1/27
Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate. Third week of the session has gone past so quickly. My first two bills as a Senator were passed out of committee unanimously! And a friend brought her daughter's girl scout group to testify about the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Measures Bill, which was a real highlight for me. I LOVE encouraging kids and seeing them testify in committee. They need to grow up knowing that government belongs to them and that their voice matters.
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from the desk of Senator Lisa Cutter
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This week I’ve really been digging in. I’ve been making a lot of progress with stakeholder meetings, and I presented my first two bills as a senator. Both were voted through committee unanimously. I hope this bodes well for the rest of session!
But what’s really been on my mind is my visit with my Senate Colleagues to the Colorado history Museum on Monday to view the Sandcreek Massacre exhibit. So many things struck me about this extremely well-executed and impactful exhibit. The overarching theme was of course the horrible brutality that characterized this senseless massacre. But the disinformation that was used to incite hatred against the Cheyene and Arapahoe people was also chilling. I’ve known about the massacre for years, but was unaware of an incident that helped inflame tensions and likely led to the incident. The Hungate family was brutally murdered on their property near Denver, and their bodies were subsequenty dug up and displayed in public to heighten the paranoia about impending attacks from the tribes nearby. But there was never solid evidence that the family was killed by Native Americans, and experienced frontiersmen believed it unlikely because of the manner of death.
Settlers were afraid of people who looked and behaved differently. Others played on this fear by promoting unsubstantiated claims (disinformation) to stoke the fear and anger that ultimately led to tragedy. Its and important reminder of how words are important and can lead to either violent or peaceful outcomes.
“Words are potent weapons for all causes, good or bad.”
— Manly Hall, Canadian author
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Monday I got the opportunity to speak about the missed anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. I spoke about how sacred life is, and that decisions about bring life into this world should also be held as sacred. Roe protected the rights of individuals to make these deeply personal - and yes sacred - decisions for themselves.
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Of my senate bills that have been introduced, I presented two in committee this week. The first is a bill about providing more training to existing providers as well as funding to increase the number of geriatric trained providers, from doctors and nurses to social workers, to help care for the 1.2 million Coloradans that are over the age of 60 years. It was passed out of committee unanimously!
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The second senate bill is about strengthening our wildfire workforce. For the past several years we’ve experienced the devastating impacts of wildfires in our state, impacting our lives, homes, health, water sheds and economy. The increase in frequency and intensity is a direct result of escalating climate change. We’ve done good work over the past several years to provide resources for mitigation and suppression, but resources don’t mean much without the workforce to deploy them. This bill will support programs to quickly get a trained workforce in the field. It was also passed unanimously.
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Conservation Colorado's Legislative Kick-Off
Feb 1st at 6pm
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Blue Spruce Brewing
10577 W. Centennial Road in Littleton
A discussion about legislative priorities in the environmental space. And I'll be around after to chat, come say hi!
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The Colorado Sun did a story on the bill I'm carrying with my good friend Representative Michaelson Jenet. The bill, which will be heard soon in the house Public & Behavioral & Human Services Committee, would establish mental health screenings for children in sixth to twelfth grades. I'm very excited about this policy because I believe it's important to invest our time and resources to prevent issues, especially when we are investing in young people.
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Another bill I'm working on made the news this week. The wildfire workforce bill that passed out of committee unanimously was highlighted by the journalists at Colorado Politics.
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If you would like to volunteer in my office to help out with constituent services, contact my aide at sencutteraide@gmail.com. We are looking for someone to help make sure all my constituents are heard in a timely manner.
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There is an opportunity to testify in front of the Joint Budget Committee about the 2023-2024 budget requests. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn more and share your opinions on where the state should focus expenditures.
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