Recognizing legislative sponsors of CoPIRG-backed legislation in 2021

Every vote is important at the legislature. This year, CoPIRG released our 2021 Legislative Scorecard, educating the public on how their legislator voted on twenty-eight bills CoPIRG either endorsed or opposed in the 2021 session. 

However, some legislators played a particularly important role this session as bill sponsors. I want to emphasize the important role that sponsors play in Colorado. Legislators get limited bills that they are allowed to sponsor. A sponsor must present and defend the bill to their colleagues in committees and on the floor. They are bottomline responsible for shepherding their bill through the legislative process. Sponsoring a bill is not an easy task and I want to recognize and applaud the work of those legislators that sponsored a CoPIRG-backed bill this session. 

Legislators who sponsored three or more CoPIRG-endorsed bills in the 2021 session:

Senator Julie Gonzales – Senator Gonzales championed five CoPIRG-backed bills including policies to reduce plastic pollution, increase consumer protections around student loans, create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, reduce air toxics, and create a state Office of Financial Empowerment.

Senator Faith Winter – Senator Winter championed five CoPIRG-backed bills including policies to increase consumer protections around student loans, reauthorize Colorado’s utility consumer advocate, give local governments the ability to implement ranked choice voting systems, give RTD, the Denver region’s transit agency, more flexibility to provide quality transit service, and increase transparency and better governance standards for Colorado’s many local electric cooperatives. 

Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg – Senator Fenberg championed four CoPIRG-backed bills including reauthorizing Colorado’s utility consumer advocate, giving local governments the ability to implement ranked choice voting systems, reducing the pollution created when heating our buildings, and creating the Keep Colorado Wild annual state parks pass. 

Senator Rachel Zenzinger – Senator Zenzinger championed four CoPIRG-backed bills including adding $30 million to Colorado’s Safer Main Streets and Revitalizing Main Streets programs, creating the governing board necessary to move Front Range Passenger Rail forward, creating a transparent, online portal for the public to better track Colorado rule-making, and increasing transparency around the governing rules and budgets of special districts. 

House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar – Representative Esgar championed four CoPIRG-backed bills including reauthorizing Colorado’s utility consumer advocate, creating a state Office of Financial Empowerment, creating the governing board necessary to move Front Range Passenger Rail forward, and increasing consumer protections around how insurers can use our data. 

Representative Alex Valdez – Representative Valdez championed four CoPIRG-backed bills including policies to reduce plastic pollution, reduce air toxics, increase the energy efficiency of buildings, and reduce the pollution created when heating our buildings. 

Senate President Leroy Garcia – Senate President Garcia championed three CoPIRG-backed bills including reducing plastic pollution, creating the governing board necessary to move Front Range Passenger Rail forward, and helping to ensure our healthcare system is better prepared and staffed in times of crisis. 

Senator Kevin Priola – Senator Priola championed three CoPIRG-backed bills including adding $30 million to Colorado’s Safer Main Streets and Revitalizing Main Streets programs, increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, and investing in broadband deployment.

Senator Robert Rodriguez – Senator Rodriguez championed three CoPIRG-backed bills including adding new protections for consumers and merchants around credit card surcharges, securing the right of Coloradans to fix and repair our stuff, and increasing consumer protections and our ability to cancel memberships and recurring fees. 

Senator Chris Hansen – Senator Hansen championed three CoPIRG-backed bills including saving students money on textbooks by building out open educational resources, reducing the pollution created when heating our buildings, and closing loopholes that allow large companies to hide money offshores and avoid paying their fair share in taxes.   

Representative Matt Gray – Representative Gray championed three CoPIRG-backed bills including creating the governing board necessary to move Front Range Passenger Rail forward, giving RTD, the Denver region’s transit agency, more flexibility to provide quality transit service, and increasing consumer protections around student loans.

Representative Chris Kennedy – Representative Kennedy championed three CoPIRG-backed bills including giving local governments the ability to implement ranked choice voting systems, creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, and investing in broadband deployment.

There were a total of fifty-three Colorado legislators who sponsored CoPIRG-backed bills. In addition to the names above, the following legislators also sponsored one or two CoPIRG-backed bills:

Representatives: Lisa Cutter, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Jeni Arndt, Leslie Herod, Tony Exum, Kyle Mullica, Yadira Caraveo, Shannon Bird, Colin Larson, Brianna Titone, Steven Woodrow, Tom Sullivan, Adrienne Bennavidez, Naquetta Ricks, Mark Baisley, Julie McCluskie, Cathy Kipp, Andrew Boesenecker, Tracey Bernett, Meg Froelich, Mike Weissman, Emily Sirota, Kerry Tipper, Perry Will, Eddie Hooton, Hugh McKean, Judy Amabile, Marc Catlin.

Senators:  Larry Liston, Sonya Jaquez Lewis, Jeff Bridges, Dominick Moreno, Janet Buckner, Bob Rankin, Rob Woodward, Brittany Pettersen, Rhonda Fields, Bob Gardner, Kerry Donovan, Chris Kolker, and Don Coram.  

Thank you to these legislators for leading the way on a number of important public interest issues.