ON THE STATE LEVEL:
(without a Democratic Governor, many of these bills would not have been signed! The State Legislative Session begins in January of each year, and [except for special sessions called] is a short 120 days for our legislators to draft, review, and vote upon important laws for our state. Click the “How to Track a Bill” widget, on your right, to find info on our state legislature breakdown [Democrats and Republicans], length of terms, how to track a bill, etc. Click the “CLEAN” widget to find out about our Citizen Legislative Early Action Network, where you can learn how to track a bill, contact legislators, testify at committee and have a voice in our Colorado legislative process.)
• Recognizing civil unions for a good ten years or more, Colorado worked toward full marriage equality before the Supreme Court ruling in June of 2015.
• Common sense gun safety laws like universal background checks
• Expanding Medicaid to cover an additional 200,000 Coloradans
• Providing college in-state tuition equity for undocumented children (ASSET)
• Increasing road safety by issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants
• Implementing same day voter registration and universal mail-in ballots
• Protecting workers from wage theft
• Increasing the child care tax credit for working families
• Increasing the rural electric renewable energy standard to 20% by 2020
• Increased access to counsel and social services for juvenile offenders
• Enacting criminal and civil penalties for unlawful termination of a wanted pregnancy
• Increased small business assistance (technical guidance and small business development centers)
• Ensuring state government contract work creates Colorado jobs whenever possible
• Additional oil and gas inspectors and higher fines for violations
• An increase in affordable housing building incentives
• Expansion of the school breakfast and lunch programs for needy children
• Flood and Fire recovery bills for the state of Colorado (details)
ON THE FEDERAL LEVEL:
(Don’t buy the “false equivalency” argument. If President Obama hadn’t had to deal with an obstructionist, Republican controlled House and Senate, we would have made even more progress before trump was elected. Now we are tasked with Democrats blocking what damage — on all levels — the trump administration will attempt. It is therefore also crucial that Democrats win back a majority in our House in 2018 and take back the Senate in 2020. All of the Democratic accomplishments listed below, stand in jeopardy under the current administration.)
1. Health Insurance Reform, to recognize health care as a right, not a privilege and put a stop to the worst abuses by insurance companies including discrimination against people with pre-existing medical conditions. Now Democrats are tasked with blocking attempts to strip Americans of their healthcare, including dangerous cuts to Medicaid, affecting our poor, elderly and disabled citizens.
2. The Economic Recovery Act, to save and create millions of jobs and cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans.
3. The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, to make the largest investment in college aid in American history.
4. Wall Street Reform, to rein in reckless practices on Wall Street, end taxpayer-funded bail-outs and “too big to fail” institutions, and protect and empower consumers.
5. Extension of Unemployment Benefits, to extend benefits to millions of Americans who have lost their jobs in the Bush recession and to stimulate economic activity.
6. Cash for Clunkers, to jumpstart America’s auto industry and spur the sale of 700,000 new vehicles.
7. Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights, to ban the worst practices by credit card companies and provide tough new consumer protections.
8. Hate Crimes Prevention, to extend federal protection to people who are victims of violent crime because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
9. The Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, to save or create the jobs of 161,000teachers, and thousands of police officers, and firefighters while closing tax loopholes that encourage big corporations to ship American jobs overseas.
10. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to restore the rights of women and other workers to challenge unfair pay and help close the wage gap where women earn 78 cents for every $1 that a man earns in America.
11. Reinstated The Violence Against Women Act, first signed into law in 1994, continuing its emphasis on a coordinated community response to domestic violence that had not heretofore existed on the state and local levels.
12. The HIRE Act, to provide tax incentives for businesses to hire more Americans (4.5 million Americans have already been hired) and unleashing billions of dollars to rebuild highways and other infrastructure, and to crack down on offshore tax havens for the wealthy.
13. The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act, to boost the American economy and create jobs, expand the 1st time homebuyers’ tax credit, and enhance tax relief for small businesses.
14. The U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act, to help American manufacturers compete by temporarily suspending or reducing duties on materials and products which are not made domestically.
15. Children’s Health Insurance legislation, to provideaffordable health care coverage to 11 million children, who would otherwise gowithout coverage.
16. Tobacco Regulation, to have the FDA regulate the manufacture and marketing of tobacco, especially to children.
17. Budget Blueprint, to create jobs through investments in health care, clean energy, and education, reduce taxes for most Americans, and cut the Bush-deficit in half by the year 2013.
18. Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO), to bring back the Clinton-era rule that requires all new policies that reduce revenues or expand entitlement spending be offset over five and ten years and therefore not increase the deficit. This spending rule led to the record surpluses during the Clinton Administration.
19. Stem Cell Research, to end former President Bush’s ban on federalfunding for lifesaving embryonic stem cell research.
20. Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services, to provide help for those who provide care to disabled, sick, or injured veterans and improve health care services to women veterans.
21. Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ to end this outdated policy, contingent on the certification that military review was completed and that repeal would not impact readiness.
22. The American Clean Energy and Security Act, to create millions of clean energy jobs, bring about historic reductions in pollution that causes climate change, and reduce America’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil.
23. The DISCLOSE Act, to respond to the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United that threatens corporate takeover of our elections. The measure requires CEOs to stand by the political advertising funded through their corporate treasuries, expands disclosure requirements, and prohibits foreign countries from exercising influence in the funding of U.S. elections.
24. The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, to close tax loopholes that reward corporations for shipping American jobs overseas.
25. Jobs for Main Street Act, to create and save jobs through investments to hire more teachers, police officers, fire fighters, rebuild highways and mass transit systems, and boost small businesses.
26. Small Business Jobs and Credit Act, to establish a $30 billion lending fund to help community banks provide loans to small businesses.
27. The America COMPETES Act, to reauthorize this legislation that aims to create millions of American jobs in science and innovation while reasserting America’s economic and technological leadership throughout the world.
28. Response to the BP Oil Spill, to eliminate the $75 million cap on oil company liability, restore the Gulf Coast, increase safety requirements and oversight on offshore drilling, and protect local residents.
29. Home Star Jobs legislation, to incentivize consumers to maketheir homes more energy efficient, create 168,000 jobs, reduce energy bills for 3 million families, and reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil.
30. Presidential Action: Modernizing and Streamlining the U.S. Immigrant Visa System for the 21st Century
