In 2021, Rocky Mountain Partnership actively participated in the legislative session for the first time. Now that the session is in the rear view mirror, the Partnership has compiled a report on the work of the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network and the Partnership as a whole over the last six months.

Want more information about the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network and who is involved? Click HERE. 

In the regularly scheduled meeting of the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network Core Team on Friday, June 18, the Core Team made some key decisions and identified new areas of work. The full Policy & Legislative Advisory Network will receive a full update on this during the upcoming meeting on Friday, July 16. In the meantime, see below for a snapshot of the updates to come.

The Backbone Team asked, and the Core Team voted! PLAN members opted to keep meetings virtual for the foreseeable future. The PLAN will hold a formal discussion in their upcoming meeting about this decision to finalize the vote.

In a discussion about funding opportunities arising from the American Rescue Plan, it was determined that the Backbone Team will compile and maintain a database of funding opportunities, as well as priorities and needs from community members.

In case you missed it, Rocky Mountain Partnership supported 9 bills during the 2021 legislative session. Now that all 9 bills have passed, it was determined the Backbone Team will monitor the implementation of these laws and provide reports to the PLAN as applicable.

Core Team members received an update about StriveTogether selecting RMP to participate in a pilot program: Shifting Public Accountability & Resources to Center Youth (SPARCY). More to come in the next PLAN meeting! In the meantime, learn more HERE.

Do you have questions about any of the new work or updates identified above that you'd like to address before the upcoming PLAN meeting on July 16? Contact Kayah Swanson, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy HERE.

The next meeting of the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network will take place on Friday, July 16 from 9 - 10:30 a.m. on Zoom.

Make sure to RSVP to the calendar invite today! Questions? Contact Kayah Swanson, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy HERE.

The future of Colorado’s statehouse elections came into sharper focus on Tuesday with the release of the first draft of new district maps for the state Senate and House. The state’s election maps are redrawn every decade after the U.S. Census, and Colorado this year is using a new, independent process that is meant to reduce the influence of politicians. In their final form, these maps will redraw the state’s 65 House seats and 35 Senate seats, determining who can run and vote for each district in the state legislature. A final map — for state districts and congressional districts — must be approved by the commission and Colorado Supreme Court by December.

Colorado’s new, eighth congressional district would include the cities of Arvada, Westminster, Broomfield, Thornton, Brighton and Platteville, a preliminary map drawn by nonpartisan redistricting staff and presented to the state’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission on Wednesday shows. But if voters were hoping the process would lead to more competition, they may be left disappointed. It would set up the possibility of a congressional delegation evenly split between Democrats and Republicans in a state that has swung sharply blue in recent elections. The map is a major first step in the state’s once-a-decade redistricting process.

The state's quarterly revenue forecasts show Colorado's recovery from the pandemic moving at breakneck speed, with higher-than-expected individual income tax and sales taxes now above pre-pandemic levels. But inflation fears as well as disruptions in supply chains could limit the state's recovery, according to economists with the General Assembly's Legislative Council.

Lawmakers have been promising for years to fix the state’s underfunded transportation system, and on Thursday, Gov. Jared Polis signed a law that he and statehouse Democrats believe finally does the trick. This bill he signed, SB21-260, is projected to raise $5.4 billion by the 2031-32 fiscal year, 70% of which would come from new fees. Those fees kicked in as of July 1.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday announced a one-month extension to the nationwide pause on evictions put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic. The eviction moratorium, which was set to expire in June, will now last through July under the new order, which is expected to be the final extension, the CDC said.

The Delta coronavirus variant is exploding across Colorado, and those who are infected are more likely to be hospitalized, making vaccinations more important than ever, state health officials said. Nationally, the Delta variant makes up about 10% of cases, which is much lower than the variant's prevalence in Colorado, said State Epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy.

As the Delta variant spreads rapidly across the globe, the World Health Organization and a handful of other public health agencies have begun encouraging fully vaccinated people to once again wear masks indoors to protect against COVID-19. But public health officials at the federal and state levels have not revised their guidance that Coloradans immunized against the coronavirus do not need to wear face coverings in most situations. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday that local governments should be the ones making decisions about any changes to mask policies.

While the number of Coloradans on continued unemployment has declined each week since late March, the number of people filing for a benefit reserved for gig workers has increased even as more people are vaccinated and return to work. Known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, this federal jobless benefit provides money to Colorado residents who don’t pay into the state’s unemployment insurance system. But such new claims have nearly doubled since late May — and tripled since May 1. Colorado Department of Labor and Employment officials said the counts each week can vary so drastically that it’s difficult to determine a trend, but the uptick is likely linked to 26 other states ending federal benefits.

Adam Burg, Senior Advisor, Legislative and Government Affairs, Adams County Government

Kayah Swanson, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy, RMP Backbone

Matthew La Crue, Managing Director, Dentons

PLAN Co-Champion

Ryan McCoy, Executive Director, Front Range Community College Foundation | President, Westminster Public Schools Board of Education

PLAN Co-Champion

We've gotta say it: 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.

The Rocky Mountain Partnership is a coalition of cross-sector stakeholders who are working together to collectively improve economic and social mobility across the Adams County, Aurora and Broomfield region by:

Rocky Mountain Partnership | rmpartnership.org