Senator Hisey Newsletter
March 23rd, 2022
Updates on Elections & Bills
| While I usually don’t discuss politics in these updates, getting on the ballot and then winning matters or there won’t be any more updates “Straight From the Senate”. County assembly this last Saturday proved to have its share of drama but that’s pretty common for El Paso County. It feels a little different with redistricting having split up the current SD-2, which becomes effective after the next election, and parceled it out to other districts and moved me into SD11. This is completely in El Paso County. Fortunately, the Senate District 11 meeting was drama-free and I was placed on the primary ballot by acclimation. With that behind me, it’s back to work under the gold dome. |
| Senate Bill 153, which originally had a prohibition on selling gas lawn and garden tools like lawnmowers and leaf blowers in certain parts of the state was amended in committee to use the carrot and no stick approach. This resulted in electric garden tools receiving tax credits at the time of purchase to make them more affordable and attractive to buyers. The bill still has to pass the Appropriations Committee and full Senate before going to the House, so who knows, more changes are still possible. 1279, the Abortion Bill was good for a 14-hour hearing in committee with hundreds of people testifying. Not my committee but sounds like 2 to 1 opposed to the bill. We are scheduled to hear that bill on the Senate Floor this week. Expect lots of passion on both sides. My bill, SB 114, which preserves certain ponds for fire fighting to prevent small fires from becoming wildfires should be debated on the floor this week. It seems that it takes a quite complicated bill to implement a very simple concept when water is involved. We’re negotiating with one more water district to see if we can allay their concerns before we bring it to a vote. |