Colorado: Tom Massey

While the Colorado legislature debates state Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Jennifer Viega’s H.B. 1260 to allow adults to enter into “designated beneficiary agreements” that would provide a legal right for hospital visits among other rights for non-married persons. Do you agree with the Denver Democrats’ efforts?

Some hospitals don’t allow gay partners to visit during emergencies. | BuzzDash polls

Add your comments below the fold.

The bill passed the House 41-24 with partisan defections on both sides — Republican members Cheri Gerou, Don Marostica, Tom Massey, Kevin Priola, and Ellen Roberts voting for the measure and Democrats Wes McKinley and John Soper voting against it.

HB 1260 moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee which will hear the measure on March 16.

Elementary school students will have to be provided with 21/2 hours of physical activity a week under a bill approved Thursday in the Senate Education Committee.

The 21/2 hours could include traditional physical education classes or activities led by classroom teachers.

But schools also could satisfy the requirement with 21/2 hours of recess.

SB 131 is sponsored by Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver. He said breaks for physical activity can improve learning.

Objections came from local school boards, who argued that the bill interferes with their prerogative to schedule activities.

Manitou Springs school board member Anna Lord said requiring activity breaks will take time from something else.

The bill was approved without dissent and sent to the Senate floor.

A House committee Wednesday killed a proposal to give tax credits to Coloradans building new homes but approved a measure giving incentives to out-of-state filmmakers.

Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, told the House Finance Committee his bill was needed to jump-start home construction in Colorado. The bill would have given a tax credit to people who buy homes to be built in 2010.

The bill called for a credit worth 3 percent of the purchase price of the home, up to a maximum of $10,000.

Liston said the number of housing-construction starts in Colorado had fallen from a high of 40,000 in 2005 to fewer than 8,500 last year.

Legislative Democrats who pushed through what were considered major insurance reforms last year have come back this year with a number of bills that could turn the industry on its head.

Efforts have been introduced in the past week to:

* Return to the no-fault auto insurance system.

* Require health insurers to cover a slew of new preventive- care services.

* Stop insurance companies from charging women higher rates.

A number of other related bills are expected to come in the near future as well.

Families will pay much higher insurance rates if all of the measures pass, insurance industry leaders warned - this, during a time of recession.