How much of your energy bill pays for Xcel’s marketing?
There’s a good question to which ratepayers will never get an answer because Xcel Energy is an investor owned utility (IOU) that enjoys a government-sanctioned monopoly on providing electric service to roughly 1.4 million Colorado ratepayers. Because it is not a state agency, Colorado’s largest electricity provider is not subject to the state’s open record law. […]
How much of your energy bill pays for Xcel's marketing?
There’s a good question to which ratepayers will never get an answer because Xcel Energy is an investor owned utility (IOU) that enjoys a government-sanctioned monopoly on providing electric service to roughly 1.4 million Colorado ratepayers. Because it is not a state agency, Colorado’s largest electricity provider is not subject to the state’s open record law. […]
Jared Polis (D-Boulder) wrong about Constitution & mandatory health coverage
Jared Polis argues that mandatory health coverage specified by ObamaCare is a tax, and hence is Constitutional. The problem with this argument is that President Obama himself has argued that the mandate is not a tax. Continue reading
Jared Polis (D-Boulder) wrong about Constitution & mandatory health coverage
Jared Polis argues that mandatory health coverage specified by ObamaCare is a tax, and hence is Constitutional. The problem with this argument is that President Obama himself has argued that the mandate is not a tax. Continue reading
Another Light-Rail Success Failure
Hampton Roads Transit is claiming success six months after opening its light-rail line in Norfolk. The line is carrying an average of 4,642 riders each weekday, which is far greater than the 2,900 that had been forecast. “Crowds” of as many as dozens of people look bored and apathetic at the opportunity to take free […]
House Bill 1146 Provides Dropout Recovery Option at No Extra Cost
Earlier this week the House Education Committee approved House Bill 1146, which would ensure that the “Dropout Recovery Concurrent Enrollment Program” can continue to serve a small group of Colorado’s at-risk high school students. Some people had expressed concerns about the original fiscal note that showed the bill would raise the burden on taxpayers. However, […]
Quote of the day
During the discussion phase of HB 1172, Representative Spencer Swalm’s bill to repeal Colorado’s “phantom carbon tax,” Representative Marsha Looper (R-Calhan) stated: Whenever we have an opportunity to repeal a tax, especially a phantom tax…it behooves me to do so. I will be supporting it [HB 1172]. As posted earlier, HB 1172 moved out of […]
Energy policy killing Craig, CO
Colorado energy policy: “You have this cheap, reliable, affordable energy source that the state is mandating be replaced with intermittent, unreliable, expensive energy sources. What does that mean for folks?” For Craig, a beautiful town of 10,000 people in Northwestern Colorado, it means the death of the town. Perhaps the true green believers such as […]
Back to the Drawing Board
Besieged by fiscal conservatives for deficit spending and by the transit lobby for eliminating a guaranteed source of transit subsidies, Speaker of the House John Boehner has postponed consideration of the transportation bill (which Roll Call calls the “transit bill” even though transit gets only about 20 percent of the money). In a post on […]
National Eye on Colo.’s HB 1238 to Enhance Literacy by Curbing Social Promotion
Colorado’s legislative bid to enhance early literacy is getting some national attention. The bipartisan House Bill 1238 enlists parents and educators to focus on interventions for struggling readers in the early grades and requires the local superintendent to sign off before a non-proficient reader can advance past 3rd grade. My Education Policy Center friend Ben […]
II files unique Supreme Court brief in Obamacare case
We have just filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief with the Supreme Court arguing that (1) under current Supreme Court rulings, Obamacare’s individual mandate, if it can be justified at all, must be justified under the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause, and (2) scholarly research into the meaning of the Necessary and […]
Worse Than Death Panels: Evidence-Based Medicine
The Obama administration is contemplating something that is even scarier [than death panels]: doctors would be given immunity from malpractice lawsuits, but only if they practice medicine according to government guidelines. Continue reading
