DENVER - Bill Ritter takes office as Colorado's 41st governor today, promising action this year on renewable energy.
Today, 11 a.m.: Inauguration of Gov. Bill Ritter, Lt. Gov Barbara O’Brien, Attorney General John Suthers, Secretary of State Mike Coffman, Treasurer Cary Kennedy.
Wednesday, 10 a.m.: Legislature starts its 120-day session.
Thursday, 11 a.m.: Ritter’s first State of the State speech at the Legislature.
Friday, 5 p.m.: Inaugural ball, downtown Denver.
Saturday, all day: Ritter-O’Brien train tour from Greeley to Pueblo.
Legislators begin their four-month session Wednesday, a day after Ritter is sworn in on the steps of the Capitol. Democratic leaders have embraced Ritter's campaign pledge on energy, and lawmakers also will debate education reform and the state's strict new ethics law.
House leaders are promoting a bill by Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, to double the amount of renewable electricity used in Colorado by 2015. In 2004, Colorado voters passed Amendment 37, which requires 10 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Smaller rural utilities - such as La Plata Electric Association - were exempt from Amendment 37.
Pommer's bill would require 20 percent renewable electricity by 2015, and House Majority Leader Alice Madden wants it to apply to all the state's utilities. Utility companies fought Amendment 37, although Xcel, which serves the Front Range, has now embraced it and is on target to meet the requirements years ahead of schedule.
Since Amendment 37 passed, more wind farms have been built on the Eastern Plains, and solar power plants are being planned in the San Luis Valley.
Other bills would create incentives for homeowners to use wind and solar power, and install windmills at schools.
Ritter and his fellow Democrats also have plans for reforming the traditional energy industry. On Monday, Ritter told Colorado Public Radio that the state is approving too many oil and gas drilling permits. Colorado set a record in 2006, with 5,904 drilling permits approved.
Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, wants to remove responsibility for public health from the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and give it to the Department of Public Health and Environment. Last week, Ritter appointed Jim Martin, the head of the environmental group Western Resource Advocates, to lead the health department.
Curry and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, also want gas companies to reveal more information about how much gas they produce, to make sure royalty owners and the state's tax coffers are getting their fair share.
On the ethics front, business will be done differently at the Capitol this year thanks to Amendment 41, which bans lobbyists from giving anything of value to lawmakers, including meals. The amendment sets up a strict code of ethics that applies to all government employees. Attorney General John Suthers said in December that it would prohibit a university professor from receiving the Nobel Prize, because no government employee can accept a gift of more than $50 from someone who isn't a close friend.
The amendment's authors are working with legislators to craft a bill that interprets the amendment, but senior Republicans warned Democrats not to stray from the plain language of the amendment.
"Any attempt to dilute the amendment through 'implementing legislation' would invite contempt from voters, and rightly so," wrote Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker.
Education politics also will change under the Democratic government. There is no talk about vouchers for private schools, a favorite conservative idea, said Sen. Sue Windels, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.
She is backing a bill to create a "P-16" task force, to study sweeping education reform from preschool through college. The commission would not propose a plan this year.
Windels also wants money for 4,000 new preschool spots for at-risk children.
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