Colorado: Morse

(Photo/gravitywave, Flickr)

A state Senate panel late Wednesday evening approved a bill to require law enforcement officials to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony in Colorado, over strong objections from one lawmaker who said “Katie’s Law” — named after a New Mexico college student whose brutal rape and murder was solved using DNA evidence — does “permanent damage” to constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

(Photo/gravitywave, Flickr)

“There are great costs and consequences in not passing this law,” Jayann Sepich, the mother of the law’s namesake, told the Senate Judiciary Committee after displaying slides of her slain daughter, Katie Sepich.

Sepich has been traveling the country urging states to pass similar laws since New Mexico adopted it in 2006.

Senate Majority Leader Brandon Schaffer, D-Longmont. (Photo/Bob Spencer, The Colorado Independent)

Colorado Senate Republicans find themselves in the odd position today of arguing for extending dependency on tax money and maligning proposed increases in fees and tolls to pay for roads, a perhaps more obviously free-market solution.

Senate Majority Leader Brandon Schaffer, D-Longmont. (Photo/Bob Spencer, The Colorado Independent)

Heated exchange preceded today’s debate on Colorado Senate Bill 228, which seeks to repeal the the so-called “6 percent solution,” which would put a cap on General Fund growth. The new bill would give lawmakers increased flexibility to decide how to allocate Colorado’s shrinking state budget.

Animated members of the Republican minority trolled the speaker’s podium this morning, taking turns calling out House Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer (D-Longmont) on his decision to move debate on the bill to later in the day by invoking procedural gag rule 9-C, which would limit discussion to five hours.

State Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs. (Photo/Bob Spencer, The Colorado Independent)

On Wednesday, the Colorado Senate Finance Committee approved Senate Bill 228 — legislation that seeks to provide greater flexibility to lawmakers in deciding where to spend the state’s shrinking revenues.

State Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs. (Photo/Bob Spencer, The Colorado Independent)

Sponsored by Democratic Sen. John Morse, the bill would eliminate the so-called Arveschoug-Bird provision, which restricts the state’s General Fund to 6 percent growth per year and allocates any surplus specifically to transportation and construction projects. Morse’s bill and the problem it seeks to address are tongue-twisting and arcane, yet the small corner room of the Capitol where the hearing took place was filled with laptop jockeys, community leaders, a webcast crew and a buzz that hung in the air when it became clear that SB228 was going to clear its first public hurdle.

State Rep. Don Marostica, R-Loveland, has angered his Republican colleagues by signing on as the co-sponsor of a Senate Bill 288, a measure that will eliminate the Arveschoug-Bird Amendment, which caps general fund growth at 6 percent each year. When Marostica learned that Independence Institute President Jon Caldara and former treasurer Mark Hillman were exerting pressure to kill his bill, he told the Rocky Mountain News Thursday: "They're has-beens. They're losers."

On a slow news day, Marostica's comment made big headlines. A day later, the Rocky reported that Marostica’s gaffe earned him two meetings with House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, and one with Colorado GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams.