Colorado Senate News
3 December 2007
With no clear direction yet from the "208 commission" studying health care, Republican lawmakers announced their own ground game for health-care reform today at a news conference miles from the Capitol--at a walk-in, retail health clinic. The GOP lawmakers said their agenda highlights the need to give health care recipients and providers greater control over decisions about treatment rather than ceding authority to a growing web of government programs.
One of the proposals unveiled today is a bill that would provide more services to Colorado's developmentally disabled. The bill sponsored by Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Eaton, and Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, arose out of the interim committee on Long-Term Care Health Care Services and Support to Persons with Developmental Disabilities. It would give greater access to the disabled by increasing funding for services.
"Funding for developmental disabilities is more important than a number of the other items we pay for in our budget," Renfroe said. "The Republicans in the interim committee realized it just made more sense to find money in the budget for this service than to go to voters for another tax increase."
Renfroe was referring to a failed measure before the same interim committee by Rep. Mike Garcia, D-Aurora, to increase funding for the developmentally disabled by raising taxes.
Republicans say the common theme throughout their entire action plan for 2008 is providing innovative solutions to the issues that matter most to the citizens of Colorado -- without relying on more taxes and mandates to solve the problem.
