Previewing the 2018 Legislative Session

The 2018 Legislative Session will get underway in about a week, and Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran shared a preview of what lawmakers will be tackling.

She said a big priority will be making sure Coloradans are able to get ahead, and that includes covering a variety of issues.

“We are so thankful to live in a state like Colorado where we have one of the strongest economies in the nation, but we also have to recognize that there are a lot of hard-working families are still struggling to be able to afford to get ahead,” Duran said. “We want to take on the issues of affordable childcare, affordable housing, making sure were investing adequately into education.”

She said lawmakers will be taking up a bill that will continue to ensure a tax credit is available to people building homes or re-developing them.

“We need to ensure that hard-working Coloradans who are doing everything they can to be able to get ahead have the opportunity to have access to homeownership. It’s part of the American Dream.”

She said they’ll also be looking into funding transportation needs and what she calls our severely underfunded education system.

“Right now in the state of Colorado, our education school systems are underfunded by about $828 million, so we have a lot of catching up to do,” Duran explained. “I want to make sure boys and girls across the state had the opportunity to be able to reach their full potential, and that means additional investments that will go into classrooms. We also need to look at her teacher shortage in some of the rural areas.”

And lawmakers will be tackling a recent hot-button issue: sexual harassment.

“We’re in the process of hiring in HR person at the Capitol and also an outside expert to be able to take feedback from all parties to ensure that we have systemic change and that we work to change the culture at the capital,” Duran said. “Nobody should ever have to feel like they have to endure inappropriate behavior to be able to do do their job and we want to do everything we can to address this issue.”

The 2018 Session officially convenes on January 10.