What's Happening in Policy & Advocacy
2022 Policy Priorities In Development

During the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network (PLAN) Core Team conversation on Friday, August 20, they determined a rough outline of policy areas to focus on for 2022. Ever since, the Backbone Team has been scouring emerging policy research to compile a rough draft of the 2022 priorities for the Core Team to review and revise during the upcoming meeting.

During their next regular meeting on Friday, September 17, the Core Team will dig into the first draft of 2022 priorities to provide feedback and revisions, which the Backbone Team will synthesize and finalize in advance of the full PLAN convening in October.

Want more information about the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network and who is involved? Click HERE.
Reminder: Core Team Meeting September 17
The next meeting of the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network's Core Team will take place on Friday, September 17 from 9 - 10:30 a.m. on Zoom.

If you're a Core Team member, make sure to RSVP to the calendar invite today!

Questions? Contact Kayah Swanson, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy HERE.
Statewide & National Updates
#1: Colorado Pandemic Surge Plans Being Prepped

Colorado has dropped below 200 ICU beds, and hospitals are getting their COVID-19 surge plans ready. Gov. Polis provided an update Friday on Colorado's recovery efforts along with COVID-19 Incident Commander Scott Bookman and state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy. As of Friday, there were 902 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state – which is the second-highest peak so far of COVID-19 patients of any wave of the pandemic.
#2: Redistricting Map Indicates New Dynamic

The dozen members of Colorado’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission questioned nonpartisan staff Monday about the latest draft map of the state’s U.S. House districts as they prepare to hear from the public about the plan this week. The map, introduced Friday based on 2020 census data and which has thrown Colorado’s political world into a tizzy, is markedly different from an initial proposal based on 2019 population estimates.
#3: Pediatric COVID-19 Cases Surging

It’s back-to-school time for many families in the United States — just as coronavirus cases surge among children and teens. Weekly pediatric coronavirus cases surpassed 250,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, according to the most recent data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
#4: Biden Proposes Mandated Vaccines or Testing

President Biden unveiled a series of new steps to combat the raging pandemic, including the announcement of a new rule that all businesses with 100 or more employees ensure that every worker is either fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing for the coronavirus.
#5: Biden Coming to Denver to Talk Economic Policy

President Joe Biden is expected to visit Denver on Tuesday to talk about his economic policies. Press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington, D.C. that the president would tout his Build Back Better agenda to spend trillions in federal stimulus dollars to jumpstart the economy after the pandemic. It will be Biden's first visit to Colorado since taking office in January.
#6: Supreme Court Blocks Eviction Moratorium

The Supreme Court blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from enforcing a federal moratorium on evicting renters during the Covid pandemic, a defeat for the Biden administration's effort to continue the moratorium despite an earlier signal from the court that the government’s action lacked the proper legal basis. The vote was 6-3 with Justices Kagan, Breyer and Sotomayor dissenting.
Content was provided by:
Adam Burg, Senior Advisor, Legislative and Government Affairs, Adams County Government
PLAN Chair
Kayah Swanson, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy, RMP Backbone
With ongoing input from:
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 Tea on Rocky Mountain Partnership

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:
  • utilizing data to set shared targets and as a scorecard to measure progress towards this;
  • advocating for and aligning policies, funding, and resources to remove barriers and accelerate progress;
  • better coordinating and improving the work happening on the ground to achieve this.
Rocky Mountain Partnership | rmpartnership.org