Colorado House Speaker unveils bills aimed to help Western Slope voters

DENVER, Colo. (KKCO) - Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie unveiled bills aimed at tackling issues Western Slope voters are faced with.

A few of the bills discussed in her meeting with Western Slope officials were about education, water investments, wildfire mitigation and wolf depredation.

Speaker McCluskie says 30-million dollars has been put into rural schools. 45-million dollars has been used to pay for free community college and Colorado Mountain College credentials. This is for areas seeing career shortages such as nursing, early childhood education, law enforcement, and firefighting.

Speaker McCluskie carried forward a bill for a fire hawk helicopter. This type of helicopter would allow rural areas to respond to wildfires faster. She also laid out a fair plan program to provide a safety net of insurance for homeowners living in wildfire prone areas.

Speaker McCluskie also backed a bill that would ensure the 10(j) has been received and approved by the state before any wolf reintroduction happens.

“We also passed the wolf depredation compensation funds, that was a bill that I also carried with Representative Catlin and Senate Bill 256, which makes a commitment to ensuring that the 10(j) has been received and approved and here in the state before wolf reintroduction occurs.” Speaker McCluskie said.

Rural agriculture was also focused on in this slew of bills. Speaker McCluskie said we are the first state in the nation to pass a right to repair agricultural equipment.

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