The Legislature “adjourned” last Friday, they officially use the Latin term “Sine Die” instead of “adjourned”. After this session where the Democrats just about all but destroyed Colorado, maybe they need to learn the Latin term for “Recall” (Google says it may be “Revoco”, but who trusts Google?!?).
If you like government growing, government telling you how to raise your kids, government telling you it’s not big enough and it’s going keep more of your hard earned money, government scheming to steal your guns (and your Constitutional Rights in general), government forcing a radical social agenda on you, government killing an industry, and then government using election laws to ensure the current people in power, will stay there – then you really liked this session, and you really like government. We The People are not big fans!
Let’s do a quick recap of what the Democrats did TO us, not FOR us. This is an abbreviated list, we will be adding to this over the next few weeks. Also, look for our list of Winners and Losers from this Session. Everyone else does one, so we’ll do one too – but of course, ours will be better.
2nd Amendment
If you haven’t heard of the Government Gun Confiscation Scheme called “Red Flag”, then you’ve been hiding in a cave. HB 19-1177 or specifically the “Extreme Protection Order” bill is pretty extreme. It was signed in to law on April 12.
Think of it this way, if a family member or law enforcement think you may be at “risk of causing personal injury to yourself or others”, they can sign some papers, a judge will use the lowest legal standard to review, and law enforcement can break down your door and steal your guns.
This is ripe for abuse. Think back in history to maybe the Salem Witch Trials, when false accusations were made, and people were burned at the stake – that didn’t go well.
Democrats forgot that it was ideas like Red Flag, that led to the recall of 2 and a half State Senators in 2013 (The half is Evie Hudak, she got scared and resigned before she could be recalled). Foreshadowing for 2019?
Parental Rights and The Extreme Far Left’s Indoctrination
We’re only going to focus on 2 bills here, but there were plenty during the session – the Devil is always in the details.
The Sex Ed Bill, officially the “Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education” bill or HB 19-1032, passed the legislature and we’re assuming the Governor loves this and will sign it. A lot of “Politicians” are claiming this bill was really watered down and that’s a “win”. Well, read the bill here and tell us what YOU think in the comments.
The bill is not “mandatory”, but if you look at Colorado school districts, they historically opt-in to all programs. This bill seems to be in line with the Left’s indoctrination via schools that’s already happening. Expect this “curriculum” coming to a school near you!
The other really, really, really bad bill that usurps parental rights was the forced immunization of your children also known as HB 19-1312. If you don’t vaccinate, you can’t attend public school (You know, those institutions where 75% of all students go), don’t forget about compulsory school attendance or that the Supreme Court held that public education is an entitlement for all citizens…and non-citizens.
Democrats (and 1 Republican) think they know better on what you should inject into your child’s body. This isn’t about being “Anti-Vaxxer” or even vaccinating your children, that should be YOUR choice. This is about parents making the choice, not the government.
It was killed, but it will be back next year – and they’ll be sneaky about it – so pay attention.
Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR)
Politicians like acronyms – they think it simplifies things. Really what it does is hide things, and acronyms are meant to fool the public. Think of the alphabet soup you hear about in Washington, DC (AKA The Swamp). Here, politicians want you to forget that TABOR is a set of rights you have as a taxpayer – it makes it easier to demonize TABOR.
Well, HB 19-1258 “Concerning The Allocation of Money That The State Keeps and Spends” is a sneaky way to gut your rights as a taxpayer. Most citizens don’t realize that TABOR restricts how quickly government can grow (in theory that is, the State Budget has still grown by a little over 30% in the last 7 years), and if the government collects more money than they’re allowed to spend under TABOR, they have to give it back to the citizens that earned it – AKA YOU!
This proposal allows the government to grow beyond the caps TABOR put on it (Remember how we said the State Budget already grows pretty quickly under TABOR). The proponents (all Democrats and 1 Republican), claim that the money will go to “Public Schools, Higher Education and Roads, Bridges and ‘Transit’”. The problem is the money that most of the government will now keep goes into something called the “General Fund”.
Without getting in the weeds here, you could substitute “Legislator (Politician) Slush Fund” for “General Fund”. So there are ZERO guarantees that this money will be spent on what they’re promising. It’s a good marketing gimmick to help sell this to voters. Remember all that marijuana revenue that was supposed to go to education under Amendment 64? Well, most of that money goes to things that are NOT education – so there’s precedent here.
We’ll be covering this through November, needless to say – JUST SAY (and vote) NO!
Energy and Control
The two biggies here are SB 19-181 that gives the Colorado Oil And Gas Conservation Commission carte blanche to regulate the Oil and Gas industry out of business in the name of public health (We’d say the bill almost mandates them to do so); and HB 19-1261 the “Climate Action Plan”, that sets “Greenhouse Gas” pollution reduction goals (and sets ours higher than California).
Pretty much if you think fossil fuels are a good thing, you like using your car, and making sure you don’t freeze to death in the winter is important, then you’ll really hate these bills. Democrats have this green religion, and we all must worship at the altar.
One of the most religious greenies is State Rep. Rochelle Galindo, and she probably made a big mistake voting against her constituents in Weld County. You know, that Weld county where almost their entire economy is linked to the oil and gas industry. What was that Latin term for “recall” again?
Elections
You know how a lot of dictators stay in power in countries like Venezuela? They suppress the voice and vote of the people. Of course you’ve heard of the quote often attributed to Joseph Stalin (the guy who killed a few million of his own citizens), “It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes”.
Mixed with a little Soviet Russian method of controlling who can speak, you get a synopsis of the onslaught of changes to election law this session.
We will be covering this a bit more in-depth, in the next few weeks – but we feel comfortable claiming the Democrats are trying to lock in their stranglehold on the Legislature and State-wide offices.
So that covers about 1% of the bills passed this legislative session – that’s pretty scary. Stay tuned, we’ll be covering the aftermath of this Session for the great citizens of Colorado.
Remember to check in with Colorado Citizen Press, and remember to contact our tipline with anything you would like to see covered.