Opening day speeches

Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Following are the texts of the opening day speeches as prepared for delivery Wednesday by House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, and Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs. The actual speeches strayed at times from the scripts below.

Also included here is the verbatim transcript of the rousing prayer delivered to the Senate by Rev. Regina Groff, the wife of Sen. President Peter Groff, prior to her husband being elected the first black Senate president in Colorado history.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff:

Let me begin by congratulating our newest members, Representatives Mark Ferrandino and Christine Scanlan. We look forward to serving with each of you.

I would also like you to welcome my mother to the chamber.

Thank you for allowing me to share some thoughts with you on this occasion. This is the fifth year I've had the privilege – it's also the last.

Representatives Borodkin, Garcia, Hodge, Jahn, Madden, Marshall, Stafford, White and I came in together – and we're going out together. Congratulations to each of you.

Today I want to tell you a story. It's not a story with a lot of characters in it. We're going to have plenty of those stories in the months ahead. We'll be talking about the 12,000 students who drop out of Colorado's high schools each year, the 107,000 Coloradans who don't have jobs, the 792,000 who don't have health insurance.

This morning I want to focus on just one person. A child, to be specific. A baby.

Some 70,000 babies will be born in Colorado in 2008 – enough to populate a House district.

This little fellow was one of the first to arrive. His name is Wyatt James Sheets. He was born on New Year's Day, at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs. He weighed in at 6 pounds and measured 18½ inches long.

Wyatt showed up four weeks ahead of schedule. His parents live in Colorado Springs, but they spent the holidays on the Western Slope. Wyatt's mother began having contractions during a New Year's Day service at the Rocky Mountain Baptist Church in Rifle, where her father-in-law is a pastor. I think Wyatt was just in a hurry to make good on his father's wish – that he become a NASCAR driver (His dad wanted to name him Dale, as in Earnhardt, but he lost that argument.)

Wyatt's father, James, is an Army mechanic at Fort Carson. He served two tours of duty in Iraq, where he drove a tank with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Wyatt's mother, Alicea, directed an after-school program and takes care of their three daughters. Wyatt's sisters helped decorate his room and pick out his crib. His oldest sister, Ashley, even said she thought it was "cool to have a little brother."

James and Alicea want what all parents want – a better quality of life for their children. They want Wyatt to get the best education in the world. They want a doctor or a nurse to care for him when he gets sick and to help make sure that he stays healthy. They want Wyatt to live a happy and rewarding life.

James and Alicea have high expectations for their son – and for the state in which they plan to raise him. But for Wyatt to fulfill his potential, we have to fulfill ours.

Wyatt's well-being will depend on the decisions that James and Alicea make in the months and years ahead. In the long run, his success will hinge on the decisions that he makes for himself.

But the quality of Wyatt's life will also rest on the decisions that we make here, in this chamber, this year. We're not his parents; nobody can take their place. But we can make it easier for James and Alicea to prosper and for Wyatt to thrive. That's what I want to talk about this morning.

Let's fast forward a few years. It's 2011 or 2012, and Wyatt is old enough to start preschool. Whether he does is a choice his parents will have to make. But right now, you and I have a choice to make as well. Let's make the right choice. Let's say yes to high-quality preschool and full-day kindergarten.

Early childhood education is one of the single most effective investments we can make. Let's help more parents like James and Alicea give their children a smart start on school.

By 2014, Wyatt will be old enough to start first grade. Most of the teachers he'll have then have already been hired or are being recruited right now.

We need to do a better job of training, retaining and rewarding high-skilled teachers, especially those who agree to work in the schools, with the students, and in the subjects that present the greatest challenges.

Let's equip our teachers with the tools they need – the time, the training, the technology – to give Wyatt a world-class education. Let's put a top-flight teacher in his classroom, and in every classroom.

Of course, even the best teacher in the world will find it tough to teach in a school that's falling down. Wyatt deserves a learning environment that is safe and healthy and educationally enriching – not a building where the roof is caving in or the floorboards are so rotten that they can't even hold up his desk. Yet students are going to back to school this week in buildings just like that, especially in rural Colorado – in the San Luis Valley and the Arkansas Valley and the Eastern Plains.

That is fundamentally unacceptable in a state as affluent as ours. Dozens of factors will affect Wyatt's ability to get a good education, but his zip code shouldn't be one of them.

It's time for the BEST plan – to Build Excellent Schools Today, schools designed not for the 19th century or the 20th century but for Wyatt's century, the 21st century. This plan will allow us to meet our schools' most critical health and safety needs. I want to thank Treasurer Kennedy for helping us identify nearly $1 billion in state and local resources. This will be the most significant investment in school construction since statehood.

It's a little too soon to ask Wyatt what he wants to be when he grows up. But here's one thing we do know: What he earns will depend on what he learns.

The workforce Wyatt enters 20 or 25 years from now will face stiff competition not just from other states but from other countries, too. We should prepare Wyatt to meet the demands of a global economy. He'll need more than a high-school diploma. He'll need some form of higher education – whether that means vocational training or an advanced degree.

Let's keep the cost of college within his reach. Wyatt and his classmates should be able to get a good education even if their parents aren't very well off. In our country, where you come from shouldn't dictate where you end up.

Wyatt may be a long way from joining the workforce, but there are some steps we can take right now to strengthen the economy that awaits him. First, we should continue to invest in our infrastructure. Wyatt shouldn't have to spend all of his money fixing the roads and bridges that you and I neglected.

Second, we should support homegrown industries like aerospace, bioscience and renewable energy – industries in which Colorado is already gaining a competitive edge.

We should make sure there are plenty of good jobs for Wyatt to choose from – whether he farms wind or wheat, pilots a jet or peers into a microscope.

Third, we should simplify our tax code, so that Wyatt's employer doesn't have to hire an army of accountants just to do business here. And as for our smallest employers – the 45,000 entrepreneurs who form the backbone of Colorado's economy – we should spare them the burden of the business personal property tax once and for all.

There's one other step we should take to shore up Wyatt's financial future – and that is to save for a downturn. Even in a state as sunny as Colorado, a rainy-day fund makes good sense.

We've talked about helping Wyatt get a smart start, a top-flight teacher, and a safe place to go to school. We've talked about his prospects for college and for work. But more than anything else, what will enable Wyatt to live a long and productive life – the top priority of every parent – is his health.

If Wyatt had been born in 1908, he would have been lucky to live past the age of 50. That was the average life expectancy in America a hundred years ago. Babies born in the United States today can expect to live 78 years or more. Wyatt's parents hope that he'll live to see the 22nd century.

Wyatt is lucky to have been born in the most prosperous nation on the face of the earth. America's medical facilities and services are among the finest in the world. What we need to figure out, as a state and as a nation, is how to make those services available to Wyatt and his parents, at a price they can afford – and how to help them stay healthy enough to avoid having to go to a hospital in the first place.

Those are some of the questions we're going to answer over the next four months. But there are several steps we should take right now.

First, we should cut the cost of health care. Administrative expenses eat up as much as a quarter of every health-care dollar.

We can get a much bigger bang for our buck. We can save more than $100 million just by standardizing ID cards and claim forms, streamlining the processes we use to verify eligibility and credential providers, and simplifying procedures for prior authorization and appeals.

When Wyatt was born, his condition, his progress and his test results were all recorded on paper. Valley View Hospital is still developing an electronic information system. We can save money and reduce the risk of medical errors – without compromising Wyatt's privacy – by bringing more of our hospitals into the 21st century.

Second, we should reduce the ranks of the uninsured. Wyatt's family has health insurance. But one out of every six people in this state doesn't. The average family in Colorado will spend $1,000 this year treating the uninsured.

Here's one point I hope we can agree on – every child should have health coverage. Children without insurance are 10 times more likely to miss out on the immunizations and check-ups they need to stay healthy. Uninsured children are more likely to get sick. They are more likely to stay sick. And they are more likely to die. Let's end this debate and cover our kids.

Third, we should put a premium on prevention. The emergency room ought to be a last resort, not a primary source of care. We should give Wyatt and his parents every incentive to stay healthy – and to exercise personal responsibility. Let's reduce their premiums if they curb their cholesterol, lower their blood pressure, or quit smoking. Let's minimize their co-payments for preventive care and chronic-care management. Let's encourage them to take advantage of health and wellness programs.

The last – and in some ways, the most important – step we can take to improve Wyatt's health is to protect his environment. The more we contaminate Colorado – the more we foul our air and pollute our water – the more we diminish Wyatt's quality of life.

We can do better. We can restore the health of our forests and replenish our rivers. We can help our ranchers and farmers hold on to their lands for future generations. And – this is key – we can find new and more efficient ways to heat our homes, fuel our cars, and power our economy.

Greenhouse gases pose the most serious threat to Wyatt's environment. If we don't acknowledge and attack the causes of global warming – if we don't become, in Governor Ritter's words, more "stubborn stewards" of this fragile planet – we will jeopardize Wyatt's chances of surviving on it.

Now some folks will try to trick James and Alicea into believing that they have to choose between a high standard of living for themselves or for their son. That's a false choice. When it comes to energy, James and Alicea do have choices to make – and so do we. But these choices won't enslave Wyatt's family or bankrupt their budget. In fact, our new energy economy is already creating thousands of new jobs.

We don't have to savage the economy in order to salvage the environment. Quite the opposite: we can sustain both.

For James and Alicea, that means conserving more energy. It may even mean generating their own.

For us, it means providing rebates, loans and credit for those who produce renewable energy, and removing the barriers that stand in their way.

For Wyatt, it will mean a cleaner, greener place to call home.

In the end, what James and Alicea want – what Wyatt deserves – is a shot at the American Dream: the chance to enjoy a solid education, a steady job, a safe and healthy place to live and grow up. That's not too much for them to expect, and it's not too much for us to deliver.

There may be some distant corner of the earth where it is considered acceptable for children to languish without those opportunities. There have certainly been such times in our nation's history. But not here, not now, not in the 21st century.

By the time Wyatt reaches the ripe old age of 42, this century will be half-over, or half-begun. Colorado will be home to nine million people – four-and-a-half times as many as there were when I was born, 42 years ago.

What will become of Wyatt, of James and Alicea, and of all the people lucky enough to live here in the year 2050? That's mostly up to them. But for the next 120 days, it's also up to us. Let's get started.

House Republican Leader Mike May, R-Parker

Mr. Speaker, Madam Majority Leader, esteemed colleagues and honored guests.

This is welcome back for most of us, but a special welcome to the new members joining us in this chamber for the first time: Representative Mark Ferrandino and Representative Christine Scanlan.

We also eagerly await the safe return of Representative Joe Rice from Iraq upon completion of his current tour of duty, and look forward to the arrival of Representative-elect Douglas Bruce upon completion of his leisurely drive north from Colorado Springs.

Serving as elected representatives is a sacrifice that takes time and dedication. For all of the long days and late nights that you will be sitting here in this chamber, away from your families, I would like to thank you in advance.

Last year, the Speaker and I both started with a short history lesson. I'm sure you'll be glad to hear I'm skipping that part this year.

Instead I want to talk about the future, and not just the next 120 days.

We have a duty as elected officials to address the issues that matter to our constituents. But our duty goes beyond just that.

We have an obligation to do so in a way that creates a better future for our children. The citizens of this great state cannot afford to solve every problem through tax and fee increases. That creates problems of its own - particularly for future generations.

While this is a political year, it shouldn't be a political session. We're eager to work across the aisle in an effort to make practical solutions real for the benefit of Colorado.

Gov. Bill Ritter has said that party labels should not stand in the way of good policy. We agree.

In education, our goal is clear: We must raise the bar.

In a December speech, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donohue, spoke of five core ideas for education reform:

* Changing the way we train, pay, and evaluate teachers

* Giving administrators greater independence to run their schools

* Collecting more data to accurately measure results such as teacher performance

* Implementing more rigorous academic standards and

* Focusing on innovation and evaluation

As Republicans, we embrace these ideals. We will work to ensure Colorado's students can compete in a global market. We have set high standards and achievement is increasing.

But, Colorado is at risk of losing its way on education.

Approximately 1 in every 4 of Colorado's 9th graders will not graduate from high school in four years. Those who do graduate are often unprepared for college or the workforce.

We cannot afford to lag behind as the rest of the world races ahead. The world will not stop and wait while our students catch up.

We must, and we can, do better. Republicans are committed to creating Colorado schools that are accountable, demanding, innovative and focused on achievement.

We are proposing higher standards, more options for parents and students, rewards and incentives for quality teachers, and improvements to make our schools safer.

As Gov. Bill Ritter said last month regarding education, "The cold hard truth is that we need to do things differently in order to do them better."

Our proposals would mean significant reform for public education to improve upon a system we all support.

Higher education presents a unique challenge in Colorado because of our current funding structure.

We want to dedicate to higher education a portion of the proceeds from the responsible development of Colorado's natural resources.

But first, we must tie funding to performance. This will give taxpayers the assurance they deserve that their higher education dollars are being put to good use.

Higher education is a privilege that we have pledged as a state to support. We should honor that commitment, and work to make it better by allowing taxpayers to evaluate what they are helping to support.

Again, real solutions for challenges, without raising taxes or fees.

When it comes to illegal immigration, states and local communities are left to face the consequences of inaction at the federal level to secure our borders.

If there are two priorities we should all be able to support regarding illegal immigration, it is the need to uphold public safety and the need to safeguard our voting process.

There is no excuse for not doing all we can do to keep our streets safe from lawbreakers who aren't even supposed to be in our country.

We also have a duty to our citizens to preserve one of the most cherished rights of American citizenship: the right to vote. This right should not be extended to those who are in the country illegally, nor eroded through lack of vigilance.

Just as that right is denied to illegal immigrants, it must be preserved for our citizens.

With elections rapidly approaching, this body will be called upon to ensure that our election equipment is ready and that our system is secure.

We look forward to a bi-partisan solution that ensures that every one who is entitled to vote can vote, and that all votes are counted.

Looking around this room, you see representatives, staff and guests from all around the state.

We all benefited from a taxpayer-funded transportation system that built roads and bridges across Colorado.

A healthy transportation system is vital to a strong economy, a strong business community and a high quality of life. But, our system is in need of attention.

Local streets are funded by taxpayers around the state and our budget formula makes roads and bridges a last priority. Our plan would fix these problems by restructuring the highway system and making transportation a higher priority.

Until we do that, any discussion on alternative funding sources is premature.

We can, however, make sure that we are no longer leaving transportation funding until the end of the line.

Last year, Coloradans paid almost 300 million dollars in taxes on auto-related purchases. It only makes sense to ensure that revenue is spent on maintaining and enhancing Colorado's roads and bridges – steering a better course for transportation in Colorado.

When it comes to the environment, we all want to do what we can to create a safer and healthier place to live for our children.

While some special interest groups would like to see budget-breaking handouts, we want real solutions.

Through our proposals, we will empower businesses and citizens. We will remove red tape and offer incentives to promote responsible environmental stewardship.

We want to preserve our state parks by keeping them maintained and to protect our state forests by waging war on the mountain pine beetle.

We also have several proposals to bridge the gap between our current energy economy and our new energy economy.

We all care about our environment. Our proposals will make it easier for individuals and businesses to do what's right for our environment.

One of the most important issues we will face this year is health care.

Our health care system is far from perfect, but it is still among the best in the world. We cannot, and should not, dismantle that system in an effort to improve some of its deficiencies.

And certainly we should not entrust our health care to an inefficient and unsympathetic government agency.

We recognize there are serious challenges to expanding access to health care, particularly for children of parents with limited income and for those who live in the rural parts of our state. We are eager to address those challenges.

We applaud the hard work of the "208 Commission" and look forward to exploring some of their best ideas. However, to do the most good, we must learn from the mistakes of other states and work within our current world-class system.

Our proposals focus on wellness, prevention and affordability through decreased government interference and through increased options.

Through our proposals, we can help reduce the number of uninsured in Colorado, without asking the 85 percent of Coloradans who currently have health insurance to jeopardize their health plans.

We are proposing real health care solutions that don't place unnecessary mandates on individuals or businesses and require no new taxes.

Our goal is to expand free market health care choices and to return to Colorado families the power to make their own health care decisions.

Of course, our discussions on these issues depend to a large extent on the restrictions and mandates that are currently in our state constitution.

Our guiding document, unlike the cherished U.S. Constitution, has become a collection of ideas designed to solve some of yesterday's problems, rather than an expression of ideals to guide the future.

Many of those ideas were born of citizen frustration with the legislature's failure to act on significant issues of the day. The unintended consequences of these constitutional fixes have resulted in some bizarre requirements that seem to defy the laws of economics. For example, it makes little sense to simultaneously limit government expansion while mandating increased government spending.

There has been some discussion of asking the voters to approve a temporary suspension of the single subject rule, to give the legislature an opportunity to take a broader look at this problem.

First, however, we must agree as a body on the parameters of our discussion. It would be unreasonable for us to expect voters to sign an open-ended permission slip to tinker with the state's founding document.

And because it is a rare government indeed that is able to limit its own growth, I hope we can all agree that we must preserve our current limit on government spending.

And of course, state government should never be allowed to increase taxes without a vote of the people.

Along with constitutional reform, we will also be dedicating much of our time this year to the crucial issue of our economy.

The success of our state, and the quality of life of our citizens, depends on our ability to maintain a strong economy and to foster a healthy business climate.

Some of the first steps we should take this year are to give voters the say they deserve in last year's property tax hike and to reverse the governor's executive order empowering unions in state government.

We must also ensure that state taxpayers cannot be held hostage by a government strike as a result of the damage that has already been done by the executive order. People depend on the services provided through their tax dollars, and state employees are well compensated for their public service.

We support the positive proposals in the governor's economic development package, including the repeal of the 'fly away tax' and the creation of new incentives for the bioscience industry.

But offering a small carrot to distract from the larger stick is disingenuous.

Our economy is strong, but it is threatened. It cannot continue to persevere under increased taxes and fees, greater government regulations, and vague mandates.

Every bill we pass should empower the people of Colorado, not impair them. Every bill should be an asset to Colorado's businesses, not a liability. And every bill should help develop our economy, not stifle it.

We want better schools, colleges and universities. We want a secure voting system and safe streets. We want prudent measures that utilize our natural resources but protect our future, our air and our water. And we want a health care system that is accessible, affordable and one that makes sense to Colorado families.

By keeping businesses strong in Colorado we can do all of these things.

There is much for us to do this year and many challenges ahead that we must rise to meet.

As we do so, we must always remember the reason we are here in this chamber: it is to do the work of the people, and only the work of the people.

Let's get started!

Senate President Peter Groff:

Please stand and join me in observing a moment of silence to honor the men and women who have given their lives defending our country – including Major Andrew Olmstead of Colorado Springs who was killed last week in Iraq – and to the active duty members and veterans of the United States Armed Forces and their families. Thank you.

Let us also take a moment to acknowledge Colonel Steve Ward from Senate District 26 and Lt. Colonel Joe Rice from House District 38, the two sitting members of the Colorado General Assembly who are currently serving us on active duty in Iraq. We will keep the light burning until Sen. Ward returns home.

Mister Majority Leader, Mister Minority Leader, Senate colleagues, distinguished guests, friends and my family. Let me begin by thanking the Senate for my election as the 47th President of this great body. I thank both sides of the aisle for your support and I pledge to continue to work collaboratively with all of you to build and invest in a better Colorado.

Let us welcome our newest members, Senators Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs and Dan Gibbs of Silverthorn. Welcome to the Senate. It will take a little while for us to break you of all those bad habits you picked up over in the House of Representatives, but rest assured, we will make Senators out of you yet.

We should also take a minute to say thanks to former President Joan Fitz-Gerald for her leadership in this chamber and bid her well in her pursuit of further public service.

Let us acknowledge the members of our body who are beginning their last session. Senators, please stand as I call your name:

Majority Leader Ken Gordon of Denver, Minority Leader Andy McElhany of Colorado Springs,

Senator Bob Hagedorn of Aurora, Senator Stephanie Takis of Aurora, Senator Jack Taylor of Steamboat Springs, Senator Ron Tupa of Boulder, and Senator Sue Windels of Arvada.

You have each added indelible marks to the history of the Senate and your contributions to Colorado's greater good will serve you well as you look back on your distinguished legislative careers. Congratulations.

My friends, we are told all our lives to be mindful of history. And today, I am particularly mindful of the history you all made in electing Sen. Abel Tapia as our President Pro Tem and me as your president.

I understand that is not just my hand that takes the gavel today; I understand that it is the hands of my relatives who toiled under the overseers whip on the red clay of Georgia that take this gavel today on the red carpet of the Colorado Senate.

I understand that it is the hands of my relatives who wore the obscene shackles of slavery at the foot of the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, that take this gavel today at the foot of the mighty and majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Those magnificent Rocky Mountains just outside our door can serve as a barrier or a challenge.

Like Colorado's pioneers and generations of my family before me, I recognize that challenges, though mountainous in nature, can offer tremendous opportunities if we are willing to climb; as Robert Kennedy once said, "…if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity." For the next 120 days I say let us climb the mountains of challenges that face Colorado, let us climb above the forest of partisan politics and to ascend above the timberline, to the summit, to a place from which we can see the long view and the pathway to a greater Colorado.

To create that pathway it will be important for us to come together from both sides of the aisle, in both chambers and throughout this historic building – to put the welfare of all Coloradans before the well-being of any political party, to put our personal principles before short-term political gain and to commit ourselves to rise above pandering to the whims of the moment to seek the wisdom of long-term solutions for the future of our state.

Let us not stand at the foot of the mountains of challenges, look up and wonder "what if…?"

Let us climb to the summit and begin to create a pathway in Colorado that makes the Centennial state the place where all Coloradans have affordable, accessible and reliable healthcare.

Every day in our state 200,000 children go to sleep without health insurance and 600,000 Colorado adults wake up without health insurance. When those individuals get sick and end up in the emergency room or when they end up in the hospital, we all pay the bill. That hidden tax is reflected in your premiums and mine.

It is not just the poor and unemployed who don't have insurance, but middle-class working families who constitute 80% of Colorado's uninsured.

At the end of this month we will receive the much anticipated recommendations and proposals of the 208 Commission on Health Care Reform. Let us be respectful of their inclusive process and the work of the commission and not approach the report with our preconceived ideological and political blindness. But let us approach this challenge by understanding that our journey up this mountain will take more than 120 days, but in the end our goal must be to reduce the number of uninsured in Colorado.

We can begin that journey this session by covering all children. It is the morally right and responsible thing to do. While adults can make decisions about whether they accept coverage, our most precious and vulnerable resource cannot make those decisions. An investment in their health is an investment in our future and puts us on the pathway to a greater Colorado.

Healthier children deserve better schools.

Let us not stand at the foot of the mountainous challenges in education, look up and wonder "what if…?

Let us climb to the summit and see the pathway that makes Colorado a place where all children are educated to the fullness of their God given talent and are academically readied to thrive in a global economy.

While the global marketplace stretches and expands, our children seem to be slipping further behind their global competition. According to recent studies American student's rank 35th out 57 countries in the world on average in mathematics scores – behind Lithuania, Iceland and Azerbaijan. In the area of science we're slightly better. We place 29th out of 57 – behind Latvia, Liechtenstein and Austria.

Other studies also show that for every 100 ninth graders only 68 graduate on time, of those only 40 enroll in college directly, only 27 of those are still enrolled the following year and of those only 18 earn an associate's degree within 3 years or a BA within 6 years. 18…out of 100.

In Colorado only half of all 8th graders scored proficient on the Colorado CSAP last year and nearly 20,000 kids gave up on the one thing that can make the biggest difference in their lives and our future: their education.

Those numbers and so many others indicate an educational crisis that we need to respond to – not by laying blame and trying to score political points but asking the question on every single education bill we debate "is this in the best educational interest of the child?"

It is the long term educational interest of which we need to be morally mindful and the P-20 Education Council has issued a preliminary set of recommendations that will begin to place us on the path to the creation of a 21st century education system that should have no rival and no peer in preparing all our students for global competition, strengthening and ensuring multiple avenues of public educational delivery from which parents can choose, fixing unsafe buildings, better valuing our teachers, creating statewide standards and requirements and finding new ways to fund our woefully underfunded higher education system.

However, some of our students can't wait. They urgently need innovation and substantive reform now. Over the next 120 days let us put aside the paralyzing ideological political chits we owe that often pinches the dramatic need for educational revitalization and let us embrace originality, innovation and meaningful change.

Without swift urgency, those students who are caught in the achievement gap, the readiness gap and in our political bickering will continue to circle the drain with little hope for the future, so let us throw off the shackles of convention and caution and act as Rev. Martin Luther King said "with the fierce urgency of now."

Healthier, better educated kids deserve better jobs and a better economy. Properly prepared students create a homegrown employment base that will help sustain the businesses of our state which are the economic engines of Colorado.

Let us climb to the summit and continue to move Colorado forward as an economic, energy and bioscience powerhouse in this nation and find a pathway to assist our businesses.

In Colorado, according to the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, there are nearly 100,000 firms with 100 employees or less and those small businesses employ nearly 800,000 Coloradans – about a quarter of our workforce. We must stand ready to relive some of the burdens weighing down those small businesses and all businesses in our state. Cutting red tape, slicing state bureaucracy and the business personal property tax, aren't ideas that belong to Democrats or Republicans, they are ideas that are just good government that will spur the economy and our businesses and allow more investment in the future of the state.

Scaling the mountainous challenges of education, health care and economic development, standing at their respective summits and seeing the pathway to a better Colorado will mean nothing if don't ascend the tallest mountain in our legislative range and that is the reformation of the constitution of Colorado.

The time has come for a substantive legislative discourse about fixing our foundational document. A constitution should be the moral guidepost by which a state's progress and journey are measured. A constitution should be a thoughtful list of principals and obligations of citizens and government. However, Colorado's has become a laundry list of detached and contradictory provisions offered by special interest groups who wanted to add their special twist to the constitution.

The United States constitution has only been amended 27 times in 221 years. Colorado's however, has been amended 52 times in the last 27 years. In fact since 1990 we have added more than 21,000 words to what is suppose to be our foundational mission statement.

Our constituents expect us to climb above the partisan forest that so often slows our ascent to a better Colorado and with future legislatures expecting us to have the political courage to tackle the toughest issues of our moment; let us not squander the opportunity to help our successors and serve our constituents. Let us begin creating a blueprint for a better constitution.

With that in mind, today I create a Senate Select Committee to begin a substantive legislative discussion about constitutional reform.

Because this is not about democratic solutions or republican answers I will require the committee to work with respected former legislators who have a unique understanding of our constitutional quagmire, Former Senator and CU President Hank Brown, former Senate President Stan Matsunaka, former Senate Majority Leader Norma Anderson and former Senator and JBC member Penfield Tate have all agreed to serve as senior advisors to this committee.

The committee will have a time certain in which to meet, so that if recommendations or potential legislation comes from their work the General Assembly will have time to vet the plans through our regular legislative process.

I will also ask the committee to thoroughly review the recent constitutional study and 12 recommendations that came from the University of Denver's constitutional panel. That report could certainly be a piton to help us climb this mountainous challenge. But the report isn't the only assistance we need to ascend this mountain. The other piton is our political courage and political will -- our successors need it, the people of Colorado deserve it and our future demands it.

In closing, let me share with you my favorite scripture which comes from the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 58:12 it says "you shall be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of pathways to dwell."

My friends we know what the breaches are in Colorado. We know about the breaches in Education, Health Care, Transportation, Economic Development and constitutional reform.

Our constituents are depending on us to close those breaches and restore the pathways in which all Coloradans can dwell. Our state, our citizens and our future cannot afford for us to be left wondering in 120 days "what if we had restored those pathways…?"

"What if we had given 3,000 more children the opportunity to go to preschool and we were truly innovative in K-12 education? What if we had fixed the roofs, boilers and broken down infrastructures of 200 schools? What if we had given 30,000 businesses much needed tax exemptions and clarity? What if we had provided healthcare to our most vulnerable and most precious citizens? What if we had worked together?"

We can not stand at the foot of the most mountainous challenge of our moment and wonder "What if?"

Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate the mountain tops, especially those in this great state, contain wonderful and breathtaking views and are a great source of inspiration. So let us look to those hills from which cometh our inspiration, our vision and our opportunity. My friends join me in a journey to the summit of our challenges so that we can in 120 days marvel at we've accomplished – together – not as Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives but as Coloradans and chosen public servants. And together we shall look down from the mountain top and see a better Colorado, but better yet that God will look down and say well done my good and faithful servants.

Thank you for this tremendous honor, God bless you, God bless this great and august chamber and God bless the great state of Colorado.

Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany:

Mr. President, Mr. Majority Leader, fellow colleagues: I am honored to stand before you once again representing the Republicans in the Colorado Senate. I am also pleased to see the many friends and family members who have joined us here this morning, including my wife Anna Marie and daughter Sarah.

Let me start by acknowledging a member of my caucus who could NOT be here: Senator Steve Ward, of Littleton, who is a colonel in the U.S. Marine Reserves. He was called up to active duty in Iraq, and we understand he will be back with us soon in this chamber. We thank him for his service to our country, and we wish him success in his mission as well as a safe return.

Let's also welcome two new Senate members: Dan Gibbs and Bill Cadman. They of course are replacing former President Fitz-Gerald and former Senator May. These two youthful gentlemen add new skill and talent. And they bring us vigor and enthusiasm, which is always welcome-and some would say, in short supply-in the upper chamber.

Unfortunately, this development also represents something of a setback for Senate Republicans. Some of you may recall that, last year, the Senate Republican press office posted an article on our Website titled, "'Geezer caucus' no more; Senate GOP younger than Dems." At that time, the average age of all Senate Republicans was a year younger than that of Senate Democrats. We thought that was newsworthy because, for some reason, Republicans have been typecast as a bunch of grumpy old men. I don't know why. It is an unfair and unfounded cliche, and we wanted to set the record straight.

Well, it pains and humbles me to inform you today that we have done the math, and the addition of Senator Gibbs to the ranks of Senate Democrats has turned the tables on us: Democrats are now younger on average by one year.

That is disappointing, but our consolation will come when Senator Gibbs finds out that service in this body can pile years on you very quickly. It may surprise you to know, Senator Gibbs, that I looked like you do now when I entered the Senate just eight sessions ago. Savor those boyish looks while you can.

Congratulations are in order to Senator Peter Groff on being elected Senate president. It has been a true pleasure serving with Peter, and I look forward to him presiding over this chamber. He has earned everyone's respect as a man who is true to his word and who stands by his convictions. I must say that on some issues, he also has some pretty good ideas-despite his party affiliation. Senator Groff, you and I do not cross the aisle often when we're in this chamber, but let me assure you I will always regard you as a friend, and that will be true long after I leave this building for good.

Speaking of which, as many of you know, this will be my last session in the Senate. That is also the case for several of my colleagues: Senator Taylor as well as Senators Gordon, Hagedorn, Takis, Tupa and Windels. The citizens of Colorado, in their wisdom, amended the state constitution some time ago to make sure that we spend the rest of our productive days doing something else-in my case, probably fly-fishing. I am fine with that, but do not expect me to retire on the job. Quite the contrary, I fully expect my final session to be my most fulfilling one yet-and let me tell you why.

Republicans in the House and Senate have come together to propose a legislative plan of action for 2008 that takes up the major challenges voters sent us here to address. Many of you are by now familiar with our plan, which we've rolled out over the past few months. It represents a set of practical solutions to our most pressing problems-without shifting an even bigger burden onto the taxpaying public. This is not an attempt to cure all that ails Colorado in one fell swoop. This is a realistic effort to take sensible steps-and make some important strides-in the right direction.

You can find the details of the GOP's 2008 legislative agenda on the Senate Minority Office's Website, coloradosenatenews.com. Permit me to recap a few highlights.

On education, for example, we aim to raise the bar. That means higher standards, more options, quality teachers and safer schools. Like a groundbreaking bill by Senator Josh Penry and Representative Rob Witwer setting a statewide curriculum standard to graduate high school. Senator Mike Kopp and Representative Victor Mitchell are proposing a high school proficiency exam to graduate. Both efforts will ensure that a diploma really means something, whether a student is going to college or the job market. And Senator Nancy Spence and Representative Ken Summers will carry a bill to fund performance incentives that will help retain and reward our best and brightest teachers.

Our proposals for bridging the health-care gap are based on the understanding that most Coloradans already enjoy first-class care. Our goal should not be to take a wrecking ball to the current system but rather to expand coverage to many of those who do not have it and to curb spiraling costs confronting those who do. In some cases we can do that by removing regulatory barriers and expanding opportunities. That means passing a bill by Representative Spencer Swalm and Senator Steve Johnson to provide a low-cost option to Colorado's uninsured by creating a benefit plan with basic coverage for a low monthly premium. There is also a bill sponsored by Representative Cory Gardner and Senator Shawn Mitchell that would allow Coloradans to purchase more affordable insurance offered in other states where there are few mandates on coverage.

Our overburdened transportation network long has needed a steady, sustainable funding source. The business community that drives our economy knows it, and every member of this General Assembly ought to know it. Yet, the public appetite for paying more taxes and fees is very much in doubt. We all know that, too. The fact is, a lot of the funding we need for our highways already is flowing into state coffers-if only we'll stop siphoning if off to grow other programs. That is why Representatives Mike May and Kevin Lundberg and I propose to dedicate and secure-in the state's constitution-all auto-related tax revenue for transportation.

Our 2008 action plan takes up other basic concerns, too, like higher education. Senator Penry spent much of last year urging that we tap into soaring revenue from the state's oil and gas boom to set up a permanent trust to fund our colleges and universities. Regarding illegal immigration, the least our citizens should be able to expect is that basic institutions like our elections are safeguarded from abuse. We are proposing a couple of bills that will see to that. And the unmatched natural beauty of Colorado's environment could use better stewardship. Republican bills aim to lower hurdles and create incentives for everything from cleaner energy to improving our forests and parks.

We offer these and the rest of our proposals as a way to break through the logjam on policy making that comes with too many commissions consulting too many experts, resulting in too many reports. We appreciate all the effort, wisdom and knowledge that has gone into studying Colorado's most vexing issues, but it is now time for some action.

We are making a good-faith effort to reach out across the aisle and to our governor as well. We believe there are significant elements in our plan that members of both parties can embrace. This is truly a foundation for bipartisan action. The governor has in fact already expressed support for some of the concepts embodied in our legislative agenda.

Just for example, in his Colorado Promise, Governor Ritter states, "I will support efforts

that provide performance incentives to teachers and principals based on growth gains and assignments in high-need schools and high-need academic subjects." So, let me take this opportunity to remind the governor that Senator Spence is carrying the bill that will do exactly what he wants done. I also call on him to help assure Senator Spence's performance-incentive proposal gets safe passage through the Senate to his desk.

Again, the premise of our entire agenda is that Coloradans need practical, realistic solutions to the challenges facing us. It has been said before, and I'll say it again: You don't have to reinvent the wheel when you get a flat tire. You find the leak and fix it. Otherwise, you'll get mired down in blue-ribbon panels, epic debates, starry-eyed schemes and back-breaking tax-and-fee hikes. And in the end, you still won't solve the problem anyway.

A couple of other things in closing.

We have joined the business community in expressing our grave concern over the governor's executive order last year granting unions unprecedented ability to organize state government personnel. The governor's misguided decision to let unions collectively bargain for state employees' salaries and benefits will, without a doubt, drive up the cost of government. We know this because it has happened in other states that have imposed collective bargaining.

Members of the General Assembly never had a chance to debate this ill-conceived policy, never had a chance to take testimony from experts and stakeholders and never had a chance to propose alternatives that would have achieved the governor's professed goal-improving workplace morale-without creating a new burden for taxpayers. That is why Senators Shawn Mitchell and Penry, along with Representatives Cory Gardner and Rob Witwer, will carry a measure repealing the governor's executive order.

The governor does deserve credit, though, for pledging to support a ban on strikes by public employees. Representative Bob Gardner and Senator Spence are sponsoring that measure. We trust the governor will sign it.

Finally, the governor is to be commended, by and large, for the modest economic-development agenda that he announced last fall. In fact, we liked one of the measures so much-expanding the exemption from the business personal property tax-that one of our own members co-sponsored it in the General Assembly last year, when it was killed.

However, it is pretty hard to reconcile this governor's professed concern for economic growth, and for the business community in particular, with his decision to raise property-tax bills last year on most Colorado homes and businesses. It is just as hard to reconcile his economic-development agenda with his support for a host of bills in the 2007 session that favored unions and trial lawyers over the businesses that create our jobs. That is no way to grow the economy.

In other words, in extending our hand to this governor to work with us on our plan for action, all we are really asking is that he come back to the center.

As I said, I do not intend to spend my last session taking it easy around here, but I also do not wish to pick fights. Our earnest hope is to work with this governor as well as the majority party in the legislature to make good policy. We will stand up for our principles, of course, but we also are ready to look for common ground. It probably will be easier to find if we start off the session searching for it together. Thank you.

Text of Rev. Regina Groff's prayer:

"Please let us bow our heads in prayer. Most loving and merciful God, we thank you for life and for giving us purpose to live for today. We pause to honor you because we recognize that every day is a gift from you, and without your purpose and power to guide us through it we would fail. So today, especially today, we seek your presence in this place because failure is not an option. There are too many lives at stake, too many futures to risk, to many families, seniors, men, women and children who are counting on these leaders, these women and men to effect necessary change and to promote liberty and justice for all. We ask oh God that you position yourself for 120 days on the floor of the Colorado State Senate, to guide the hearts minds and spirits of the women and men who have been given the awesome task of moving Colorado forward. We lift them up to you in commitment to your care that they will not be stifled by difference, halted by personal agendas, misguided by party politics or suppressed by fear. Allow your light to shine in this place that they may see what is right and do what is required by acting justly, seeking mercy, and most of all walking humbly with you, in every committee meeting held, in every discussion that takes place, in every decision that is made and in every vote that is cast. We also call on you to give the one who carries the gavel this year the strength to lead and to run this year's race with perserverance, and to give us, his colleagues and constituents the patience and stamina to stand with him, in and out of seasons so that we may stand together in due season. We thank you God in advance for the great things that will evolve and the many victories that will be celebrated during this session, not because of their work but because of your work, in and through them. And it is in the name of my lord that I pray. Amen.