Colorado CCL State Legislature Team

By Mike Clinton, Longmont chapter

Did you know that Colorado CCL has recently formed a group dedicated to following our state legislature and the climate bills they’re working on? Fred Gustafson and Bob Blackburn are coordinating this new team. They provided us with an update on the team’s activities up to now. Meetings are currently held every Wednesday at 5:30 P.M. and are open to all interested Colorado CCL members. They are in the process of gaining consensus on which bills to officially support.

The Colorado CCL State Legislature Team's primary goal is to encourage passage of Colorado state legislation that is consistent with the goals of Citizens’ Climate Lobby — with a focus on legislation that is aligned with the four policy areas introduced by CCL National recently. The team has reviewed a number of bills in depth and have found the process of approval to require close examination of considered bills as there are often discrepancies between high level bill descriptors and actual bill content.

The team has identified select bills as eligible for team approval through a voting process and, if approved, will submit them for review from CCL state co-coordinators. The team will then initiate contact with members of the state legislature, specific committee teams, and begin to develop effective lobbying methodologies with the Colorado General Assembly.

Per Bob Blackburn, “We had our first organizational meeting on February 1st, and we've met every week since then. We have seven members. Six are from the Front Range (Boulder to Colorado Springs), and one from the Durango area. Two members are from the Colorado Conservative Caucus. To minimize any partisan tension…our focus is on near-consensus process creation and relationship-building.”

Take action: If you are interested in joining the Colorado CCL State Legislature Team, contact either Fred Gustafson or Bob Blackburn.