View File
The Colorado Center on Law and Policy pursued an ambitious agenda during the 2014 General Assembly session to secure pathways from poverty for struggling families in Colorado. CCLP’s legislative priorities can be divided into two categories—our primary agenda and other significant poverty reduction bills we worked on and tracked through the legislative session. CCLP staff played a lead role on all nine of the primary agenda bills listed below, from conception of the idea all the way through final passage in both houses of the legislature, serving as the lead advocate on some, and building coalitions of supporters. All of these bills passed.
Primary Legislative Priorities |
||||
| Bill Number, Sponsors |
Title |
Summary |
Position |
Status |
| SB14-187 Sen. Aguilar Sen. Roberts Rep. Stephens Rep. Schafer | Colorado Commission Affordable Health Care | Creates a commission to study the principal factors that drive health care costs in Colorado, and it will recommend to the General Assembly solutions for reducing health care costs. |
Support |
Passed |
| HB14-1072 Rep. Pettersen Rep. Exum Sen. Kefalas | Income Tax Credit for Child Care Expenses | Provides tax relief for the poorest working families to help offset the high cost of child care. |
Support |
Passed |
| HB14-1085 Rep. Fields Sen. Zenzinger | Adult Education and Literacy Programs | Provides state support for adult basic education for the first time and requires adult education programs to connect students with job-training entities. |
Support |
Passed |
| SB14-012 Sen. Kefalas Rep. Exum | Aid to the Needy Disabled Program | Provides an eight percent increase in the monthly AND benefit and creates a pilot program designed to improve AND efficiency. |
Support |
Passed |
| SB14-050 Sen. Aguilar Rep. Moreno | Financial Assistance in Colorado Hospitals | Ensures low-income hospital patients are informed about the availability of financial assistance, and that hospitals comply with the minimum standards set in the Hospital Discount Program established in 2012. |
Support |
Passed |
| SB14-087 Sen. Ulibarri Rep. Fields | Identification Card Issuance Standards | Eases the legal process for a name change for people 70 and older, which will make it easier for some seniors to more quickly secure a photo ID. |
Support |
Passed |
| SB14-003 Rep. Pettersen Sen. Nicholson | Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, cliff effect | Provides funding for counties to test solutions to the cliff effect – the loss of all child care benefits when parents’ income grows slightly. |
Support |
Passed |
| HB14-1317 Rep. Duran Sen. Nicholson Sen. Kefalas | Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, improvements | Makes many improvements to the state’s child care assistance program, including lowering the cost of child care for the poorest working families and providing child care payment assistance for parents in workforce training or college classes. |
Support |
Passed |
| JBC bill | Long Bill, budget request | Funds Medicaid for pregnant lawfully present immigrant women and children in Medicaid and CHP+. This budget action provides benefits to lawful permanent residents who have had to wait 5 years before becoming eligible for Medicaid/CHP+. |
Support |
Passed |
