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Policy and Legislative Updates
7.8.2020
The Policy and Legislative Advisory Network (PLAN) is committed to keeping the larger network abreast of policies, legislation, regulations, and rules being implemented across the state and nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Updates below include information through 7.8.2020 and were provided by:

Please note: This information is subject to change. In addition, some updates may be sourced from organizations that have read limits or limits on how many articles you can access in a given time period.
Local Policy Updates
Coronavirus In Colorado; The Numbers
According to today's data release, in Colorado there have been 367,724 people tested, 35,116 positive cases, 5,820 hospitalized, 1,704 deaths among cases (1,544 deaths due to COVID), 384 outbreaks at residential and non- hospital health care facilities, 61 of 64 counties with positive cases. In Adams County we have 4,546 cases and 156 deaths. Read More from CDPHE HERE
Governor Polis Takes Further Action To Address COVID-19
Governor Jared Polis signed an Executive Order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor signed an Executive Order extending the disaster emergency declaration for COVID-19 for an additional 30 days. Read More from Governor Jared Polis HERE
Tri-County Health To Order Masks In Adams, Arapahoe And Douglas Counties — But Municipalities Can Opt Out
Acknowledging increasing COVID-19 cases, the Tri-County Health Department’s Board of Health voted Wednesday to order a mask requirement be imposed across Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, but offered municipalities within those counties the ability to opt out. The board voted 5-4 to direct Tri-County Health Executive Director John Douglas to draft an order requiring people to wear face coverings when entering indoor public spaces, including businesses, as well as in outdoor public places where six feet of social distancing cannot be maintained. Read More from The Denver Post HERE 
State Health Department Releases Information On Protect-Our-Neighbors Certification
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) released a guide and application form to allow local communities to apply for Protect-Our-Neighbors certification. Communities can only apply if they meet eight criteria—including declining cases—and have attestation letters from hospitals, public health experts and local officials. Because cases are increasing in many counties throughout the state, most counties will not yet be eligible to apply for Protect Our Neighbors. Read More from CDPHE HERE 
Polis Signs Measures To Provide Socially-Distanced Government Services
Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed two bills into law that will enable government services to be provided at a distance, decreasing the odds of COVID-19 infection. House Bill 1318 ends a pilot program that enabled county clerks to offer renewals of vehicle registrations through kiosks, and converts it to a permanent feature. Senate Bill 35 would also enable county clerks to receive original plats of land showing subdivided lots electronically. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Activist Lawsuit Alleges Gov. Polis Isn’t Moving Quickly Enough On Climate Change
Gov. Jared Polis’ administration is working to curb climate change, but it will soon face new legal pressure to do it faster. WildEarth Guardians, an environmental advocacy group, plans to file a lawsuit in Denver District Court against the administration demanding a comprehensive plan to meet ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals Polis signed into law in 2019. Colorado’s air quality regulators, who worked to reduce the state’s climate impact, are months away from completing plans to implement the law. Read More from CPR HERE
CDOT Opens Grant Program To Encourage Teleworking
The Colorado Department of Transportation will award up to $5,000 to governments or nonprofit organizations that have plans to boost the prevalence of teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CanDo Community Telework Program will evaluate proposals based largely on their public health benefits and their ability to address the air quality and safety implications of commuting. Recipients have until Dec. 1 to implement their project. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Pepsi Center Site Will Cap COVID-19 Tests At 2,000 Per Day
The COVID-19 testing site at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver will begin capping the number of administered tests to 2,000 per day. The site closed at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday after reaching its limit. Anyone who was in line at the time was able to get a test. The city told 9NEWS the new rule will last indefinitely as the Pepsi Center site manages an increased demand. Read More from 9News HERE 
Now That Colorado Lawmakers Have Put Gallagher Repeal On The Ballot, Will They Actually Be Able To Pass It?
Faced with a deepening state budget crisis, lawmakers last month voted 79-20 to ask voters to repeal the Gallagher Amendment and forgo an estimated 18% residential property tax cut that’s slated to kick in next year. It was a stunning rebuke of the political conventional wisdom, which has long held that Gallagher, because of its popularity with homeowners and its uneven effects on different communities, is simply too complicated to fix. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
Colorado Companies Big And Small, But No Surprises, Got A Gov’t PPP Loan
A broad swath of Colorado companies accessed funds from the federal government’s $700 billion lifeline for small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. The reach of taxpayer loans granted through the program goes far beyond the mom-and-pop retailers and local restaurants many envision when they think of small businesses. A range of companies in financial services, technology, construction and manufacturing also received funding, according to data released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Read More from CPR HERE
United Airlines, A Major Denver Employer, Is Sending Layoff Notices To Nearly Half Of Its U.S. Employees
United Airlines will send layoff warnings to 36,000 employees — nearly half its U.S. staff — in the clearest signal yet of how deeply the virus outbreak is hurting the airline industry. United is the largest carrier at Denver International Airport, which is one of the airline’s hubs. United employs more than 7,000 people, as a result, in the Mile High City. United officials said Wednesday that they still hope to limit the number of layoffs by offering early retirement, and that the 36,000 number is a worst-case scenario. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
Colorado Women Hit Twice As Hard By Unemployment During Pandemic
More than twice as many women than men dropped out of the labor force in Colorado while the COVID-19 pandemic forced business closures and layoffs earlier this year, according to a new analysis. The state’s unemployment rate peaked at around 12% in April, although it has since receded to 10%. Before the pandemic, the gap between male and female workforce participants was less than four percentage points. But now, the difference is greater than seven percentage points. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Colorado’s Economy Is On The Mend But Many Are Still Left Behind
Colorado has recovered faster than much of the nation, but many industries are still hurting, particularly in the hard-hit service and tourism sectors. About half of jobs lost during the first half of the pandemic have returned in the health care sector but only 16 percent have returned in accommodation and food services, according to data from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Gov. Jared Polis praised Colorado’s rapid economic recovery in his last coronavirus update of June and said the state’s strong public health response contributed. Read More from CPR HERE
Colorado Attorney General Sues Juul, Claims Vape Company Marketed To Kids And Downplayed Health Risks
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Tuesday he has filed a lawsuit against Juul that alleges the vaping company marketed its products to kids and downplayed their health risks. Weiser is also accusing Juul of falsely suggesting its vaping products are a healthy smoking alternative and can help people quit using cigarettes. Weiser’s office has been investigating Juul for nearly a year and the lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, argues that the company violated the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
"This Is Enough"- What 83,000 Emails Ask Of The Colorado Lawmaker Who Represented Elijah McClain
Tears well up whenever state Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet hears Elijah McClain utter his last words. Michaelson Jenet represents the House district where McClain lived and died. Almost a year after the incident, no charges have been filed. Michaelson Jenet vehemently disagrees with the district attorney’s decision not to prosecute the officers involved. Over the last three weeks, Michaelson Jenet has received a deluge of emails, more than 83,000, that demand justice for McClain and the firing of the officers involved in restraining him. Read More from CPR HERE
RTD Solicits Short, Long-Term Areas Of Focus From Riders
The Regional Transportation District is seeking the public’s input for what public transit in the Denver metro area should look like after the COVID-19 pandemic.The survey, which is accepting responses through July 24, is part of “Reimagine RTD,” an initiative which seeks to develop a short-term service plan beginning next year and a long-term vision to carry the agency until 2050. Through an online form, respondents must indicate three characteristics that are important for a “successful transit system.” Read More from Colorado Politics HERE 
As Colorado’s New COVID-19 Cases Remain Elevated, State Sees Uptick In Hospitalizations
Coronavirus infections remained elevated in Colorado for a third consecutive week as the state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have begun to creep upward for the first time in months. The state’s rate of positive coronavirus test results has jumped since the first week of June, meaning that transmission of COVID-19 is increasing and that the rise in new cases is not simply due to more testing. The rate of positivity increased from 2.7% the week of June 7 to 3.48% last week, according to the state health department. Read More from The Denver Post HERE
List Of More Than 13,000 PPP Loans Made To Colorado Businesses Shows Where Big Dollars Went
The list of Colorado businesses that received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans from the Small Business Administration reads like a Who's Who of some of the state's best-known businesses. While the ground rules for the loan program state that small businesses that quality for the program should have 500 employees or less, variances are granted for certain industries. In order to obtain loan forgiveness, the program requires 60% of the loan go to cover payroll costs, and to maintain employee counts. Read More from Colorado Politics HERE
Colorado High Schools Will Have Flexibility From New Graduation Requirements Amid The Pandemic
Colorado’s high school seniors next year will have more flexibility in meeting the state’s new graduation requirements as a result of the pandemic’s disruptions. The Colorado State Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to allow districts to choose their own way of determining if students are proficient in English and math, instead of using the 11 ways the state had approved. Read More from Chalkbeat Colorado HERE
Colorado Colleges, Universities Scramble After Trump Orders International Students To Leave If Classes Go Online
News that international students will be forced under rules issued Monday by the Trump administration to leave the U.S. if they don’t take in-person classes has left Colorado colleges and universities scrambling to interpret the changes and make plans for thousands of pupils. While most of the state’s higher education institutions are planning to offer a hybrid of in-person and online classes come fall, the via rules place students in limbo if they are unwilling and/or unable to return to campus. Read More from The Colorado Sun HERE
Worried About COVID-19, Colorado Law School Graduates Seek Alternative To In-Person Bar Exam
New graduates from Colorado’s two law schools are raising concerns about potential exposure to COVID-19 during the two-day, in-person bar exam scheduled for the end of July. They’ve proposed invoking “diploma privilege” as some other states have, meaning University of Colorado and University of Denver law school graduates who applied for the July 2020 bar exam and passed the character and fitness requirements would be licensed to practice law without taking the test. Read More from The Denver Post HERE and Colorado Politics HERE
Political Ads For Gardner-Hickenlooper Senate Race Drop This Week, Months Before Election
Just in time for the dog days of summer, the November election has arrived in Colorado. Ads already are flooding TV stations and social media platforms for the fall Senate matchup between Sen. Cory Gardner and his challenger, former Gov. John Hickenlooper, with nary a break since last week’s Democratic primary — itself a costly contest — settled that nomination. Read More from The Denver Post HERE
National Policy Updates
US Surpasses 3 Million Coronavirus Infections
The United States surpassed 3 million coronavirus infections on Wednesday, a grim milestone as the virus surges in more than half of all states, and a predicted waning of infections this summer never occurred. On Tuesday, the U.S. set a record with 60,000 new cases. California and Texas both had more than 10,000 new cases in a single day, shattering previous records. Read More from The Hill HERE
C.D.C. To Revise Guidelines For Reopening Schools After Trump Administration Attacks Its Recommendations
Hours after President Trump assailed guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for reopening schools, Vice President Mike Pence, appearing with the White House coronavirus task force, announced the agency would issue new recommendations next week, saying they don’t want the guidance to be a reason why schools don’t open. Read More from The New York times HERE
The Coming Political Brawl Over Reopening Schools
The president threatened this morning to cut off federal funding if schools don't reopen, and claimed — without evidence — that Democrats want them closed through November for political reasons. Virtual learning isn't as effective, and schools provide critical in-person resources for kids with disabilities, mental health issues and nutritional needs. Millions of parents need their kids back in schools so that they can fully reenter the workforce. The burden of extended closures will hit hardest along class, racial and gender lines. Read More from Axios HERE
N.Y.C. Schools, Nation’s Largest District, Will Not Fully Reopen In Fall
About four months after 1.1 million New York City children were forced into online learning, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that public schools would still not fully reopen in September, saying that classroom attendance would instead be limited to only one to three days a week in an effort to continue to curb the coronavirus outbreak. The mayor’s release of his plan for the system, by far the nation’s largest, capped weeks of intense debate among elected officials, educators and public health experts over how to bring children back safely to 1,800 public schools. Read More from The New York Times HERE
EPA Announces First Disinfectants Proven Against COVID-19
The EPA announced that it has approved the first two surface disinfectant products, Lysol Disinfectant Spray and Lysol Max Cover Disinfectant Mist as effective against COVID-19. The agency also maintains a list (List N) of over 400 products from manufacturers that submit data to the agency showing their disinfectants are effective against harder-to-kill viruses that are similar to COVID-19. Read More from the EPA HERE
Nearly 90 Percent Of COVID-19 Cases At Meat Plants Hit Minority Workers
At least 17,000 meat and poultry processing facility workers in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19, the vast majority being racial and ethnic minorities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed in a new analysis released Tuesday. The report is the broadest look yet at the impact of the pandemic on these workers, who are disproportionately low-wage Hispanics, though it is an undercount as less than half of the states reported data to the CDC. Read More from The Hill HERE
New Data Shows Lawmakers Secured Millions In Small-Business Aid
At least nine lawmakers and three congressional caucuses have ties to organizations that took millions of dollars in aid from a small-business loans program that was designed to help companies avert layoffs during the pandemic, according to newly released data from the Small Business Administration. In total, companies linked to lawmakers and congressional caucuses have received at least $11 million in aid from the federal program that Congress created to help small businesses. Overall, 650,000 businesses and nonprofits received assistance under the $670 billion program. Read More from Politico HERE
Treasury Blames Lenders For PPP Disclosure Debacle
The U.S. Treasury Department is pointing the finger at lenders for errors discovered in Monday's PPP data disclosure. What they're saying: "Companies listed had their PPP applications entered into SBA’s Electronic Transmission (ETran) system by an approved PPP lender. If a lender did not cancel the loan in the ETran system, the loan is listed," a senior administration official said. Read More from Axios HERE
McConnell Calls For Five-Year Lawsuit Shield For Businesses As Part Of Next Coronavirus Bill
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) outlined new details Monday of what he wants to see in the next and potentially final coronavirus relief package, including a five-year liability shield for businesses and a possible new round of stimulus checks aimed at workers making $40,000 a year and less. The comments from McConnell came in a series of events in Louisville, on the first day of a two-week congressional recess. Read More from The Washington Post HERE
Senate Republicans Introduce Legislation to Rid ‘Burdensome’ Regulations
A group of Senate Republicans introduced legislation on Wednesday that would create an annual process to eliminate regulations deemed duplicative, burdensome or outdated. Sens. Rick Scott, Fla; Tom Cotton, Ark.; Steve Daines, Mont.; Mike Enzi, Wyo.; Josh Hawley, Mo.; Kelly Loeffler, Ga.; David Perdue, Ga.; and Thom Tillis, N.C. introduced the “Unnecessary Agency Regulations Reduction Act.” The legislation aligns with the Trump administration’s deregulatory initiative, which the administration has expanded to help the economy recover from the recession created by the coronavirus pandemic. Read More from Government Executive HERE
The Pandemic Experts Are Not Okay
Saskia Popescu’s phone buzzes throughout the night, waking her up. An epidemiologist at the University of Arizona, Popescu works to prepare hospitals for outbreaks of emerging diseases. Popescu is one of many public-health experts who have been preparing for and battling the pandemic since the start of the year. They’re not treating sick people, as doctors or nurses might be, but are instead advising policy makers, monitoring the pandemic’s movements, modeling its likely trajectory, and ensuring that hospitals are ready. Read More from The Atlantic HERE
FDA Official Casts Doubt On 'Challenge Trials' For COVID Vaccine
A top FDA official overseeing vaccine approvals raised doubts Wednesday about the possibility of intentionally infecting people with the coronavirus to see whether vaccines work, saying that could represent “ethical heartburn” because there's still no easy way to treat the potentially severe disease. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, also defended the FDA’s recent guidance requiring COVID-19 vaccine candidates must be at least 50 percent more effective than a placebo. Read More from Politico HERE
Retail Workers Are Being Pulled Into The Latest Culture War- Getting Customers To Wear Masks
As the pandemic intensifies, more states and cities are mandating face coverings in public to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which originally downplayed the importance of masks, now calls them “a critical preventive measure” and says they should be worn in public. Economists, meanwhile, say nationwide mask requirements could prevent a return to widespread shutdowns and further economic turmoil. But there are no federal rules mandating masks, and retail workers say what little enforcement or oversight there is often falls to them. Read More from The Washington Post HERE
COVID-19 Is Here To Stay. People Will Have To Adapt
The world is not experiencing a second wave: it never got over the first. Some 10m people are known to have been infected. Pretty much everywhere has registered cases (Turkmenistan and North Korea have not, though, like Antarctica). For every country such as China, Taiwan and Vietnam, which seems to be able to contain the virus, there are more, in Latin America and South Asia, where it is raging. Others, including the United States, are at risk of losing control or, in much of Africa, in the early phase of their epidemic. Europe is somewhere in between. Read More from The Economist HERE
Coronavirus Pandemic Could Cause Wave Of Brain Damage, Scientists Warn
The novel coronavirus pandemic could lead to a wave of brain damage in infected patients, warned British researchers in a new study released Wednesday. Experts at the University College London (UCL) were the latest to describe that Covid-19 could cause neurological complications including stroke, nerve damage, and potentially fatal brain inflammation -- even if the patients didn't show severe respiratory symptoms associated with the disease. Read More from CNN HERE
Supreme Court Upholds Trump's Expansion Of ObamaCare Birth Control Exemptions
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Trump administration's expansion of ObamaCare birth control exemptions for employers. The 7-2 decision stemmed from a highly litigated question that first arose in the early days of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA): Do employers who oppose birth control have to pay for workers’ contraception? In the Obama era, religious nonprofits could claim an exemption from contraceptive coverage. Under the Trump administration, eligibility was extended to companies that voiced religious or moral objections, sparking legal challenges. Read More from The Hill HERE
Harvard, MIT Sue Trump Administration Over ICE Crackdown On Foreign Students
Harvard and MIT announced Wednesday they filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration a day after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced international students will have to leave the country or transfer if their colleges and universities opt to have only online classes in the fall — and other schools that have objected to the decision may follow suit. Read More from Forbes HERE
Remote Work’s Digital Divide Exacerbates Racial Inequality At Work
Remote work and remote learning look likely to continue through the end of the year or longer, potentially exacerbating inequalities in the workplace and at schools. The coronavirus has laid bare how unequal access to technology divides us. And the longer-term implementation of telecommuting could make these issues, which disproportionately harm Black and Hispanic Americans, much worse. Read More from Axios HERE
Trump Administration Moves To Formally Withdraw US From WHO
The White House has officially moved to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), a senior administration official confirmed Tuesday, breaking ties with a global public health body in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. has submitted its withdrawal notification to the United Nations secretary-general, the official said. Withdrawal requires a year's notice, so it will not go into effect until July 6, 2021, raising the possibility the decision could be reversed. Read More from The Hill HERE
WHO Reviewing Evidence Of Possible Airborne Transmission Of Coronavirus
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is reviewing evidence of possible airborne transmission of the novel coronavirus after a group of more than 200 scientists called on the agency to recognize the method of transmission in an open letter. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads the agency’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said at a media briefing on Tuesday that officials have “been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission, aerosol transmission, as one of the modes of transmission of COVID-19 as well as droplets.” Read More from The Hill HERE and Time HERE
This Is Not A Normal Mental-Health Disaster
The SARS pandemic tore through Hong Kong like a summer thunderstorm. It arrived abruptly, hit hard, and then was gone. Just three months separated the first infection, in March 2003, from the last, in June. But the suffering did not end when the case count hit zero. Over the next four years, scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong discovered something worrisome. More than 40 percent of SARS survivors had an active psychiatric illness, most commonly PTSD or depression. Read More from The Atlantic HERE
Many Americans Are Ready To Question The Result Of The Presidential Election
According to The Economist, Donald Trump's odds of being re-elected this November appear to have shrunk dramatically this past month. Their election-forecasting model now gives him just a one-in-ten chance of being re-elected in November. But a new report from the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, a collective of public-opinion researchers and political scientists, suggests that a surprisingly large minority are prepared to question the result of the election in November, and even to support violence. Read More from The Economist HERE
International Policy Updates
India Reports Third-Highest Coronavirus Case Count In The World
India has reported more coronavirus cases than any other countries but the U.S. and Brazil, per Johns Hopkins data. Schools, colleges, movie theaters, pools, religious gatherings and metro travel remain shut down according to guidance that lasts until the end of July, India's Ministry of Home Affairs announced last week. India's death toll surpassed 20,000 on Tuesday, and the country is now reporting over 719,000 cases. Major coronavirus hotbeds in India include Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, according to the country's Ministry of Health. Read More from Axios HERE
Brazil’s President Tests Positive After Dismissing Precautions
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, who has repeatedly dismissed the danger posed by the coronavirus, disclosed Tuesday that he has the virus, a development that turbocharged the debate over his cavalier handling of a pandemic that has killed more than 65,000 Brazilians. Speaking to journalists shortly after noon on Tuesday, the president, 65, said he was tested after experiencing fatigue, muscle pain and a fever. Read More from The New York Times HERE
Russia Denies Allegations It Paid Militants To Kill U.S. Troops As 'Nonsense'
"Fake." "Nonsense." "Lies." The Kremlin reacted the same way the White House did to news reports that U.S. intelligence had allegedly found Russia offered bounties on American troops in Afghanistan. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the initial story in The New York Times demonstrated the "low intellectual abilities of U.S. intelligence propagandists." President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, called subsequent reports "hoaxes" that damage the reputation of the media that publish them. Read More from NPR HERE
4 Countries Warn Israel Against Annexing Palestinian Territories
Germany, France, Egypt and Jordan on Tuesday said Israel should refrain from annexing parts of the Palestinian territories, warning that doing so could harm bilateral relations. Read More from Politico HERE 
About Rocky Mountain Cradle to Career Partnership (RMC2C)
The Rocky Mountain Cradle to Career Partnership (RMC2C) Backbone team is working to support network partners in their efforts to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Backbone continues to be in a position to bring people together to work collectively, specifically around emergency response and recovery related to COVID-19.

Previously, RMC2C has exclusively focused on supporting youth from Cradle to Career. However, in light of the crisis our community currently faces, there is an immediate need to provide the Backbone's expertise, skills, and resources to the larger community.
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