Lakewood legislators ready for challenges of 2018

Lakewood legislators ready for challenges of 2018

By Clarke Reader (January 16, 2018)

The 2018 legislative session is just getting started, and there’s no shortage of work to be done in the coming months.

Lakewood residents are facing the same challenges many metro area residents are dealing with — development, education funding, and transportation needs.

Finding affordable housing is an issue for middle-class residents, too, said state Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-28) — and that includes teachers.

“Our education committee is looking at dealing with our teacher shortage,” Pettersen said. “Our teachers aren’t able to (continue to) live in communities they live in on their salary.”

Rep. Chris Kennedy, D-23, said opioid addiction will be a serious issue for debate as the session progresses, and Sen. Andy Kerr, D-22, said the Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA), Colorado’s public-pension system, is more than $30 billion underfunded, and that needs to be addressed.

This year will also be the last session for Kerr and Sen. Cheri Jahn, I-20, who have had years to work for their constituents.

“I have loved governmental affairs and policy and would like to continue that work,” Jahn said. “Whether in the private sector, nonprofit arena or possibly governmental agencies.”

We spoke with Lakewood’s legislators about the session, what’s important to constituents, and legislative goals:

Read Representative Chris Kennedy’s responses here

Read full article at LakewoodSentinel.com

Majority House Dems unleash their first five bills

Majority House Dems unleash their first five bills

By Dan Njegomir (January 11, 2018)

Sure, there were all the opening-day rituals under the Dome on Wednesday — speeches, promises of bipartisanship and warm greetings among almost all of the 100 members, who insisted they were happy to see one another again. But then there’s the real business of the General Assembly: making laws (well, and killing legislation; plenty of that, too).

And the House Democratic majority got down to business the same day, releasing its caucus’s first five bills — enunciating some of their top priorities for the 2018 session. An announcement from the Dems’ press shop boiled it down to, “work-life balance, rural education, the opioid epidemic and college education credits.”

Or, as House Speaker Crisanta Duran put it:

“A major goal this session is to create more opportunities for Coloradans to turn their hard work into economic security. …These bills are part of a much larger agenda to preserve and enhance our Colorado way of life.”

Here’s the legislation — a lot of it with bipartisan sponsorship — as read across the House clerk’s desk:

  • HB18-1002/Reps. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, and Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale – Enables students in the final year of a teacher preparation program to receive stipends for teaching in rural school districts with teacher shortages. The first of several bills to address the rural teacher shortage.
  • HB18-1003/Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood – Authorizes grants for education, screening, intervention and prevention services to address the opioid epidemic, which is now the leading cause of accidental death among Coloradans 55 years of age and under. Part of a package of opioids bills from a bipartisan interim committee being brought by Reps. Pettersen, Chris Kennedy, D-Lakewood, and Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont.
  • HB18-1004/Rep. James Coleman, D-Denver – Extends a tax credit for donations to child care facilities to help increase the availability of quality child care providers in Colorado.
  • HB18-1005/Reps. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, and Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan – Expands notification to students and their parents about concurrent enrollment opportunities, so high school students can get a jump on their college educations

Read the full story at ColoradoPolitics.com

Open enrollment ending soon

It’s open enrollment season, and if you don’t already have health insurance, you can sign up between now and January 12th via Colorado’s health insurance marketplace, ConnectForHealthCO.com.

While there’s been much uncertainty about the future of health insurance, Colorado’s exchange has been seeing a record number of plan selections as well as a significant increase in the number of folks qualifying for financial assistance. While the federal government has recently repealed the individual mandate and canceled payments for the cost-sharing reductions (which reduce out-of-pocket expenses like deductibles), the advanced premium tax credit (APTC) is still fully funded for individuals and families with income between 138% and 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL). Individuals and families with income below 138% FPL qualify for Medicaid.

That means any individual with annual income below $48,240 or a family of four with income below $98,400 will receive assistance paying their premiums. Learn more at ConnectForHealthCO.com.

When more healthy people sign up, costs are shared more broadly and the system is more sustainable for everyone. Sign up soon and share with anyone you know who needs health insurance!

Even with premium assistance, we need to do more to address the unsustainable cost growth in our health care system. Learn more about what I’m working on here. 

Thanks,

Open Primary vs Party Caucus

Colorado voters passed an “open primary” law on the 2016 ballot, but there’s been some confusion about what all is changing. With competitive primaries for Governor and many other statewide and local offices this year, I thought I’d share some information to make sure all of you know how to participate.

Open Primaries
In Colorado, our primary elections are used to determine the major party nominees for the general election ballot. In 2018, our primary election is on Tuesday, June 26th and our general election is on Tuesday, November 6th.

With the passage of Proposition 108 in November 2016, there’s a new way for unaffiliated voters to participate in the primary elections. Previously, they could choose to affiliate with either the Democratic or Republican party up until 6:59pm on the day of the primary election, cast their ballot, and then go back to being unaffiliated the next day.

Now, unaffiliated voters do not need to change their party. Instead, they will receive two mail ballots – one with the Democratic candidates and one with the Republican candidates. They will be able to choose one ballot to complete and return.

Voters also passed Proposition 107 in 2016 which restored Colorado’s presidential primary. Learn more about both propositions in the 2016 Blue Book.

Party Caucuses & Assemblies
While the process for selecting nominees changed, the process for getting a candidate onto the primary ballot did not. Candidates must either collect petition signatures or go through a party caucus and be nominated at a party assembly.

This year’s Democratic and Republican Party Precinct Caucuses are on Tuesday, March 6th at 7:00pm. The caucuses are organized and paid for by the parties themselves and still rely on paper voter lists printed in advance, and that means that voters must be affiliated with a major party in advance if they want to participate. Same day registration/ affiliation for a caucus would require computers at every caucus site connected to the state voter database, and that’s just too expensive for the parties to handle.

If you’re already a registered voter, you will need to make sure your party affiliation is up to date by January 8th (60 days before caucus). If you’re registering in Colorado for the first time, you have a little more time and must register and affiliate by February 5th. Either way, you must be a resident of your precinct by February 5th.

If you’ve never attended caucus before, I highly recommend it. I’ll admit it’s more of a commitment than simply casting a ballot – you’ll need to dedicate the entire evening – but it’s a great way to meet people in your precinct and help determine which candidates go on to appear on the primary ballots in June.

Questions? Email me at chris@kennedy4co.com.

Amid opioid epidemic, six Colorado proposals could fight trend (Lakewood Sentinel)

Amid opioid epidemic, six Colorado proposals could fight trend (Lakewood Sentinel)

By Ellis Arnold (December 22, 2017)

When state Rep. Brittany Pettersen was a child, her day started with finding and hiding her mother’s keys, pouring out her alcohol and pills, and then going to school. She’d get home, and she’d do it all over again.

“It took me probably, maybe being 9 years old, to recognize that my mom was very different from most parents,” said Pettersen, a Democrat representing the Lakewood area.

She was concerned about her mom, but she didn’t know what to do.

Her after-school routine grew to include checking to see whether her mom was breathing.

Pettersen’s mom, Stacy, had an opioid addiction from the time she was about 33. After being overprescribed for her back pain, she developed a dependency that escalated to heroin use when another doctor cut her prescription. After several recent trips to the ER from overdosing, she finally asked for help — the words Pettersen said she waited 29 years to hear.

She was far from alone in her fears. Colorado saw 108 opioid-related deaths — involving prescription drugs, heroin or both — in 1999, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment.

In 2016, in that same category, the state saw a death count of 504.

Now, Colorado legislators are putting forth six bills to make sure opioid substance abuse doesn’t progress that far. Spearheaded by Pettersen, the Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Interim Study Committee aims to tackle the problem from all sides: in the medical world, the law-enforcement field, the health-care industry and — perhaps most directly — where people inject drugs.

Read the full story at LakewoodSentinel.com

2018 Session Priorities

2018 Session Priorities

This is a challenging time for our country with a great deal of uncertainty about the future of federal policy, but here in Colorado we must keep moving forward. Our economy is booming, but our rapid growth and high cost of living are making it difficult for hard-working, middle class families to stay afloat. I will be focusing most of my energy this upcoming session on affordable health care and affordable housing.

I will also be working together with my colleagues on a variety of other big priorities including strengthening our public education system, accelerating our transition to renewable energy, investing in transportation and broadband infrastructure, protecting the equal rights of all our people, addressing the sustainability of our public employee retirement system, and working to eliminate sexual harassment from the workplace. It’s going to be a busy session!

Affordable Health Care

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, we’ve made great progress on expanding access to health care. Now it’s time to get serious about controlling costs. In June, the Colorado Commission on Affordable Health Care concluded three years of work and issued its final report on what’s been driving the cost increases. Unfortunately, part of their conclusion was that we don’t have enough data to really know. That’s why my #1 priority is to increase transparency in health care spending. I am sponsoring a bill (again) to require our hospitals to submit more data to the state so we can analyze both price and utilization trends and identify changes to reduce costs. I am also supporting a similar bill to increase pharmaceutical cost transparency.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen free-standing emergency departments spring up all over the Denver metro area. Sure, these facilities increase access to emergency services, but at what cost? Consumers are often faced with surprise out-of-network bills and the high operational costs are passed along to the rest of us in our increased premiums and deductibles. I am working with a bipartisan group of legislators on a trio of bills that will improve disclosures to patients, better track expenses, and create a more appropriate license type that comes with more appropriate regulations for these facilities.

Lastly, I will be continuing the work we started with the opioid interim committee to pass a package of six bills to address Colorado’s opioid epidemic by improving prevention education, limiting prescriptions, removing payment barriers in our insurance and Medicaid systems, and more.

Affordable Housing

Growth. It’s happening, and it’s our job to make sure it happens responsibly. That means investing in transportation infrastructure and protecting our open spaces and public lands. Most of all, it means incentivizing and requiring the inclusion of a significant number of affordable units in new construction projects. We must also improve renters’ rights, and I’ll be (again) sponsoring a bill to limit rental application fees to the actual costs so that landlords aren’t profiting by taking applications for units they never intend to lease.

Last but not least, I am taking a hard look at various senior tax exemptions and credits and exploring ways to reform them to give more support to seniors who own or rent so they can stay in their homes.

Download a printable version of these priorities here.

Colorado Dems Call On Gardner to Fight for CHIP Program

Colorado Dems Call On Gardner to Fight for CHIP Program

CO House Democrats Press Release, December 11, 2017

53 Democratic members of the Colorado General Assembly sent a letter to Senator Cory Gardner urging him and his colleagues to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The Republican-controlled Congress failed to reauthorize the vital CHIP program before funding expired this past September, putting nearly 9 million children across the country at risk of losing health care.

“75,761 Colorado children and expectant mothers depend on the program for health insurance. It is unacceptable that despite broad bipartisan support for reauthorizing this critical program, it has languished for months in the Senate,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Senator Gardner, you have said that you support reauthorization of the program, and co-sponsored bipartisan legislation with Senator Bennet to reauthorize CHIP,” the letter continued. “That support is hollow if you and your Republican colleagues do nothing to advance the legislation. As an influential member of Senate leadership, our expectation is that you would zealously advocate for Colorado’s priorities to become the US Senate’s priorities.”

“Instead of passing tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-wealthy, Congress should be working to provide relief and security to the thousands of Colorado children and hardworking families who depend on the vital CHIP program,” said Speaker Crisanta Duran (D-Denver). “There’s no more time to waste. Congress has to prioritize CHIP now.”

“Senator Gardner just voted for a GOP tax bill that adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit in order to cut taxes for the 1% and corporations — that’s enough money to extend CHIP for the next 937 years,” said Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman (D-Denver). “There is absolutely no excuse for anything less than a full-throated defense of the CHIP program. The health of tens of thousands of Colorado children depends on it.”

The full letter can be found here.

6 Bills on Runway to Address Opioid Epidemic

6 Bills on Runway to Address Opioid Epidemic

CO House Democrats Press Release, October 31, 2017

The legislative Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Interim Study Committee voted today to move forward with a six-bill package of legislation that seeks to prevent opioid addictions, intervene early when possible and make sure people seeking help are able to get the help they need.

Today’s votes, with strong bipartisan support, put the six bills into the pipeline for consideration during the 2018 legislative session. Included are bills to:

  • Create training programs for health professionals, law enforcement, and at-risk communities for safe opioid prescribing, medication assisted treatment, and overdose prevention.
  • Limit most opioid prescriptions to a seven-day supply for acute conditions and mandate that medical professionals check the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program database before writing prescription refills.
  • Create a pilot project for a supervised injection facility in Denver. Like needle-exchange programs, data show that SIFs do not increase the use of illicit drugs, but do reduce the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C while increasing referrals to medical and/or substance abuse treatment.
  • Expand the Colorado Health Service Corps program, which includes loan repayment and scholarship programs for medical professionals who commit to working in underserved areas where substance abuse is more likely to go untreated.
  • Significantly increasing access to residential treatment to qualifying individuals with substance use disorders.
  • Improve “prior authorization” standards to ensure that insurance companies and Medicaid give timely approval for medication-assisted treatment so patients with substance use disorders don’t go back to opioids while waiting for approval to begin their treatment. The bill also makes sure pharmacists are able to administer certain kinds of medication-assisted treatments and reduces copays for physical therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic alternatives to narcotics.

Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, the interim committee’s chairwoman, noted the five committee hearings, three task force meetings and numerous stakeholder meetings that produced bipartisan consensus around the six bills.

“All of us know somebody affected by addiction; I had no idea how broken our system was until my mom was begging for help and there were no options available for her,” said Rep. Pettersen. “I am incredibly proud of the bipartisan work we have done through this interim committee to lay a foundation for addressing this epidemic, and to close the gaps faced by people who are trying to move toward recovery.”

“We are making meaningful steps forward to prevent opioid addiction and facilitate access to treatment,” said Rep. Chris Kennedy, who also sits on the interim committee. “But this is just the beginning, and we’ll continue working hard on this issue for many years.”

“I’m proud of how Democrats and Republicans put politics and personalities aside to do the right thing for everyday Coloradans struggling with addiction,” said Rep. Jonathan Singer, who also sits on the interim committee.

http://www.cohousedems.com/archives/11762

A few related stories:

 

Lawmakers Contend With Colorado’s Skyrocketing Individual Health Costs (KUNC)

by Bente Birkland (October 24, 2017)

A group of Colorado lawmakers are working to lower health insurance premiums for residents on the individual market created in the wake of the Affordable Care Act. Rates are predicted to rise 34 percent on average next year. There are concerns that healthy people will opt out of coverage and that could cause rates to rise even higher as the insurance risk pool thins out…

At the state level, both Democrats and Republicans are discussing a proposal that would reimburse insurance companies for high-cost patients. They hope it will help lower premiums for everyone and free up more federal money for the state. Democratic Rep. Chris Kennedy of Lakewood may sponsor the legislation, but said it’s still being fleshed out.

“If we don’t figure out how to pay for it, it may or may not be worthwhile, Kennedy said. “I think we’re still investigating that question of, do we have the money? Is this kind of program worth the savings we could achieve?”

Read the whole story at KUNC.org.