Last Session

When I read a bill, I’m looking for a common-sense solution to a real problem people in Colorado are facing. If the answer is yes, I support the bill. I don’t care which side of the aisle a bill comes from—I care about whether it will actually help people.

For me, that starts with a simple question: What problem are we trying to solve? Before we create a new law, I want to know that the problem is real, that people are actually being affected by it, and that the bill is going to make things better, not just create another layer of government or regulation.

Sometimes we see bills that sound good on paper but are really trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, or a problem that is so rare that creating a statewide law doesn’t make sense. I call those “fake problems.” Colorado has plenty of real challenges that deserve our attention, and I think we should spend our time and energy solving those instead of looking for problems to legislate.

I also think common sense matters. A bill shouldn’t pass simply because it has a good-sounding title or because it fits neatly into a political agenda. We should look at how it will actually work, who it will affect, what it will cost, and whether there is a better way to accomplish the same goal.

My approach is pretty straightforward: identify a real problem, listen to the people affected by it, and find a practical solution that makes their lives better. That’s the standard I use when deciding which bills are worth supporting.

Here are some of the bills I worked on last session and the real problems they were intended to solve.