OFFICE OF GOV. BILL RITTER, JR.

WWW.COLORADO.GOV/GOVERNOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TUESDAY, JAN. 12, 2010

CONTACTS

George Merritt, 303.918.1071, george.merritt@state.co.us

Evan Dreyer, 720.350.8370, evan.dreyer@state.co.us

GOV. RITTER OUTLINES 2010 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

Standing with state Senate President Brandon Shaffer and House Speaker Terrance
Carroll, Gov. Bill Ritter said today he intends to devote his final legislative
session to creating good jobs for Coloradans, continuing Colorado’s economic
recovery and keeping the state budget balanced.

“Over the next four months, our laser-like focus will be on economic recovery, job
creation and responsibly managing the state’s finances,” Gov. Ritter said. “We’ll
continue to work tirelessly on behalf of Colorado’s families and small businesses
as we lead Colorado forward.

“Our strategies are working,” Gov. Ritter said. “Colorado’s unemployment rate is
among the lowest in the country. We added new jobs to the economy in October and
November, and we have one of the best economic outlooks in the nation. This
legislative session, we are committed to keeping Colorado on the road to recovery
and maintaining Colorado as a national leader on issues such as energy, economic
development, education and healthcare.”

Legislative priorities for the 2010 session include:

New Energy Economy

· Increasing Colorado’s 20 percent by 2020 Renewable Energy Standard to 30

percent by 2020. Gov. Ritter and lawmakers doubled the state’s voter-approved RES
in 2007. The 20-by-20 goal is within reach and it’s time to set our goals higher
and continue creating tens of thousands of new jobs, increasing Colorado’s energy
security and protecting our environment.

· Making the Colorado State Park system the first in the country to use
zero net energy by 2020. As Colorado continues to expand its New Energy Economy,
this is an opportunity to increase the use of renewables and efficiency measures
in our state parks while also saving money and creating jobs.

· Creating new markets and increasing demand for Colorado natural gas
while maintaining Colorado’s balanced approach to responsible drilling and
environmental protection.

Job Creation & Training

· Creating new green-job certificates and green-job training programs. As

Colorado’s New Energy Economy continues to expand, we need to ensure that Colorado
is supplying new energy companies with the best educated and skilled workforce in
the country.

· Enacting new programs such as Health Care Jobs for Colorado, a Nurse
Loan Repayment Program and Job Training Accounts (Dec. 10 news release).

· Strengthening Colorado’s creative industries through three pieces of

legislation that will make it easier for commercial and videogame producers to
access state incentive funds, broaden the state’s Arts in Public Places law, and
establish a Creative Industries Division within the Office of Economic Development
(Jan. 5 news release).

Budget

· Keeping the state budget balanced by taking a balanced approach that:

spreads the burden and minimizes pain; asks state agencies, government employees,
private businesses and public schools to share in the solutions; and protects the
safety net, public safety and programs that promote job growth. Gov. Ritter will
be submitting a new round of budget-cutting proposals to the legislature for FY09-
10 in late January and for FY10-11 in mid-February.

· Saving money and achieving greater efficiencies in the state’s

healthcare budget through a Medicaid Modernization Act that will fight fraud, as
well as bills to standardize insurance claims and explanations of benefits, and
require insurance companies to write policies in plain language.

· Shoring up the state’s Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA)

pension fund, which is facing almost $30 billion in unfunded liabilities.

Education

· Modernizing teacher and student assessments through legislation that

will lead to the replacement of the CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program)
test in the next year or two, continuing the reforms begun under the Colorado
Achievement Plan for Kids (Senate Bill 08-212).

Consumer Protection

· Helping Colorado consumers through legislation that protects the value

of gift cards and protects neighborhoods from abandoned properties that are in
foreclosure.

Public Safety

· Strengthening public safety through legislation that will regulate and

rein in abuses in Colorado’s voter-approved medical marijuana program, toughen up
penalties for repeat drunk-driving offenses, and improve the state’s child-
protection system.

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