Subject: Let's get to work
From: "Alan Franklin, ProgressNow Colorado" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:36:16 -0600 (CST)

ProgressNow Colorado

Dear Neighbor,
 
The 2011 session of the Colorado legislature kicks off tomorrow!
 
After a long year of electoral politics, we're finally getting down to
the real work of legislating and governing--this isn't the exciting
part that everyone pays attention to, but there is arguably no place
where our lives will be more impacted, for good or ill, than in our
state legislature. And as we have been for years, ProgressNow Colorado
will be on the ground from the opening gavel to the last vote.
 
Join us as we fight for our shared values in the Colorado legislature:
click here to make a donation to ProgressNow Colorado.

http://progressnowcolorado.pnstate.org/site/R?i=jh4iUtiQYvJNqOCpYPYKmA..

Here is just a sampling of the legislation ProgressNow Colorado will
be working on in 2011:
 
Budget Priorities: Colorado is just beginning to recover from the
worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Although the
economic situation is slowly getting better, we must work harder than
ever to protect critical functions of state government such as health
care for Colorado's working families, transportation infrastructure,
and education--both K-12 and higher education are threatened with huge
budget cuts this year. We must find a way to preserve resources for
these core priorities, and begin looking at a comprehensive solution
to our state's chronic budget shortfalls.
 
Health care: Colorado is required to pass legislation this year
setting up health purchasing exchanges as mandated by federal health
care reform. This legislation will determine what health care in
Colorado will look like in the future, and make or break access to
health care for hundreds of thousands of Coloradans. Several bills are
expected to be introduced, and passing the right plan is vital to our
state's future.
 
Civil unions: Historic gains are being made around the nation to give
equal protection before the law to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgendered citizens. In Colorado, some conservatives have joined
with advocates for the LGBT community to push for civil unions for
LGBT couples in committed relationships. A civil unions bill will be
introduced again in Colorado this year, and actually stands a better
chance of passage than it has in recent memory.
 
Payday lending: After last year's historic reform of the predatory
payday lending industry, brought about in part by the hard work of
thousands of ProgressNow Colorado members, lobbyists for the industry
are working to introduce legislation that would undo these reforms and
again expose Colorado's most economically vulnerable residents to 500%
interest rates. The fact is, payday lending reform has already put $50
million back in the pockets of Colorado families! It took years of
devoted organizing to regulate this industry against an army of
well-paid lobbyists and their allies on the right, and we will not let
this victory be undermined after the fact.

These are just a few of the literally hundreds of bills that will be
introduced in the Colorado General Assembly starting tomorrow. As with
every year, there are bills that would advance progress and others
that would roll back progress, and in many cases the news media will
never even mention them.
 
That's why ProgressNow Colorado is here. Since 2003, our job has been
to empower Colorado progressives to take action before the
legislature, and to give a voice for real solutions to the challenges
our community faces. You'll hear about the legislation that matters
this year before the press gets to it. You'll have opportunities to
join thousands of fellow Coloradans fighting for progressive
solutions--making phone calls, writing letters, and joining us at
events. Working together, we will protect the things that make
Colorado great, and stop the right wing from carrying out their
backward agenda.
 
It all starts now. Get started with your donation to ProgressNow
Colorado, and then watch your email box: we'll be in touch soon with
the next steps.

http://progressnowcolorado.pnstate.org/site/R?i=gVUf5CPA-39WP4_aBwMAhA..

Sincerely,
 
Alan Franklin
ProgressNow Colorado

PS. On Twitter? Get the latest on happenings at the state capitol by
following #COLeg. And tag your legislative tweets with #COLeg too.
It's going to be a great conversation.

© 2010 ProgressNow Colorado. All rights reserved.

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