by Carolyn Martin
After this past election, major changes are expected to come to our national government, which will have an impact on our state legislature. Unfortunately, the Colorado General Assembly remains in the hands of people who do not affirm God’s order and design for government. During their caucus meetings to elect new leadership, the majority party indicated that their priorities to push agendas that ultimately grow dependence on government and lessen our ability to live free remains the same.
It is clear that the leaders of the legislature are very concerned about what funding might be stripped from Colorado due to the newly-elected President’s policy plans around immigration, healthcare, education, and climate change, to name just a few. Even as this year comes to a close, the state is looking at an almost $1B budget deficit, which means they will have to find ways to cut spending or create new fees in an attempt to circumvent TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) limits and balance the budget.
During the first few days of session, which begins on January 8th, we will see the Governor and the leaders of the House and Senate lay out their plans for Colorado. Plans that hinge on Governor Polis’ desire to fundamentally transform Colorado – which he has been touting and implementing since his first year in office. Before any bills begin moving through the process, Executive Branch Departments and Agencies will go before various committees of reference to give brief reports on their activities and financial needs. If you go to the legislative website and follow the schedule, you can listen in and hear for yourself what they mean when they say they want to create a ‘Colorado for all’.
As homeschoolers, we need to watch for bills brought by both public school and school choice advocates. The loss of Amendment 80 will spur both groups to bring bills to shore up their positions. The public school advocates will be seeking to bolster the funding for public schools currently threatened by budget shortfalls, and they will again propose a bill to constrict charter schools’ flexibility. The school choice advocates will most likely bring another bill attempting to allocate government funds for private education and homeschooling. We must stand firm on our position that government funding brings government control and oppose bills that include homeschoolers in any government funding scheme, no matter how tempting they sound.
The other area that continues to be under attack is parental rights. In the upcoming session, we will see more bills to separate youth from their parents, especially those who are suffering from gender dysphoria. Mental health and sexuality are two areas where the legislature has been strengthening the wedge between parent and child – the very areas where parents’ guidance is most needed in their child’s life. Parental rights supporters will probably bring forward a bill to enshrine those rights in our constitution. Be prepared to affirm parental rights by opposing bills giving children rights and supporting measures to uphold the God-given authority of parents.
As you can see, this session will be much like the past six sessions since the Democrats gained the majority throughout the state. But the new president-elect does put a spin on things that could bring more contention, and possibly lots of surprises, to the Colorado Capitol.
Please, be in prayer for our state to turn to the Lord and seek His ways.“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him… (Joel 2:12-14 ESV).
Trusting in the mighty power and grace of Jesus,
Carolyn Martin, CHEC Government Relations Adviser
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