Pueblo lawmakers outline goals, priorities for upcoming Colorado legislative session

State legislators all spent some time at the Colorado Capitol in November during a special session and are now preparing for the upcoming regular session that will start on Jan. 10, 2024.

The Chieftain recently spoke with the legislators representing most of the areas in and around Pueblo, all of whom are preparing for their second full legislative session in January.

Here’s what they plan to work on and what they think about the political environment at the Capitol.

Nick Hinrichsen

State Sen. Nick Hinrichsen represents Colorado Senate District 3, which includes all of Pueblo County. He was appointed to replace state Sen. Leroy Garcia in February 2022 after Garcia left his elected position for a job at the Pentagon.

Hinrichsen said that one of his biggest priorities for the upcoming legislative session is making equal refunds under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights permanent, following up on temporary provisions he has backed in multiple years.

He is also working on a bill about fair cause for evictions, as well as formalizing consequences in state law for fraudulent electoral college voters. He said that some people in other states attempted to fraudulently present credentials that they were part their state’s electoral college contingent and that Colorado should clarify in statute that it’s a crime.

“If you attempt to cast (an electoral college vote) under deceptive circumstances, basically presenting yourself as somebody who is the elector chosen by the people of Colorado when you're not, it's fraud,” Hinrichsen said.

Hinrichsen said he is concerned about partisanship and divisiveness at the state Capitol among Republicans as well as Democrats, which is continuing to grow.

He hopes that legislators will be able to govern and craft laws, but he said he's “also out of tolerance for those who do want to make a spectacle rather than a work of governance.”

“My hope is that we can govern in a responsible and respectable manner, but if we don’t — if the minority of individuals who are not interested in respectable governance derail the process — I think it’s important that we address that and right it by whatever means required,” Hinrichsen said.

He said that he often disagrees with Rep. Ty Winter, for example, but they can work together on issues that affect people in southern Colorado “because there was nothing partisan about it.”

Tisha Mauro

Rep. Tisha Mauro’s House District 46 includes much of the city of Pueblo, the St. Charles Mesa and the southwestern corner of the county.

Mauro told the Chieftain on Dec. 20 that she did not yet have a definitive list of bills she planned to work on during the upcoming session, but she said she's working on a variety of bills that are “in the realm of helping government work and function better for the people.”

Mauro was also dealing with serious health issues during her first full legislative session, but she said she learned how legislators can work together in government.

“Others might think the government doesn’t work, and it was nice to know that it actually kind of does — we’re able to work together and get bills passed that help people,” Mauro said.

Two freshman legislators have resigned from their positions in recent weeks. Both said that a vitriolic atmosphere contributed to wanting to leave.

Mauro said that she feels “grateful” that she has not had the same experience as other legislators.

“I've been fortunate to be able to work with the other side, when I can,” Mauro said. “We oppose on issues and that's okay, that's how the system is supposed to be.”

Matt Martinez

Rep. Matt Martinez represents parts of Bessemer and the East Side at the state Capitol, but the Democrat from Monte Vista’s district spans the San Luis Valley and isolated communities in the eastern parts of the San Juan mountains.

Martinez said he is working on two bills that would connect Colorado with interstate compacts for social worker and cosmetology professional licenses, which would help people moving into Colorado who already have been licensed in other states. This would especially help military families relocating to Colorado from elsewhere, Martinez said.

Colorado legislators passed a bill in 2022 with some bipartisan support to join an interstate compact for licensed professional counselors.

Martinez said he is also working on revitalizing the state’s Regional Tourism Act, specifically for smaller cities and rural communities to get some grant funding from the state, and also working on a bill to establish a student success program for high school freshmen.

After a year at the Capitol, Martinez said that it still feels like “drinking from a firehose” sometimes, but he has learned a lot about the importance of engaging stakeholders in the bill creation process, which he said helped improve the quality of the bills he ran.

He said that he will continue to do what he can to do bipartisan work and that civil discourse is what voters would like to see.

“I don't think that anybody in Colorado wants to see the state legislature turn into Washington DC where we're not getting anything done,” Martinez said.

Ty Winter

Representative Ty Winter, a Republican, lives near Trinidad. He represents House District 47, which includes most of Pueblo West, the eastern half of the county and all of southeastern Colorado on the eastern side of the San Luis Valley.

Winter has a slate of bills that he’s planning to introduce during the legislative session, such as a bill to eliminate state sales taxes on products for babies and children such as cribs, formula and school clothing inspired by similar legislation in Florida.

He noted that the state has already passed a sales tax exemption for diapers and some menstrual products, but that Colorado should also help with more products for parents. The bill also includes a duty free holiday before the start of the school year for most other school supplies, akin to what New Mexico does. Winter said that could help parents save money amid inflationary pressures.

He is also planning on introducing a bill to strengthen trafficking laws, following the widespread success of the film “Sound of Freedom” this summer. His plans also include a bill for local governments to have more autonomy over burn pit regulation, as well as a bipartisan effort to revisit a bill that then-Governor John Hickenlooper vetoed in 2018 that seals autopsy reports on minors.

Winter would also like to pass a resolution following up on a bill passed last year expanding tax credits for electric vehicles and e-bikes to confirm that no child labor was used in the manufacturing process. He said that he hoped some Democrats would cross the aisle to support it after he proposed an amendment that failed during the last legislative session.

Winter said he has learned a lot since his first legislative session from driving around his district and talking to his constituents. He added that he has also formed good working relationships with some moderate lawmakers at the Capitol who are Democrats.

“But at the end of the day, my goal is to stand steadfast for the values of House District 47 and get some work done in that space," he said.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo lawmakers outline priorities for Colorado legislative session