With less than a month to go before the end of the legislative session, the piles of bills and the amount of committee work still to be done are daunting. We’ll get through it all even if it means long days, as the state Constitution requires us to finish within 120 days each year.
I’m spending a lot of time on the health insurance exchange committee and, as chair of the committee, am responsible for setting the meeting agendas and determining the direction of the legislative committee for the remainder of the year.
At our next biweekly meeting, we’ll be taking input from three core groups of stakeholders affected by the exchange’s operations: consumers, insurance brokers and insurance companies. Our final meeting during the session will be focused on learning what other states with state-run exchanges, rather than the federal model, have experienced in their start-ups.
I’m sponsoring a bill that changes the name of this committee to include the word “oversight” to be clear to all that the Legislature must remain engaged in the successes and failures of the exchange. While initially referred to as an implementation review committee, I believe we owe Coloradans more than just seeing the exchange open its electronic doors. The exchange has been the recipient of vast amounts of taxpayer dollars and it is most definitely a publicly created entity.
Because of those public-nature characteristics, transparency and accountability are imperative — as well as competency. There is much room for improvement in these areas regarding the exchange and its operations. The next open enrollment period begins Nov. 1 and many improvements need to be made before that deadline which will test the exchange’s functionality and viability.
In addition to chairing the health insurance exchange committee, I’m moving my own bills through the legislative process. Several of my bills made it through another step in the process last week, including the veteran fire corps bill, another bill modifying the conservation easement tax credit program to be more user-friendly and less costly, and a bill regarding the reporting and analysis of data on officer-involved shootings.
I’m also sponsoring a bipartisan bill to reform the way we change our state’s constitution by ballot initiatives. This bill sets up a two-year process for proposed constitutional changes. In the first year, proponents would submit their proposal and the necessary signatures to put it on the ballot. That year, voters would consider whether the proposal merited being on the ballot the following year.
If a majority of voters support the concept enough to vote on it a second time, then public meetings are to be held in each congressional district to comprehensively review the measure. If approved by a majority of the voters in the second year, the state’s constitution is changed to include the new amendment.
I’m expecting that we’ll have robust and possibly heated discussions on the bill this session. That’s not a reason to shy away from carrying such a measure, though, as Colorado’s constitution has been amended many times, sometimes with conflicting and fiscally unsustainable mandates. Our initiative process, originally intended to provide citizen empowerment, has been co-opted by how easy it is to access. Coloradans should take back this right meant for them, not for out-of-state special interests seeking constitutional amendments for their own gain.
Ellen Roberts represents Senate District 6 in Colorado’s General Assembly. The district encompasses Montezuma, Dolores, La Plata, Archuleta, Montrose, San Miguel, San Juan and Ouray counties. Contact Sen. Roberts by phone at (303) 866-4884, or by e-mail at [email protected].
