Priorities, progress mark 2006 session

From health care to education, bills addressed issues

Bill Scanlon, April Washington And Bernie Morson, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, May 9, 2006

When the governor and lawmakers launched the 2006 session back in January, they identified a half-dozen priorities.

Below is a summary of their progress.

Health care

For many health care officials, identifying the most important bill of the session is easy:

Smoking ban.

Starting July 1, Coloradans will be barred from smoking in bars, restaurants and most other workplaces.

But other progress was made on the health front.

Colorado is a long way from providing affordable health care for all, but work lawmakers did this year gives consumers a clearer picture of costs, quality and choices.

"It's been a session of good first steps - they got a lot done on transparency this year," said Ben Davis, spokesman for Colorado's Consumer Health Initiative.

Among the health-care bills that have become law, or have a good shot at becoming law, this year are:

• HB 1045: When consumers choose a hospital for themselves or a loved one - or when insurers choose a hospital to do business with - they'll now have an important extra piece of information about quality. HB 1045 requires that hospitals report their infection rates. That's a big deal, because nationwide, 90,000 people die annually from hospital-acquired infections, the Centers for Disease Control estimates.

• SB 44: Colorado adults who have no insurance will benefit from the $15 million in Referendum C money that lawmakers directed toward the Colorado Indigent Care Program. Much of the money will help neighborhood and small- town clinics care for adults who have no insurance and who who don't qualify for government aid.

• SB 213: Coloradans with health insurance should benefit from a measure that makes sure they don't get gouged on bills when, say, they go to an in-network surgeon, but happen to be assigned an out-of-network anesthesiologist. Many Coloradans are on plans that give them a discount if they use doctors that are in-network-approved providers. SB 213 says services provided by an in-network facility must get the in-network discount, even if a specialist is called in that is out-of-network.

• SB 198: Patients could see happier doctors next year, thanks to this bill that requires insurers to be transparent with doctors and nurses about what procedures they'll pay for and how much they'll reimburse. Doctors pushed for the bill, saying they've never been sure what the reimbursement is.

Immigration

Lawmakers locked horns over immigration bills all session, with Republicans and Democrats often accusing each other of not doing enough to address the issue.

After weeks of furious debate locally and nationally, lawmakers Monday gave final approval to a bill that stiffens penalties for "coyotes" who smuggle illegal workers for money.

Human smuggling is already a crime under federal law, but state law enforcement agencies and immigration critics say federal authorities haven't been tough enough on people who transport illegal immigrants in crowded vans and trucks.

Sponsor Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, said he thinks SB 206 is one of the few areas in illegal immigration where the state can act.

"It gives law enforcement a clear process they can take," he said.

Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, supported the human smuggling bill but, like the other successful measures, he wanted it to go further and have the passengers prosecuted too.

Immigration bills passed by lawmakers, but not necessarily backed by the governor, include:

• HB 1306: The state would be required to audit a 2003 law that limits the use of foreign identification issued by other governments, including Mexico's matricula consular.

• HB 1343: State contractors would have to use a federal database to check whether their new hires are in the country legally. Contractors or subcontractors who knowingly hire illegal immigrants could lose their contracts.

• SB 90 (signed into law): Denies state funds to cities that discourage or prevent police officers from working with federal immigration authorities. It also requires police to report any suspected illegal immigrant they arrest to federal immigration authorities.

• SB 207: Would make it a felony to sell adults into indentured servitude or prostitution. Currently, it's only illegal if the victim is under 16 years old.

• SB 225: Would create a new 24-trooper State Patrol unit to go after people who smuggle illegal immigrants or engage in human trafficking.

• SB 110: People making fraudulent documents used by illegal immigrants would be fined $50,000. It's now on the governor's desk.

Sex-abuse bills

Only one other issue rivaled the immigration debate in emotional intensity, and that was childhood sex-abuse bills.

Lawmakers looked at three basic measures that would increase churches' and nonprofits' exposure to lawsuits.

The intent was to allow people who say they were abused as children to bring lawsuits against their abusers and the abusers' employers, even if the incident happened decades in the past.

The most contentious of the three bills, House Bill 1090, died when the Senate failed to bring it up in the final hours of the session.

The bill, as it was finally amended, would give victims of sexual abuse unlimited time to file future lawsuits.

Under current law, alleged victims only have until age 24 to file a lawsuit.

The Catholic Church in Colorado is facing more than two dozen lawsuits alleging that church officials knew of sexual-abuse allegations against priests but failed to protect children.

Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, sponsor of one of the measures, said she wasn't targeting Catholics.

But she said victims deserve justice. "There's a need to have a cleansing of what may have gone on in the past, to let people have their day in court."

Pension reform

Gov. Bill Owens insisted that the state pension plan be fixed this session, and he threatened a special session if lawmakers didn't comply.

Last week, the governor and lawmakers pounded out a deal.

The 370,000 members and retirees of the Public Employees Retirement Association will give up 3 percent of their cost-of-living raises during the next six years to help cover the plan's $11.3 billion shortfall.

Also, retirement age for PERA members will rise by five years.

The governor also got a slightly smaller trustee board, with more appointees with more financial expertise.

Eminent domain

Eastern plains residents scored a victory when the governor signed into a law a bill that makes it more difficult for a private developer to take their land to build the "Super Slab" toll road.

SB 78, by Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, did away with a 19th century law that gave developers the right to condemn private property to build roads.

Private developers can still build toll roads, but the approval process is much more arduous.

Lawmakers began the 2006 session pledging to rein in the perceived abuses in the eminent-domain powers of private developers and government entities.

A developer's plan to use condemnation to build a 210-mile toll road along the Front Range angered many state residents. And then a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last June allowed governments to take private property for economic development.

This session, nearly a dozen measures had been introduced to address eminent domain, but SB 78was viewed as the most critical.

A handful of other eminent-domain bills survived:

• The governor signed into law a bill that requires private toll-road developers to file detailed site plans, outlining the path and complexity of the proposed project.

• A bill that would require developers of private toll roads to follow the same procedures and environmental-impact reviews that the state must follow awaits Owens' signature.

• A bill that would bar governments from taking land for private development and to boost sales tax is on its way to the governor.

The "lipstick measure," as named by some Republicans, would still allow eminent domain to be used in cases of blight, as long as the government presents "clear and convincing" evidence that the land is being condemned for public use.

Education

Students will have to stay in school until age 17 under a measure approved by lawmakers and awaiting a decision by Gov. Bill Owens. The current dropout age is 16.

"Every state that has expanded the mandatory attendance age has found that they have cut the rates of dropouts," said Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, the House sponsor of SB 73. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo.

As a result of several other bills, schools will see more than $200 million in additional funding:

• Special education received an additional $45 million, including $20 million pumped into the budget for this school year.

• An additional 2,000 children will be able to attend preschool at a cost of more than $5 million.

• Basic per-pupil funding - not including such sources as federal money or the special-education allocation - will increase by more than $200 during the next school year, from $6,167 to about $6,374.

In other action, Owens vetoed a measure regulating snack foods in school vending machines. He said the matter should be left to school boards.

Regulation of on-line schools - a hot issue among educators - was deferred until after completion of a legislative audit report due in early summer. The audit will examine the test scores of kids who take courses on line at public expense.