The RLC Colorado is plotting a summer brewery tour. We’ll visit brewers and establishments specializing in Colorado Craft beer. We’ll also introduce freedom lovers around the state to the RLC. Whats your favorite craft brewery in the state?
Dates and establishments to be announced. Check back at this location!
Governor Hickenlooper ran for office as a business smart centrist Democrat. The Democratically controlled legislature has pushed him to govern as a Denver progressive. This is his chance to show his true colors.
Senate Bill 252 will soon hit his desk for signature. The bill mandates that rural electric cooperatives in Colorado begin using 20% “renewable” energy sources by 2020. Yet the bill does not count hydro-electric power as renewable. It also ignores the previous operating mandate that these energy providers achieve 10% renewables use by 2020.
This will obviously result in higher utility rates for co-op members but will also hurt businesses who consume power in those areas. Rural areas of this state have been under attack by the crony capitalist “Green” energy industry for several years. Enough is enough. The Governor should show that he is more than the mayor of Denver. He should veto this centrally planned and scientifically unsound bill.
Representative Jared Wright vigorously opposed Senate Bill 13-013. See his comments:
While debating SB13 today, granting Colorado peace officer (POST)
status to US Secret Service agents, I began to think about the “free
speech zones” the USSS constructs in areas the president will be
visiting in the name of security. Here is a picture of a “free speech
cage” built in the area of the 2004 Democratic National Convention
which protesters were forced to stand behind to practice their First
Amendment rights.
And now, Colorado legislators just blindly granted
more powers of arrest for “state felony AND misdemeanor crimes
committed in an agent’s presence” to the Secret Service working in our
state – even though the Secret Service themselves told me their making
an arrest of a Colorado citizen for a misdemeanor crime unrelated to
their duties would violate their own policy guidelines. So why are we
giving the Secret Service authority that violates the agency’s own
internal policies? Why didn’t the red flag go up for a majority of the
members of the House? Last I checked, we were elected to represent
Colorado citizens, not the federal government. Shame on members of the
law enforcement community who supported this measure. They have
willingly given up their own and their citizen’s 10th Amendment
Constitutional rights in the name of possibly lightening their
caseloads.
A complete list of yeas and naes will follow shortly.
The following statement was release today by the RLC Colorado:
RLCCO Press Release 2013-03-22
The 165 page report released last week by the Governor’s Amendment 64 Task Force contains the words “tax”, “taxes”, “taxing”, “taxpaying”, “taxation” and “taxed” a total of 122 times. The word “freedom” appears once – in Appendix A, the full copy
of the text of Amendment 64 – where the concept of “individual
freedom” is included in the first sentence of the purpose of the
Amendment. Sadly, the word “liberty” merits zero mentions in the Task
Force’s final report.
“It is a dangerous time for liberty when the legislature is in
session,” remarked Earl Bandy, Chairman of the Republican Liberty
Caucus of Colorado. “However, there are several Republicans asking
important questions on the Joint Committee, including Senator Vicki
Marble and Representative Brian DelGrosso, and members of the
Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado support their efforts to
implement Amendment 64 in a Republican way.”
Last week, during public testimony, Sen. Marble clarified that the
15% excise tax as recommended by the Task Force report is not fixed
at that amount by Amendment 64. That 15% is actually the maximum
upper limit allowed by the Amendment for at least four (4) years. The
Legislature could very well set the excise tax much lower. Members of
the Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado support a 0% excise tax
(and no new sales tax increases) as the best path to growth in jobs
and the economy, while respecting TABOR.
Yesterday, the Denver Post reported that Rep. DelGrosso brought up
concerns over the rent-seeking displayed by the medical marijuana
industry as it seeks to gain “monopoly” control of the new adult-use
industry for the first year of implementation. The one-year plan goes
hand-in-hand with the vertical integration model as proposed by the
Task Force report. This model, also referred to as common ownership
and copied from the current medical marijuana regulations, would
effectively require every retail marijuana establishment to operate
like a brew pub – selling what they can manufacture themselves, with
perhaps up to 30% of inventory allowed from outside sources.
Members of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado support
diversity in the marketplace without government picking winners and
losers. Just as bars and restaurants that import 100% of their
alcohol can peacefully co-exist alongside brew pubs that make 100% of
their own craft brews, so should a variety of retail marijuana
establishments be allowed to bloom in this new free market space.
While sympathetic to the plight of medical marijuana centers in
regards to overbearing government regulations, complicated tax
structures, and the occasional federal decree from afar, the solution
to the problem of too much government is… more liberty and less
government.
To further that principle of limited government, Republican
Legislators should welcome the opportunity to repeal decades of
failed marijuana prohibition statutes under cover of Amendment 64 –
reaching above and beyond the text where called for. Also, the
support of amnesty for current non-violent marijuana prisoners would
do great justice for the cause of individual freedom.
Colorado Senate Bill 13-013, working its way through the state legislature would give the United States Secret Service “Peace Officer” authority in the state. More than being a solution in search of a problem, this bill is a terrible intrusion of Federal power into local law enforcement by an agency with expanding powers and a track record of abusing free speech rights of Americans. This bill will come before the Colorado house this week prior to a final stop for the Governor’s signature. The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado urges you to contact your state representative and tell them to vote “NO on SB-13”.
You may envision the Secret Service as the guys in black suits ready to take a bullet for the President. In Fact, the Secret Service employs approximately 3,200 special agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division officers, and more than 2,000 other technical, professional and administrative support personnel.
In a post 9/11 world there is much more to the agency than serving as presidential body guards. In fact expanding the use of “peace officer” authority in various states is part of an organized effort to give the Secret Service another tool in the kit of powers used to restrict the voice of peaceful protest near the President, foreign visitors and major national events.
The Secret Service has too much power over citizens already! Beginning in 2002 the Secret Service has been used to limit protest speech to which federal and foreign officials are subject. The agency repeatedly directed local law enforcement to place protesters opposed to administration policies out of sight and away from cameras and press, while those supporting the President or neutral, are placed in prime locations. This practice continued at the Republican and Democratic National conventions of 2008 and 2012.
This is a basic first amendment violation. “The Secret Service’s directives, which have the effect of deciding which messages are to be afforded favorable treatment, are completely at odds with our Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and rights of protest,” ACLU Legal Director Stefan Presser said.
The Patriot Act of 2006 again expanded the powers of the Secret Service by creating, for the first time, a Uniformed Service division, essentially a uniformed federal police. The act also allows the president in his sole discretion to designate an event as “a special event of national significance” and deploy the Secret Service to oversee security at the event and its perimeter.
In response to large scale protests at federal facilities by Tea Party and Occupy groups, even more power was granted the Secret Service in 2011 with the passage of the “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act.” The law, signed by President Obama, expands an existing statute by making your presence around these areas a criminal act even if you are not “willfully” committing a crime!
Couple this track record of legislation with a recent Supreme court decision granting immunity from civil litigation to the Secret Service and the potential for abuses is obvious. The case originated in Colorado when a man in at a mall in Beaver Creek touched the Vice President and uttered some unkind words about the war in Iraq. He was subsequently arrested. His lawsuit was dismissed by the court and immunity from such suits now shields the agency.
Who would want to grant this agency additional powers in Colorado? There can be no doubt that this bill came from outside! It is part a similar push in other states, most recently in Connecticut. In that state some most Republicans and a few Democrats questioned the bills intent:
Lets hope Colorado Republicans are willing to demand answers to the same questions and vote “NO” on Senate Bill 13. Contact your Rep and tell them you want a NO vote.
Today more than twenty members of the RLC Colorado from Adams, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, El Paso and Larimer counties convened with fellow Republicans to vote on GOP leadership in Colorado.
Ellyn Hilliard, one of our founding members is now the Chairwoman of the Second Congressional District and thus a member of the Colorado GOP executive committee.
RLCCO members are now also Vice Chair and Secretary in Boulder County, Chairman in Clear Creak County and serve on executive committees in 4 Counties.
Today was also a great outreach opportunity. The RLCCO picked up several new members and is once again fresh out of buttons! Also, we managed to feed many attendees, including several state legislators, with our make shift sandwich board.
Many thanks to our members and friends who were not voting but attended to staff the table and run operations.
Please help us continue our efforts and restock our shelves by becoming a member or making a contribution today!
Press Release:
RLCCO A64 Letter Press Release 2
The implementation of Amendment 64 represents a historic opportunity for the Colorado Republican party to grow its message of small government to a much larger audience. This particular legislative session will require great efforts at reigning in the regulatory reflex of the Democratic Party in favor of federalism and individual liberty as supported by the Republican Party.
The Governor and many appointed members of his Amendment 64 Task Force were staunch opponents of the Amendment. They represent entrenched bureaucratic interests that prefer the old set of laws, including the use of force rather than voluntary exchange and cooperation better suited to a free people.
The RLCCO has issued an open letter to Senator Vicki Marble (R,SD23) and Representative Dan Nordberg (R,HD14). These two legislators are the Republican appointees to the Governor’s Amendment 64 implementation Task Force. Our letter outlines principles, policy positions, and additional legislation that will allow for Amendment 64 to be implemented in a Republican way; encouraging localism, entrepreneurship, low regulatory burdens and limiting taxation, while resisting state surveillance and government-imposed discrimination in banking and reporting. This is a chance to make an affirmative case that Republican principles are consistent with the will of the voters of Colorado. The GOP should lead in crafting legislation to put those principles into law.
UPDATE: 2/18. 3:45 PM. The Colorado House Committee on State, Veterans and Military Affairs has PASSED 13-1045. It now moves on to the full house. From Rep. Wright,
“The Colorado Citizen’s Freedom Act – state NDAA nullification passes committee 7-4! Thank you Democrat Representatives Salazar, Labuda & Moreno for your votes. Now the bill is headed to the House floor. Looking forward to getting it passed and sending it over to the Senate for the very able Senator Jessie Ulibarri to take the flag and run with it.”
Thank You to all of you who have called or written to your representatives. Now is now time to let up. Each Rep will get to vote. So they each need a phone call from you!
End Update.
Thank you so much for your response in support of Colorado House Hill 13-1045. The bill, sponsored by Republican Representative Jared Wright (R,HD54), prohibits the use of Colorado resources in enforcing the odious and unconstitutional provisions of the National Defense Authorization act of 2011.
This week several members of the Republican Liberty Caucus testified in favor of the bill before the House Committee on State, Veterans and Military Affairs. This committee will vote on the bill on Monday morning, February 18th.
Please call your representative in the Colorado House, especially if they serve on this committee. Remind them that this is an important “civil liberties” issue.
The members of the committee are the following:
Committee Members
Su Ryden, Chair (D,HD36, Arapahoe Co ) (303) 866-2942
Joe Salazar, Vice-Chair (D,HD31, Adams Co) (303) 866-2918
Tim Dore (R,HD64, SE Colorado) (303) 866-2398
Mike Foote (D,HD12, Boulder Co) (303) 866-2920
Steve Humphrey (R,HD48 Weld Co) (303) 866-2943
Jeanne Labuda (D,HD1, Denver) (303) 866-2966
Jovan Melton (D, HD41, Arapahoe Co) (303) 866-2919
Dominick Moreno (D, HD32, Adams Co) (303) 866-2964
Dan Nordberg (R, HD14, El Paso) (303) 866-2965
Ray Scott (R,HD55, Mesa Co) (303) 866-3068
Angela Williams (D,HD7, Denver) (303) 866-2909
The directory for the Colorado House is found here: Directory
Please call as soon as possible and ask for a “YES” vote on Colorado House Bill 13-1045.
The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado encourages its members and supporters to do all we can to see that HB 13-1045 becomes law in Colorado.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jared Wright and co-sponsored by Sen. Jessie Ulibarri, would prohibit state agencies and employees, including the national guard, from assisting the armed forces in investigation, prosecution, or detention of any person under section 1021 of the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012″, if such aid would place the entity in violation of the United States constitution, the Colorado constitution, or any law of this state.
Wright said, “”No citizen of this great nation should ever be subject to indefinite detention without access to an attorney of their choice and a speedy trial, amongst all their other constitutional rights,” Wright said. “I am pleased that members of both parties see the importance of preserving and protecting our fundamental right of due process.”
The first step is to demonstrate that this issue has support in Colorado and is passed out of the State, Veterans and Military Affairs committee. This bill will be heard in committee on Monday January 28th at 1:30pm. So act quickly!
Click HERE to send a message to your state Reps and members of the Military Affairs committee.
