Rocky Mountain Partnership's Policy & Legislative Action Network has been working hard over the last few months in preparation for the upcoming legislative session, which kicks off on Wednesday, January 12.

Let's kick off the year with a few important updates from the network, state, and nation:

Throughout the last half of 2021, the Policy & Legislative Action Network (PLAN) worked to understand barriers being lifted by other network leadership tables, as well as the political landscape approaching the 2022 legislative session.

After several rounds of brainstorming, revision, and finalization, the PLAN established 2022 policy priorities in October 2021. They were formally adopted by the Partnership Accountability Network in November 2021. They are:

The PLAN will use these policy priorities to guide decisions they make about supporting and opposing proposed legislation during the 2022 legislative session, providing testimony, and sending letters to lawmakers. Learn more about how this works HERE.

The Policy & Legislative Action Network (PLAN) has voted to support this legislation in advance of the start of the session and has signed on as a supporter alongside several other organizations in the region.

The PLAN will continue to monitor introduced legislation and assess opportunities to take supportive or opposing stances in keeping with their 2022 policy priorities.

Want more information about the Policy & Legislative Advisory Network and who is involved? Click HERE. 

The 2022 legislative session, set to begin Jan. 12 and run through early May, may not be a post-pandemic return to normal, but legislative leaders say they plan to start on time and get to work as soon as possible. Some precautions will carry over from last year, and leaders will continue to monitor the situation as omicron surges in the state.

The pandemic will not only affect how the session will run but the type of legislation considered, including how to spend one-time federal relief dollars as well as state money on affordable housing, jobs, education and mental health. Lawmakers also expect to bring bills related to wildfire mitigation after seeing the devastation caused most recently by the Marshall fire.

Democrats have a message for Omicron-flooded America: get vaxxed and carry on. From New York to California, Democratic mayors and governors are fighting to keep schools and businesses open with an urgency they haven’t flexed before in the pandemic.

Democrats went further than most Republicans in shutting down businesses, enforcing social distancing and requiring masks to tame the spread of the virus — and were initially rewarded politically for their caution. But as the nation trudges into a third pandemic year in the grips of another variant-fueled wave, blue state leaders faced with exhausted and frustrated voters have lost the stomach for strict shutdowns.

Residents who lost their homes in the Marshall Fire can’t be guaranteed that FEMA will fill the gap between what insurance covers and the cost of rebuilding. They do have, however, access to federal loans to help fill those gaps.

“FEMA’s assistance is capped at a certain amount, so if people are insured, it’s not always guaranteed that FEMA will help meet those unmet needs,” FEMA representative Adam Heyns told residents who joined federal, state and local representatives during a virtual town hall meeting on Sunday.

Colorado’s health department reactivated “crisis standards of care” for emergency medical services Friday evening, saying there is a high demand for ambulances but a shortage of medical workers as COVID-19 cases surge across the state.

This means only the most severe patients will be taken by ambulance to hospitals, with less-urgent patients referred to other health care services. Additionally, ambulances can go to the nearest hospital and some patients may be taken to urgent cares and other non-hospital facilities.

Matthew La Crue, Managing Director, Dentons

PLAN Co-Champion

Ryan McCoy, Executive Director, Front Range Community College Foundation

PLAN Co-Champion

We've gotta say it: This information is subject to change. In addition, some updates may be sourced from organizations that have read limits or limits on how many articles you can access in a given time period.

Rocky Mountain Partnership | rmpartnership.org