Growing up, Easter weekend was my favorite holiday. I lived across the street from our parish, St. Andrew's Orthodox church, and my family would spend the entire week between Palm Sunday and Pascha engrossed in church activities. It was very exciting to stay awake until midnight for mass and then feast on Greek food at 2:00 am. All the kids would run around shouting, "Christos Anesti" with our dyed-red eggs and smash them against our friends' eggs as they responded, "Alithos Anesti!"

I still feel that same sense of excitement this time of year. The days are getting brighter, the earth is turning greener, and I feel energized by spring. You can feel that same sense of renewal down at the Capitol too. This year in particular, many of our legislative bills are aimed at helping the people of Colorado rebound from COVID, revitalize our health, and re-invest in our economy. Here are a few examples:

Housing: Colorado faces significant challenges with regard to housing. Many people in Colorado can no longer rent or purchase a home at a price they can afford. Therefore, the Affordable Housing Transformational Task Force worked during the interim to come up with recommendations for a series of bills to address our lack of affordable housing in Colorado. These bills include:

Behavioral Health: For decades, Colorado's fractured and too often ineffective behavioral health system has left the most vulnerable without needed support. Too many people are left untreated, resulting in high rates of suicide, harmful substance use, and depression. The Behavioral Health Transformational Task Force put together a series of bills aimed at address this crisis. These bills include:

Economic Relief and Recovery: Although Colorado seems to be recovering economically, some industries and populations are still struggling. The state's industries with lower wages lost the most jobs with the onset of the pandemic and these industries remain furthest from full recovery. The Task Force on Economic Recovery filed a report with a number of key recommendations. These bills include:

What's up this week? We now have approximately three weeks and three days left this session. The pace will quicken immensely and we will be juggling our floor work with our committee work. Here's what I have going on this coming week:

We officially completed our work on the 2022-23 budget bill last week. The Joint Budget Committee accommodated a majority of the House amendments that were added, and a few of the Senate amendments too. Click here for a summary of the Long Bill Conference Report. Here are a few of the budget highlights:

We created a few placeholders within the budget for items that will come forward in separate legislation. For example, funding for the School Finance Act, $900 million for one-time projects, $600 million for the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, and $200 million for PERA. Also, given that we are nearly $2 billion over the TABOR cap, in addition to fully funding the Senior Property Homestead Tax Exemption program and reducing the State's income tax rate, there will be a series of tax credit bills coming foward.

Denver Post: Colorado’s growing anti-doxxing law could soon include teachers

Bus & Motorcoach News: Colorado Senate approves $5.5M to improve school bus safety

Collective Colorado: Low Pay Leaves Rural Teachers Struggling

Kiowa County Press: Colorado Senate approves bill to provide more funding for middle-class housing

STL News: Colorado Governor Polis Signs Bills Into Law

KPVI The Center Square: Colorado Senate approves bill to provide more funding for middle-class housing

Chalkbeat Colorado: A rideshare company is transporting Colorado at-risk students. Whose rules should apply?

For a full list of this week's press and videos visit rachelforcolorado.com/news.

Please join us on Saturday, May 21 from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm for a virtual legislative town hall meeting. The legislative session will end on May 11, so we will provide a legislative wrap-up. In addition, we will host several reporters who cover the Capitol to get their perspective. For more details, click HERE.

NEW! SB22-202 State Match for Mill Levy Override Revenue: Concerning providing state matching money for property tax revenue collected by school districts. The bill will be heard in the Senate Education Committee on Thursday, April 16 at 1:30 pm.

SB22-146 Middle Income Access Program Expansion: Concerning the expansion of the Colorado housing and finance authority's middle income access program. The bill passed out of the Senate.

SB22-159 Revolving Loan Fund Invest Affordable Housing: Concerning the creation of a revolving loan fund within the division of housing in the department of local affairs to make investments in transformational affordable housing. The bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB22-192 Opportunities for Credential Attainment: Concerning the creation of opportunities for credential attainment, and, in connection therewith, making an appropriation. The bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee and referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

HB22-1031 Consumer Right to Repair Powered Wheelchairs: Concerning a requirement that a powered wheelchair manufacturer facilitate the repair of its powered wheelchairs by providing certain other person with the resources needed to repair the manufacturer's powered wheelchairs. The bill will be heard in the Senate Business, Labor & Technology Committee on Monday, April 18 at 1:30 pm.

HB22-1294 Special Education Services in Charter Schools: Concerning additional pathways to provide special education services to children with disabilities in charter schools. The bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee and will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, April 19.

The red font indicates a new bill or a change in status. For a full list of active bills, visit rachelforcolorado.com/capitol or the Colorado General Assembly's website.

SB22-017 Fluid Milk Products Not Divisible Load: Concerning the determination that a load of fluid milk products hauled by a vehicle is not a divisible load under the vehicle weight limits permitted by law.

SB22-054 Recommend Community School for Turnaround Plan: Concerning the addition of a recommendation that a district public school be converted to a community school if the district public school fails to make substantial progress under its turnaround plan.

SB22-064 Neighborhood Youth Organizations: Concerning requirements for neighborhood youth organizations that provide services designed for the development of youth.

SB22-121 Tuition Revenue Pledged by Institution Higher Education: Concerning increasing the amount of tuition revenues pledged by an institution of higher education.

SB22-137 Transition Back to Standard K-12 Accountability: Concerning measures related to the transitional return to standard education.

SB22-142 Repeal Municipal Bond Supervision Advisory Board: Concerning the repeal of the municipal bond supervision advisory board.

HB22-1057 Public Employees' Retirement Association Employment After Teacher Retirement: Concerning public employees' retirement association employment after retirement limitations.

HB22-1162 Motor Vehicle Digital Number Plates: Concerning authorization to use digital number plates in lieu of metal number plates on a vehicle.

HB22-1093 Updates to Bingo and Raffles Law: Concerning the conduct of charitable gaming activity, and, in connection therewith, modernizing the "Bingo and Raffles Law" to accommodate the use of improved electronic aids and devices in the conduct of games of chance and making an appropriation.

HB22-1099 Online Marketplaces and Third-party Sellers: Concerning mandatory disclosures of third-part sellers selling through online marketplace.

HB22-1101 Public Employees’ Retirement Association Service Retiree Employment in Rural Schools: Concerning the expansion of a program that allows a public employees’ retirement association service retiree to work full-time without any reduction in the service retiree’s retirement for benefits for a rural school district that has a critical shortage of qualified individuals with specific experience, skills, or qualifications that the service retiree has.

HB22-1245 Foster Youth in Transition Program Clarifications: Concerning clarifications related to the foster youth in transition program.

HB22-1250 Nonsubstantive Changes to Title 7 of Colorado Revised Statutes: Concerning nonsubstantive changes to title 7 of the Colorado revised statutes.

HB22-1255 Improve Higher Education for Students With a Disability: Concerning measures to improve postsecondary education outcomes for students with a disability.

HB22-1331 Supplemental Funding for Facility Schools: Concerning supplemental funding for facility schools, and, in connection therewith, making an appropriation. 

HB22-1333 Increase Minimum Wage for Nursing Home Workers: Concerning an increase in the minimum wage for nursing facility employees, and, in connection therewith making an appropriation. 

HB22-1334 Food Distribution Program Administrative Fee: Concerning the collection of an administrative fee from an agency that receives commodities through a food distribution program.

HB22-1336 Streamline Processing of Judicial Department Collections: Concerning the streamlining of the processing of certain money collected by the judicial department. 

HB22-1339 Merge Department of Revenue Division of Motor Vehicles Cash Funds: Concerning the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account of the highway users tax fund, and, in connection therewith, merging the licensing services cash fund into the account and requiring account investment earnings to be credited to the account. 

HB22-1340 Capital-related Transfers of Money: Concerning capital-related transfers of money.

HB22-1342 Marijuana Tax Cash Fund: Concerning measures to ensure that the marijuana tax cash fund is in balance.