Colorado’s House of Representatives on Monday passed House Bill 1232
, which aims to provide a lower-cost, higher-quality health insurance option for the individual and small group markets on the state’s health insurance exchange.
The measure cleared the House on a 40-23 vote.
Supporters characterized the bill as something needed to help more people afford health insurance and health care in Colorado, while opponents described it as something that will reduce access to care or even drive doctors and other providers out of the state.
“Today, the House passed historic legislation to save Coloradans and small businesses 18% on their health insurance and create a new choice for consumers,” Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, said in a news release announcing the vote. “For the Coloradans who avoid going to the doctor or hospital because they can’t afford health care, particularly for those who live in the mountains and rural Colorado where prices are so high, this bill is a giant
In May 2019, as Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly advanced a bill launching the state’s efforts to ensure a “just transition” for coal workers impacted by the shift to clean energy, Republicans were incensed.
In a tense, late-night floor debate over House Bill 19-1314, which created a new Office of Just Transition in the state’s labor department, Senate Republicans called the legislation “laughable” and “offensive.” It was an “insulting and egregious bill.” Senator Bob Gardner, a Republican from El Paso County, advised Democratic lawmakers traveling to the communities impacted by the bill to “leave town pretty quickly,” because “your welcome might be pretty short.”
State Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail, left, and Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, are both sponsors of House Bill 1232, which aims to create a new lower-cost, higher-quality health insurance option for the individual and small group markets on Colorado’s exchange. The bill cleared the House with a 40-23 vote Monday and now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Jerilee Bennett / The Gazette
, which aims to provide new lower-cost, higher-quality health insurance options for the individual and small group markets on the state’s exchange.
The bill passed the House on a 40-23 party-line vote.
Supporters argue it is something needed to help more people afford health insurance and access health care, and compensate care providers at a fair rate. Opponents argue it will inadvertently reduce access to care by driving doctors and other providers out of the state.
A state House panel on Thursday advanced a $15 million stimulus measure to put funding behind Coloradoâs plan to support workers and communities reliant on jobs in coal mines and factories as the state s energy economy transitions toward cleaner generation sources.
The funding in House Bill 21-1290 from House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Perry Will, R-New Castle, would represent the first real money pumped into the Office of Just Transitions. That office came about through 2019 legislation that called for creation of a transition plan to assist communities and workers whose coal-related industries and jobs are subject to significant economic transition.
The first of three new gun safety bills, in part a response to the March shooting at the south Boulder King Soopers, was approved on a party-line 7-4 vote by the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday evening.
But what a difference there was between the angry crowds that filled the Capitol over gun laws in 2013 compared to the hearing Wednesday.
House Bill 1298 would change state law on background checks for firearms transfers as well as close what’s known as the Charleston loophole that refers to the 2015 shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, which resulted in the murders of nine African American parishioners. The shooter obtained a firearm without a background check, because under South Carolina law the same as Colorado s if a background check doesn’t come back within three days, the dealer has to transfer the firearm to the buyer without it.