften next year’s landing.
“Government has got to live within its means just like the rest of us,” Penry said. “But Democrats refuse to accept that, and they have opted instead to raise taxes and grow government even during a recession.”
Other GOP amendments to the long bill:
Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, tried to eliminate Gov. Bill Ritter’s failed early prisoner release program by shifting funds from Capitol security. “Metal detectors in the Capitol do nothing but offer a false sense of security,” said Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud. “The other entrances to the building are unguarded and can be easily bypassed. Instead of wasting money on metal detectors that yield little results, I propose that we keep the bad guys behind bars and stop electronically frisking 4th graders on a field trip. ”
Ruling Democrats said “no” to Lundberg’s amendment, and it was defeated.
Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, attempted to prohibit in- state tuition for illegal immigrants at public universities. “It is offensive to the taxpayers of this state that we are cutting K-12 education, while some Democrats want to give people who aren’t even here legally a break on higher education tuition,” he said.
Ruling Democrats said “no” to Schultheis’s amendment, and it was defeated.