GRAND JUNCTION — Late Tuesday evening, Grand Junction’s Rep. Bernie Buescher (D), Rep. Steve King (R) and Sen. Josh Penry (R) passed a last crop of bills, cleared their Capitol desks and waved goodbye to Denver and this year’s 119-day legislative session.

Each man said a lot was accomplished this year with one glaring omission — transportation. Funding solutions like a $5 toll on Interstate 70 failed and a car registration fee “landed with a thud,” said Penry.

Buescher said he wants to spend his summer asking people what they think should be done with transportation funding, especially in regards to local issues with congestion. He said he didn’t support the $5 toll and is searching for a new answer and to put an end to people trying to pass the buck.

“Everyone acknowledges that our roads are deteriorating and our bridges are becoming unsafe, but the tendency is to say someone else has to pay for that,” Buescher said.

Penry proposed taking the 1 percent amount set aside in Amendment 23 for education funding and using it for transportation when that provision expires.
King said he would have supported the plus-one proposal because it addresses transportation funding without pondering a tax increase.

“That’s the type of problem solving we need,” King said. “That’s the easy way out, to ask people for money. The harder way is to figure out how are we going to solve this problem.”

Buescher and Penry’s efforts in the off-season to meet on a federal mineral lease and severance tax committee paid off this session. Both men were among the sponsors for Senate Bill 218, which will use federal mineral lease dollars to start a fund for local governments affected by the energy industry and create a reserve fund for higher education. That bill, along with FML-related House Bills 1083 and 1084, passed the House and Senate.

The men also cosponsored a late-blooming bill that passed the Legislature that will regulate evaporation pit liner and location standards.

Penry was part of the bipartisan education reform bill Senate Bill 212, which also passed the Legislature. The bill will reconfigure preschool through 12th grade education and could lead the way to major changes in assessments. It took out high school CSAP testing and replaced it with college entrance exams, for example.

Buescher said his prize bill is one that will provide mental health services for victims of child abuse. Thirteen children died from child abuse in Colorado in the past year. The bill accompanied one that talks about responding to child abuse.

“Together they are a statement that these deaths are unacceptable and we’re going to review processes in the state to see what’s right and what’s not right,” Buescher said.

King is most proud of his bills that deal with DNA, preventing the photocopying of child pornography for use in a court case and a water source-wrecking mussel. He said next year he wants to create a state law that would allow a person to be tried for homicide if the person injures a child in utero that is born alive and then dies because of the injuries. The law was inspired by recent cases involving Logan Lage and Lonnie Herrera.

For now, King might need some time to decompress after the drama brought by election-year politics, former Democratic House Assistant Majority Leader Michael Garcia’s lewd conduct scandal and the numerous tabloid-type stories that came from the behavior of Rep. Doug Bruce, R-Colorado Springs.

“I think I’m still going through post-traumatic Bruce disorder,” King said.

Reach Emily Anderson at eanderson@gjfreepress.com.