Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday is set to sign into law bills that aim to support workers and communities reliant on jobs in coal mines and factories and bring a Front Range rail project one step closer to reality.
After attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Manitou Springs earlier in the day, Polis will stop at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers office in Pueblo to put his signature on House Bill 1290.
The state stimulus legislation from House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, Rep. Perry Will, R-New Castle, Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, and Sen. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, puts $15 million toward a 2019 “just transition” plan devised to assist communities and workers whose coal-related industries and jobs "are subject to significant economic transition."
But House Bill 1314, sponsored by then-Speaker of the House KC Becker, D-Boulder, said the plan would be funded with gifts, grants and donations. Programs funded with gifts, grants and donations generally see little if any money.
HB 1290 follows up on that bill by putting $8 million toward goals developed by an advisory committee made up of lawmakers, public officials, representatives of coal communities, labor unions and utilities that drafted the state’s Just Transition Action Plan.
The bill sends the other $7 million to the Department of Labor and Employment for a workforce assistance program designed to directly help coal workers with apprenticeship programs, financial planning, tuition reimbursement, job search assistance and on-the-job training, among other things.
While in Pueblo, Polis is also set to add his signature to Senate Bill 238, a measure that moves the long-time goal of a passenger rail line running up and down the Front Range one step closer to reality.
Under the bill from Esgar, Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, and Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield, the state will set up a special district charged with "planning, designing, developing, financing, constructing, operating, and maintaining" a passenger rail line from New Mexico to the Wyoming border with stops up the Front Range.
The special district is set to be overseen by a board made of up appointees made by Polis as well as each of the transportation planning organizations along the line, along with non-voting appointees from Denver's Regional Transportation District and potentially representatives of BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, Amtrak, and communities in Wyoming and New Mexico, who will be designated by the governors of those states.
The bill gives the board the authority to ask voters in the newly created district to raise sales taxes up to .8% in order to finance the project, though lawmakers anticipate funding from the federal government as well.
The introduction of the bill in April coincided with promising news from Amtrak, which listed service from Pueblo to Cheyenne, in its 15-year plan. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington from both sides of the aisle and the Biden administration have coalesced around a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, which is set to include $66 billion for rail projects such as Colorado's.
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June 30, 2021 at 11:24PM
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Governor to sign bills helping coal workers, creating Front Range Rail District - coloradopolitics.com
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