Dear Friends,

As we prepare to say goodbye (and perhaps good riddance!) to this most unusual year, I wanted to send out an update on some changes heading into 2021.

First, I am no longer serving on the Joint Budget Committee. Instead, I will be heading up the Senate Education Committee as its new Chair. Given my longstanding background in education, I look forward to steering the group through what I anticipate will be some exceptionally challenging issues in 2021.

I was also appointed to serve on the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee. The debate over the most reasonable ways to fund transportation needs in Colorado will probably never disappear, but I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come up with some workable proposals this session.

My service on these committees will be on hold, however, as the House and Senate Democratic leadership announced last week that we will be delaying the start of the 2021 session due to the pandemic. The General Assembly will convene on January 13 to attend to certain constitutional and statutory obligations, such as swearing in new members, and then we will go into a temporary recess until February 16.

Most of the ceremonial activities will be postponed until we return in February. There has been no word yet whether or not we will be running any bills in those first few days--such as my introductory bill on holding school finance steady--or if we must wait until we return in February. I'll keep you posted on any further developments.

While I am anxious to close the book on 2020, it looks as though the first chapter of 2021 will look a whole lot like the current one... for now. To that end, I want to wish everyone a safe and healthy New Year.

Cheers!