May 2024
Editor Jennifer Bales
jbales@me.com
| | Keep up with LWVBC by following our Facebook Page, our Instagram, our Youtube Channel, and our Calendar. | Our annual meeting will be held on May 18
at Rule4 starting at 9:30 am
| LWVBC Annual Meeting is Saturday, May 18, at Rule4, 3002 Bluff Street, Boulder
9:30 a.m. - Plan to join us for social time and light refreshments.
10 a.m. - The guest speaker is Dr. Martin Carcasson, CSU professor of Communications and Director of the Center for Public Discourse, who will speak on “Civic Engagement through a Wicked Problems Lens.”
10:45 a.m. - The annual meeting includes election of officers for the coming year, a vote on by-laws changes, presentation of our scholarship winner and recognition for those members selected for merit awards.
There is no charge for the meeting. Please plan to attend!
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By Susan Curtis
Membership count:204 | | | Welcome to these new members who joined in April: Sue Middleton, Amy Diamond, Leslie Dodson and Debbie Gold.
LWVBC Annual Meeting is Saturday, May 18, at Rule4, 3002 Bluff Street, Boulder. Plan to join us at 9:30 a.m. for social time and light refreshments. The guest speaker is Dr. Martin Carcasson, CSU professor of Communications and Director of the Center for Public Discourse. He will speak at 10 a.m. on “Civic Engagement through a Wicked Problems Lens.” The annual meeting will begin at 10:45 a.m. and includes election of officers for the coming year, a vote on by-laws changes, presentation of our scholarship winner and recognition for those members selected for merit awards. Please register here. There is no charge for the meeting. Please plan to attend!
Upcoming changes to the membership system for national, state, and local leagues
What we know so far:
In 2025, LWVUS will be implementing a new membership system with the following goals:
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- Expand and diversify membership by eliminating financial barriers to participation
- Adjust division of dues among national, state, and local chapters to increase funding of state-level leagues where most voting rights advocacy takes place
- Simplify the process of joining the League or renewing
- Streamline administrative efforts at all levels
| What does this mean to you?
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- Currently our annual dues are $80. In 2025, we will be moving to a variable dues amount, with a recommended rate of $75.
- You will be able to set up auto-renewal of your membership.
- Many members add a donation to their $80 dues when joining or renewing. Currently, the amount over $80 goes directly to our local league. In 2025, the entire amount paid at joining or renewal will be distributed among the local, state, and national leagues
- You will still be able to donate directly to our local league on the donations page of our web site.
- There may be portions of your dues that will not be tax-exempt, but donations to our local league will remain tax-exempt.
| Partisan Winner-Take-All Primary Elections Harm Our Democracy!
A Review of The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes | As many of you know, LWV of Colorado is working on a Primary Election Reform Study. Meanwhile, lawyers for election reformer Kent Thiry have filed about 70 initiatives – most of them including all-candidate primary elections – in an effort to get one of them on the 2024 Colorado ballot. Nick Troiano’s book, The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes is a timely addition to the discussion of primary elections.
Colorado has semi-open primary elections so county clerks mail unaffiliated voters both the Republican and Democratic primary ballots, but unaffiliated voters may only mark and return one of the ballots. The winner of each primary contest is the party’s nominee for the seat in the general election.
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Buy a ticket to support LWVBC | Schools Team Talk by Don Haddad | The Schools Team sponsored a community conversation on April 1 by St. Vrain Valley School District superintendent Don Haddad at the SVVSD Innovation Center in Longmont. Dr. Haddad explained the school district’s proposal to make a recommendation to the Board of Education to place a bond on the ballot in 2024. The bond would fund three new schools, a high school north of Frederick that will serve students from the Frederick and Mead areas, and relieve overcrowding at Erie High School; an elementary or middle school in Erie, grade levels not yet determined; and an elementary, middle or PK-8 school in Mead.
In addition, the district wants to build a career and technical education center on the same site as the high school. The district also wants to expand the Innovation Center in Longmont, which offers STEM programs to students districtwide. Maintenance and repairs for the rest of the district’s schools also would be included. The bond issue will stay under the dollar amount that would require a mill levy increase and increase property taxes. Dr. Haddad explained that could be done as assessments for homes are rising and many new homes are planned for the eastern area of the district.
This proposal will be presented to the SVVSD school board in August. If the board decides in favor of putting the bond issue to vote, it will be on the November 2024 ballot. LWVBC members who live in the St. Vrain Valley School District will be eligible to vote on the issue. | Living Wage and Petitions Presentation at The Gallery in Broomfield | | By Holly Monkman and Peggy Leech | On Tuesday, April 9th at The Gallery Senior Living Community Peggy Leech and Holly Monkman gave a presentation on the Living Wage effort in Boulder County and on the petitions circulating for signatures at the state level.
Broomfield was initially part of the Consortium of Cities working towards a sustainable minimum wage, but pulled out in 2023. Maybe a few of the attendees will contact their city council members & encourage them to reconsider?
Regarding signature gathering for petitions, attendees were encouraged to Think Before You Ink and to use Vote411.org when studying ballot issues. It was a pleasure to visit with attendees that had been LWV members in the past. Hopefully they’ll join LWV Boulder County!
| | Holly Monkman and Peggy Leech | | | Legislative Action Committee Activity |  |
We’re in the final stretch of the 2024 Colorado State Legislative session which closes on May 8th and 676 bills have been introduced (as of 4/23/2024). The LWVCO Legislative Action Committee (LAC) is following 147 bills, 8 of which have been signed by the Governor with another 9 awaiting his signature.
Check out the Legislative Action Report and Master Bill Tracker. Articles on some key bills or areas are available in the Report and the status & summaries of all the bills followed by the LAC are listed in the Tracker. LWVBC member Gaythia Weiss wrote the article ”An Overview of Artificial Intelligence Concepts With An Eye Towards How AI Impacts Political Communication,” to help explain the jargon & buzzwords in HB24-1147 Candidate Election Deepfake Disclosures.
Here are a few bills that the LAC is following (as of 4/23/2024) that may be of interest to you. Only a partial summary is displayed with each bill. Click on the bill number for the full text:
The bill makes modifications to several aspects of the regional transportation district, including modifications to increase transit ridership and to promote district transparency and accountability.
- HB24-1434 Expand Affordable Housing Tax Credit
The bill expands the affordable housing tax credit by increasing the credit amounts that the Colorado housing and finance authority may allocate to qualified taxpayers.
For a more in-depth understanding, read Kathy Smith’s (LWV Jeffco) article “The Critical Role That Housing Tax Credits Play In Financing Affordable Housing” found in the Legislative Action Report.
- HB24-1379 Regulate Dredge & Fill Activities in State Waters
The bill requires the water quality control commission in the department of public health and environment to promulgate rules by May 31, 2025, as necessary to implement a state dredge and fill discharge authorization program and requires the division of administration in the department to administer and enforce authorizations for activities that will result in the discharge of dredged or fill material into state waters.
Subject to voter approval at the November 2024 general election, beginning April 1, 2025, the bill levies an excise tax on firearms dealers, firearms manufacturers, and ammunition vendors at the rate of 11% of the gross taxable sales from the retail sale of any firearm, firearm precursor part, or ammunition in this state and allows the state to collect and spend all revenue generated by the tax notwithstanding any limitations in section 20 of article X of the state constitution or any other provision of law.
- SB24-153 News Access for Consumers Who Are Print-Disabled
The bill authorizes the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado to expand its current offerings for blind and print-disabled Coloradans through the NFB-NEWSLINE and Project Literacy.
This bill is the 2024 School Finance Act that sets funding levels for Colorado’s
178 school districts. It also adds a rural funding factor to the school finance formula, delays implementation of the new at-risk measure, provides funding for the mill levy override match program, among other program changes. The bill includes a state transfer and increases state expenditures and school district funding beginning in FY 2024-25.
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