Friends and neighbors,

May 8th was the final day of the 2023 legislative session. It was turbulent to say the least, but at the end of an incredibly challenging session, I’m proud to say we rose to meet the challenges facing the people of Colorado.

We prioritized Coloradans’ most urgent needs and made advancements in gun violence prevention, reproductive healthcare access, and lowering the cost of housing. Not only that, but we also made record investments in our K-12 public schools and made progress on many other issues, including improving our healthcare system, protecting our environment, reforming our criminal justice system, and expanding protections for renters. 

You can read more about our legislative achievements in the Colorado House Democrats’ 2023 end-of-session report. 

I played a part in supporting all of this work, but as you know, we all tend to specialize and focus on passing our own bills. This year, I continued to focus most of my energy on health care, energy, and tax policy. Here’s a rundown of the bills I sponsored this session.

SB23-303: Responsible Reductions in Property Taxes, and; HB23-1311: TABOR Refund Fairness

Sometimes, a piece of legislation must tackle several problems at the same time. And this set of problems was a doozy. 

First, rising home values are causing a huge spike in the property tax bills that homeowners, renters, and businesses will face at the end of this year. Second, our schools, fire districts,  libraries, and county services (including critical work like child welfare, human services, and public safety) have been facing major funding challenges for years. Third, right-wing groups have kept proposing draconian tax cut measures that would deliver property tax reductions at the cost of devastated public services.

We knew we needed a balanced solution that could help people and small businesses keep up with the cost of living but that wouldn’t destroy the critical services funded by property taxes. 
 
SB23-303 refers a measure to the November ballot that will deliver responsible reductions while providing state backfill funding to protect schools, fire districts, and other critical public services. If voters approve Proposition HH in November, the increase in residential property taxes will be cut in half, saving the average homeowner $1264 over the next two years. The increases facing businesses will also be meaningfully reduced. Senior homeowners who are eligible for the homestead exemption will receive a larger exemption than before, and their exemption will be made portable–that means that these seniors will be able to downsize and continue to receive their property tax exemption.

To ensure the state will have sufficient revenue to backfill revenue losses to local governments, Prop HH will also allow the state to retain an additional 1% of revenue above the TABOR limit. This is the pay-for, and is necessary to ensure that local governments are protected.

But lest you think this is not complicated enough, there’s more. There are two more big problems with cutting property taxes. First, the largest benefits go to people with the most expensive homes and businesses with the largest properties. Second, there’s no guarantee that landlords will pass along their property tax savings to renters.

As a condition for my support and sponsorship of this policy, I insisted on addressing these two problems. We did so in two ways. First, an amendment made on the House floor set aside up to $20M a year for rental assistance programs. Second, we made a one-year change to the distribution of TABOR refunds through a separate-but-connected bill, HB23-1311. Current law would distribute refunds based on a complicated formula known as the six-tier sales tax refund. This formula would give $454 to Coloradans with incomes below $50K and $1434 to Coloradans with incomes above $280K. HB1311 will send $661 refunds to everybody, which means a little bit more for everybody making less than $100K per year.

I won’t pretend this is simple or elegant, but I do believe we have found a reasonable and balanced solution that addresses the multiple problems we needed to solve with the bill. Voters will have a chance to read even more about it in their blue books before they cast their votes on Prop HH this November.

SB23-291: Addressing Rising Utility Prices

Coloradans have faced unprecedented utility bills, causing financial strain as many struggle to cover the cost of basic necessities. To address this issue, we established the Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates to investigate rising utility costs and possible policy interventions. The work of the committee informed the contents of the bill, which will lower utility bills by removing profit motives for utilities to build unnecessary gas infrastructure, smooth out unpredictable rate spikes, create a fairer utility rate-setting process, and prevent utilities from charging their customers for lobbying and advertising costs.

HB23-1167: Good Samaritan Overdose Law

Across Colorado, five people die each day from preventable overdoses. The Good Samaritan Law provides certain legal protections to incentivize people witnessing an overdose event to seek assistance rather than run from law enforcement. Unfortunately, a technical cross-reference error in last year’s big fentanyl bill rendered the law null. This bill restores immunity for all drug possession charges and expands immunity to people sharing small amounts of drugs among friends. This will save lives and ensure that the fear of criminal charges does not stop Coloradans from calling 911, staying at the scene of an overdose, and fully cooperating with law enforcement to try to save a life.

HB23-1244 Regional Health Connector Program

Colorado’s system of Regional Health Connectors plays a vital role in connecting healthcare providers with public health, social service providers, and community organizations to improve integration and coordination in our healthcare system. The nonprofits that manage these RHCs have been operating on shoestring budgets for several years since the initial federal grant expires. HB1244 will provide sustainable funding for the program into the future.

HB23-1225: Prescription Drug Affordability Board Update

Too many Coloradans struggle to afford the prescription drugs they need to stay healthy. In 2021, the Prescription Drug Affordability Board was established to limit the cost of the highest-cost prescription drugs. This bill strengthens the board by loosening restrictions on how many Upper Payment Limits the Board can set in its first three years and improving the criteria for selecting drugs for an affordability review. These changes will better allow us to address rising drug costs and ensure that patients can access the medications they need.

HB23-1226: Hospital Cost Transparency Update

Hospitals account for a significant portion of Colorado dollars spent on health care, but policy makers need a clearer picture of where those dollars are going. In 2019, I carried a bill that gave us a closer look at hospital finances, which informed some of the major policies we’ve passed to lower the cost of health care. This bill builds on this work to address gaps, increase compliance, and provide data to understand the financial health and performance of Colorado’s hospitals so we can continue creating policies that put people over profits and save Coloradans money on health care.

SB23-271: Regulation of Intoxicating Hemp Products

Many Coloradans enjoy and benefit from hemp products, which can take the form of everything from clothing to nutritional supplements like CBD. Because these products contain very low levels of THC–the intoxicating chemical in marijuana–they have been regulated differently from marijuana. 

But certain hemp manufacturers started concentrating and altering hemp products to produce highly intoxicating substances like Delta-8 and Delta-10 THC, which are unregulated and can be bought by kids at gas stations. Needless to say, this is a huge problem.

A task force met over the summer and fall of 2022 and came up with a set of recommendations that formed the core of this bill. Right off the bat, we’ll be banning the sale of synthetic cannabinoids and other highly intoxicating products. 

What was trickier was figuring out how to regulate “full spectrum” hemp products, which means unaltered extracts of the hemp plant which typically contain at least a 15:1 ratio of CBD to THC. There is some recent evidence that higher ratios of CBD to THC mitigate the intoxicating effect of the THC, but there is still concern that a kid might be able to buy a large package of CBD gummies and eat them all in order to get a high enough quantity of THC to get high. The bill sets limits on products that can be sold without an ID, and establishes new and robust labeling requirements.

SB23-176: Protections For People With An Eating Disorder

It is estimated that more than 30 million Americans will experience an eating disorder during their lifetime, but less than 20% will receive treatment. Unfortunately, weight is a significant barrier to receiving treatment, even though most people with eating disorders are not medically underweight. This bill prohibits Medicaid and state-regulated health benefit plans from denying treatment for an eating disorder based on a patient’s body mass index, ideal body weight, or any other standard requiring an achieved weight. The bill also prohibits the sale of diet pills for individuals under 18. 

HB23-1284: Modifications To The Property Tax Deferral Program

Colorado’s Property Tax Deferral Program provides a last-resort option for those who can’t afford their property tax bills. The program allows homeowners to postpone payment of their property taxes until a specified time frame, death, or transfer of property. The current law allows for unlimited deferral by seniors and active military, and a limited deferral for any other residential property tax payer. For seniors and active military families, HB1284 eliminates a prohibition on rental income, which will allow folks to rent out an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) on their property while still deferring their property tax bills. This is just one small step to help these folks keep up with the high cost of housing.

I can say a lot more about our work this year, but I’ll leave it here for today. I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue serving Colorado, and after a little bit more of a break, I’m planning to dive into planning the legislation I will sponsor in my 8th and final year as your State Representative.

Chris

We work a lot of long days during the legislative session, but I’ve never had such a streak of long days as I’ve had these past two weeks.

I’m starting to write this email from the House floor at 6:04pm on Saturday evening as we wrap up three straight days of debating a trio of bills to protect access to reproductive health care in Colorado.

We’ve worked the last 13 days in a row, and many of those days started for me at 4:00 or 5:00 A.M. and finished at 10:00 or 11:00 P.M. Tonight will be the 7th time I’ve missed my daughter’s bedtime, only seeing her for half an hour in the morning. It’s been really hard on my whole family, but you know what? 

It’s worth it.

It’s worth it because I know the work we’re doing this session will make our state safer and guarantee my daughter’s freedom to control her own body and be whomever she is meant to be.

Last weekend, it was guns. We passed bills to raise the age to 21 to purchase a firearm, allow victims of gun violence to sue firearms manufacturers and dealers for reckless practices, and expand the red-flag law that allows interventions when there’s a credible risk that someone may use a firearm to cause serious harm to themselves or others. Last month, we passed a bill establishing a three-day waiting period to purchase a firearm, and we will still be considering a bill to prohibit the sale of assault weapons in Colorado.

This weekend, it’s been about protecting access to reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, and gender-affirming care. Our three bills build on last year’s Reproductive Health Equity Act as follows:

• SB23-188 protects health care providers from adverse actions that could come from the abortion bans and anti-LGBTQ legislation being passed in other states. Some have called this a Shield Law because it makes Colorado a safe haven for legally protected health care. 
• SB23-189 eliminates copays and other financial barriers to accessing reproductive health care
• SB23-190 prohibits deceptive advertising by “crisis pregnancy centers,” some of which lure women to their facilities by suggesting they offer abortion care only to corner women and shame them. If an organization wants to help women find alternatives to abortion, that’s fine. They just can’t use false advertising to do it.

My descriptions of these bills simplify things a bit, but you can click the links above to learn a lot more about what they’re going to do to protect health care access in Colorado.

I just want to add one more thought today. During the debate on SB188, two of my colleagues got up to talk about their trans kids. One spoke about the journey of setting aside the movie that was in her head about what her child’s life would look like, and what it meant to just be there for her kid. The other spoke about how difficult it is to be a trans kid, and how she just wants to make sure her kid survives the 10th grade.

I cried my eyes out.

Maybe it’s because my best friend came out to me in 7th grade and struggled with her gender dysmorphia for years. That was 31 years ago now, in 1992, when Colorado voters passed one of the most discriminatory laws we had ever heard of: the infamous Amendment 2.

But I think it’s also because I have my own child now, and I don’t know what life holds in store for her. I don’t know who she’s going to love, and I don’t know who she’s going to be. All I know is that she’s perfect, and I’m going to do everything I can to give the the best possible life. I’m going to do that as her dad, and I’m going to do that as her State Representative.

And now I’m crying again.

It’s been a very long and draining two weeks. Thanks for reading my scattered thoughts. After a day of rest tomorrow, I’m going to get back at it on Monday morning as the House begins to debate the state budget.

Chris

I know the switch to Daylight Savings Time brings with it many problems, but there’s something about the first sunset of the year that happens after 7:00pm that just fills my heart with joy.

Winter in Colorado can be quite beautiful, but this one has felt long and cold. And it’s not just a feeling. Average temperatures across some of the last few months have been 10 degrees Fahrenheit colder than last year. It’s no wonder that people are using more energy to heat their homes, and paying much higher utility bills.

We have just passed the halfway mark of the legislative session, and big things are happening under the Golden Dome. The Joint Budget Committee is hard at work crafting a budget that will continue our progress on increasing our investment in K-12 education through buying down the BS Factor as well as responding to the many challenges facing Colorado families. We have begun to debate and pass significant legislation to prevent gun violence by establishing a three-day waiting period, raising the age to purchase a firearm to 21, expanding the use of our Red Flag law, and addressing our bizarre gun manufacturer liability laws. And on Thursday, we introduced a package of three bills designed to ensure women and pregnant people in Colorado continue to have safe access to abortion care.

Here’s a bit more on some of the things I’ve been spending my time on.

Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates

This winter, Coloradans have faced unprecedented utility bills that have strained their finances in an already tough time. That’s why we’ve established a special committee to dig deeper into what’s driving these costs. Because of my work in previous years to shore up funding for our bill-pay assistance and weatherization assistance programs, I was tapped to serve as Vice Chair of this committee.



It’s clear that the high costs are primarily being driven by our colder-than-average winter and the high prices utilities are paying to purchase natural gas on the commodity market. These gas costs are just passed through to customers without the utilities tacking on a profit margin, but at the same time, these utility companies are benefiting from record profits. So what’s the deal?

Most Coloradans buy their electricity and natural gas from utilities that operate as regulated monopolies. This concept emerged more than a century ago when it became clear that the heavy infrastructure investments required to provide utility service did not create opportunities for competition between multiple utility companies. So a deal was struck. One company would provide utility service, but they would face heavier regulation than the average business and be guaranteed a reasonable rate of return.

Last Tuesday, we heard very informative presentations from the Public Utilities Commission, the Utility Consumer Advocate, Energy Outreach Colorado, and the Colorado Energy Office. Tomorrow, we’ll be hearing from the utility companies themselves. Tune in here.

Making Health Care More Affordable

Two years ago, I sponsored a bill to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board in Colorado with the goal of setting an “upper payment limit,” or UPL, on some of the drugs that Colorado families are struggling most to afford. This year, I’m carrying a bill to update this law to expand the number of drugs for which a UPL can be set and make a number of adjustments to address issues that have arisen during the implementation of this innovative policy.

I have also been hard-at-work developing a bill to shore up Colorado’s system of Regional Health Connectors, which play a vital role in connecting health care providers with public health, social service providers, and community organizations to improve integration and coordination in our health care system.

I am also supporting bills to beef up two pieces of legislation I carried in 2019 around hospital cost transparency and hospital community benefit spending. And I’m supporting the work of my colleagues on numerous other bills to reduce cost and expand access in our health care system.

What else should I be focusing on right now? Reply to this email with your ideas or pop by my next town hall to discuss your concerns!

Chris

When Speaker Julie McCluskie addressed the House this morning, she asked all members entering their final term to stand and be recognized. There were only six of us, out of sixty five. 

So many of my colleagues who started this journey with me six years ago have moved on to the Senate, run for another office, or gone on to other pursuits. That means I’m one of the most senior members of the State House, which is strange to say the least. I feel like I just got here!

But then again, as I look back at all of the work we’ve done over this time, it’s amazing that we were able to do it all in only six years.

This experience has also given me a new perspective on the work. The same themes I talked about on my first campaign–cost of living, climate change, education funding, civil rights, and more–continue to resonate today. We’ve made tremendous progress in every category, but the amount of work that remains speaks to the ongoing challenge of governing. No problem is every 100% solved. Crises and other societal changes present new angles to existing challenges. A democracy requires constant maintenance.

The idealistic grad school student I was 15 years ago would perhaps be disappointed, but the reality is that we have indeed made big changes that have made people’s lives significantly better. And we have to keep making those changes, every year. As with so many aspects of life, in public service we must focus more on the journey than on the destination.

The journey that lies ahead this session is just starting to come into focus. Voters were crystal clear last November that they want leaders who roll up their sleeves and solve real problems, not ideological crusaders who are all noise and no substance. As such, they elected historically large Democratic majorities of 46-19 in the House and 23-12 in the Senate. 

I feel so honored that I will be serving as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives for my final two years as we take on the work with which voters have entrusted us. In this position, I will be helping guide the legislature in the great work of governing for all of the people of our beautiful state.

We are going to build on our previous work to make housing, health care, and child care more affordable. We’re going to address the pressing air quality concerns that are negatively impacting the health of our residents and the depletion of the Colorado River and other river basins. We’re going to invest as heavily as we can in K-12 and higher education. We’re going to do everything we can to reduce the scourge of gun violence that takes too many lives in this country every single day. And we’re going to make sure that Colorado remains a state where women know they can access abortion care without government interference.

There’s much more to talk about, and I look forward to sharing more with you in future newsletters and town hall meetings. Until then, thank you again for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime in four consecutive elections. This work is the most meaningful I’ve ever done, and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got for another two years.

Yours,
Chris

P.S. You may have noticed I’ve started officially using my new last name, deGruy Kennedy (pronounced like “degree” Kennedy). Kyra and I got married over two years ago, but I only made this change official after the 2022 elections. Guess I didn’t want to order new yard signs…