We’re heading back to work at the Colorado State Capitol for the 120-day legislative session of your Colorado General Assembly. After thousands of miles traveling to all 10 counties of Senate District 8 and hearing your concerns this past summer and fall, I am ready to bring your ideas to the Capitol.
As we begin 2024, it is clear that Colorado’s rural and mountain communities continue to face significant challenges. Here are some of the big topics that my colleagues and I hope to address at the legislature this year.
Affordability
We must continue our steadfast focus on lowering the cost of living for the hardworking people of Colorado. Multi-million grants for thousands of new affordable housing units have been awarded over the past few years that will result in thousands of more affordable homes in our communities – from Rangely to Eagle, Meeker to Steamboat and in many more towns across our region. But the hardworking folks that make our mountain communities function continue to be priced-out.
I will be working on legislation to allow counties and cities to offer property tax rebates when homeowners rent to long-term tenants instead of short-term rentals, or when they lease to needed community resources like child care centers or mental health providers. Further, we’re working on legislation to ensure every part of the state evaluates their true housing needs and sets strategic goals. We’ll also be working hard to find a long-term and bipartisan solution to property taxes in our state.
WATER
There is no important resource to our state and no more pressing challenge that we will face as a state in the decades to come than our water. This year, we’ll be working to deliver more funding for turf replacement, prohibit the installation of water-sucking non-functional turf on government property, and implement the recommendations of the Colorado River Drought Task Force.
We also plan to continue our historic funding for local water projects, including adding the state’s financial and policy support to the historic recently-announced agreement that will allow the Colorado River District to preserve flow from the Shoshone Hydropower Plant, which is crucial for all our communities that rely on the Colorado River.
TRANSPORTATION
After an unfortunately bad winter for accidents on I70 in 2023, we are taking a careful look at what can be done to improve commercial vehicle safety and help keep highways open. I’m working with CDOT on a bill to ensure that commercial vehicles have the chains and equipment they need, trucks stay in the right lane during inclement weather, and we crack down on speeding in Glenwood Canyon, Vail Pass and other sensitive areas.
We also have a unique opportunity to make mountain passenger rail a reality by the end of the decade. Connecting the communities of Craig, Hayden, and Steamboat to Kremmling, Winter Park, Rollinsville, and all the way to Denver – and hopefully even more routes, including in Eagle County – could be transformational for our communities. I look forward to ensuring the legislature does everything it can to help make this happen.
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
My Western Slope colleagues and I are working together to ensure that our region’s unique needs are heard and met at the legislature this year. We’re working across the aisle on legislation that will help small farmers, protect agricultural land, and continue economic development opportunities specifically for rural Colorado.
EDUCATION
One guarantee about this upcoming session that can be made right now is we will finally eliminate the budget stabilization factor and fully fund our K-12 education system. Eliminating this deficit will mean approximately $1,000 more per pupil which will be used to improve school resources, increase teacher pay, and much more.
CIVILITY
As we begin this new session, I carry with me a renewed commitment to service that I believe a majority of my colleagues share. Wars abroad, terribly partisan politics in D.C., and a looming Presidential election are top of mind and unfortunately, some of the divisive tendencies of national politics are creeping into Colorado. I am ashamed of this and we must do better.
We must continue to be an institution where our state’s most pressing challenges, and a common spirit to solve them, are top of mind for every legislator. As your State Senator, you have my pledge that our region’s concerns are my priority. I will work with anyone, from any party and any part of the state, to secure solutions. I am hoping the entirety of the legislature feels the same as we begin our work because this work is about you, our constituents, not us.
Throughout the 2024 legislative session and beyond, I welcome your feedback. I invite you to attend upcoming town hall meetings and to contact me directly at [email protected] or on my cell: 970-846-3054.
By DYLAN ROBERTS
Colorado State Senate
Dylan Roberts is the State Senator for Clear Creek, Eagle, Garfield, Gilpin, Grand, Jackson, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt and Summit Counties.
