Dem Senate leader, former GOP leader reﬂect on 2023 legislature

PRIDE

When the clock struck midnight, I was incredibly proud

Dominick Moreno and Mark Hillman o er contrasting views of tough session GUEST COLUMN

By State Sen. Dominick Moreno e 2023 legislative session, like any, was lled with ups and downs.

But after a hectic, yet productive 120 days under the Golden Dome, I am struck by how much we accomplished this session.

Newly emboldened with unprecedented majorities, Democrats remained laser-focused on the issues that matter most to Colorado families. From housing to health care, we rolled up our sleeves and had tough conversations about the challenges facing our state.

It wasn’t always pretty, but when the clock struck midnight, I was incredibly proud of the work my colleagues and I put in to deliver real results for families across our state.

Our number one priority this session was addressing the housing crisis. Housing is far too expensive in Colorado, and it’s pricing folks out of their communities.

So we passed bills that will lower the cost of housing, and saved families and businesses billions of dollars on their property taxes to help keep more folks – especially those on xed incomes – in their homes.

We also worked to better support renters in Colorado through critical renter protections, including laws that reduce barriers to housing eligibility and save renters money on rental applications, and that protect lower-income Coloradans and folks who rely on safety net programs from being evicted.

Democrats also fought hard to save people money on their health care, including by lowering the cost of prescription drugs and improving access to critical behavioral care for our youth.

We protected consumers from getting trapped in an endless and confusing spiral of medical debt, and we expanded access to reproductive health care – including abortion and gender-a rming care.

Our package of reproductive health care bills, including my bill with Sen. Lisa Cutter to break down barriers to abortion care and other critical services and make care more a ordable by closing gaps in insurance coverage, will allow Coloradans to access the full spectrum of reproductive health care services they depend on, while protecting the people who both seek and provide that care in our state. But perhaps the most impactful change we enacted this session is our work to put a stop to the endless cycle of gun violence that is plaguing Colorado.

Just weeks before session began, we lost ve lives in a shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. In the span of one month, students and teachers at Denver East High School were subject to gun violence not once, but twice. And that doesn’t include the everyday instances of gun violence that y under the radar but leave holes in our families and our communities that can never be healed.

We grieved alongside the LGBTQ+ community in the Springs, and the students and teachers as Denver East. But, in the face of these tragedies, we did not throw our hands up and fail to act. Instead, we used our historic majorities to pass a critical suite of gun violence prevention bills that will raise the age to purchase a rearm to 21, remove overly broad protections for the gun industry, strengthen our “red ag” law, establish a three-day waiting period when purchasing a rearm, and crack down on unserialized, untraceable “ghost guns.” ese are common sense, life-saving measures that meet the moment we nd ourselves in, and that will create a safer Colorado for us all.

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

SCOTT TAYLOR Metro North Editor staylor@coloradocommunitymedia.com

BELEN WARD Community Editor bward@coloradocommunitymedia.com ere are far too many successes from this session to recount in a single column. But make no mistake: this session was a transformative one for the people of Colorado.

From lowering the cost of housing and health care to defending our democracy and addressing the climate crisis, Democrats got to work, and I am proud of the results we’ve delivered for our state.

I look forward to continuing our work next session, and to creating a healthier, safer, and stronger Colorado that works for us all.

Dominick Moreno is Democratic state Senate majority leader and represents parts of Adams and Arapahoe counties.

Disciplined leaders can avoid legislative chaos

By former state Sen. Mark Hillman

For the rst time I can recall, this year’s session of the Colorado General Assembly concluded with frenzy and confusion more typical of what we see in Washington, D.C., than what’s expected of our citizen legislature.

It’s not unusual for a few complicated bills to linger until the waning hours. However, this year’s 120-day session ended on Monday, May 8, with these ignominious developments:

• On Day 117, still 156 bills – onequarter of the 617 introduced since Jan. 9 – remained unresolved. With just two weeks to go, 335 bills were still in limbo.

• A bill a ecting all Colorado taxpayers was unveiled barely two-anda-half days before the session ended and heard in committee that same day, before it was available to the public. Committee hearings are intended to allow public comment, but only two people, a consultant who helped write the bill and a veteran lobbyist, testi ed in committee on Sunday.

• Yes, the House and Senate were in session on Sunday – the rst time the Senate conducted the public’s business on a Sunday since 1939. is is not a partisan critique to sug-

STEVE SMITH Sports Editor ssmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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AUDREY BROOKS Business Manager abrooks@coloradocommunitymedia.com gest that Democrats cannot conduct business in an orderly fashion. To the contrary, for four years (2005-2008), Democrats managed the calendar well enough to adjourn early. ose Democrats could certainly o er pointers to current leaders.

Several factors contributed to this year’s logjam.

Few in either party expected last November’s election to be a landslide for Democrats. Many Democrataligned interest groups scrambled to prepare more aggressive bills than would have been possible in a centrist-oriented legislature.

With large Democratic majorities, far-left progressives suddenly had a ghting chance to pass controversial bills, and traditional liberals had to decide whether to improve those bills or take heat for killing them. (During my rst session in 1999-2000, Republicans were in the same boat with conservatives often frustrated by moderates.)

Outnumbered more than 2-to-1 in the House, Republicans were left with only one card to play when facing sure-to-pass bills that in amed their constituents: delay. Democrats, in turn, took the rare step of limiting debate on at least 15 bills, allowing as little as one hour for discussion.

What could Democrats have done di erently?

Most obviously, adhere to legislative deadlines. Each senator and representative can introduce ve bills. ose ve bills were to be introduced by Jan. 25 in the Senate and Jan. 31 in the House.

Yet by the end of those two weeks, the Senate had introduced just 90 bills (2.5 per senator) and the House 171 (2.6 per representative). More bills (292, not counting those related to the budget) were introduced late than on schedule, which only happens with permission from leadership.

Lawmakers are procrastinators, and lobbyists relentlessly request “just one more bill.”

Leaders must enforce deadlines to maintain order and to reduce stress and fatigue among the legislature’s professional sta which is responsible for writing and updating bills as

Each bill drafter is responsible for multiple bills, so when a complicated bill must be completely rewritten overnight to facilitate legislative compromise, that drafter gets little sleep which can result in errors.

Each General Assembly meets for two sessions, so leaders should remind lawmakers not to waste time on bills that aren’t “ready for primetime” and to use the interim months to develop them for the following year.

Some have suggested constitutional changes, either reducing the legislative session to 90 days or allowing legislators to meet tors have minimal real-world experience, so allowing them who actually produce goods and services, would be a ter-

Trimming 30 days from the postponing the starting date by 30 days so they can spend that month re ning bills and be ready for business on Day ceremony. Zygielbaum said there was

Coloradans deserve better than this year’s chaotic circus. at improvement is possible with disciplined leadership, regardless of which party is in charge.

Mark Hillman is a former Republican state Senate majority leader and state treasurer. He operates his family’s farm near Burlington.

“Hopefully next year, we’ll be able to since it was her grandparents’ anniversary.

“We had planned to rent Boetcher Mansion and we went online to nd out what we needed to do for a marriage license and we saw Marriagepalooza,” Heacock said. “We have a ton of friends that we support and some that are getting married this year. We tried to get them to come out today, but they couldn’t. But we wanted to support everybody else and be part of the

Pinter said the event is not meant to be politically provocative but simply to represent people that live in Adams County.

“I think it’s important to celebrate our whole community, and we do all sorts of celebrations throughout the year,” she said. “We just celebrated the opening of a new

Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day and we’re about to do our Stars and Stripes for Fourth of July. is is another in the calendar of events where we celebrate our community. And this is very important to let our LGBTQ community members know

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Search-and-rescue dogs embody the mail carrier motto: “Neither snow, nor rain nor gloom of night” will keep these trusty canines from their appointed rounds — searching for people or items with single-minded purpose.

For the dogs and their trainers who are part of the Colorado branch of SARDUS — Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States — training is a weekly, if not daily, endeavor to prepare dogs to certify in an area of search and rescue or to keep the dog’s skills sharp after certi cation.

“ e training continues for life,” said Cathy Bryarly, a retired Boulder sheri ’s deputy who trains search-and-rescue dogs. “ is has to be part of your life. It goes way beyond a hobby, or it’s not going to work. It’s a calling.”

SARDUS members agree that it’s a labor a love based in their strong resolve to help others. Not only do the dogs and their handlers train multiple times a week, enlisting family and friends to hide, so the dogs have someone to search for, but handlers also attend seminars on a variety of topics and work together by laying trails for others to follow.

Trainers are always learning, so they can improve their canines’ ability to help in emergency situations.

Search-and-rescue dogs and their handlers are not paid; in fact, handlers spend a lot on the dogs, the equipment, the training and more. e goal is to be certi ed to go on missions, the term for helping law enforcement nd people, bodies or objects needed in an investigation.

Call the people trainers or handlers, but more importantly, they’re dog lovers who want to work as a team with their pets to help others.

The humility of training e trainers say it simply: Training their canines is humbling.

“Our dogs don’t make the mistakes,” Anjie Julseth-Crosby of Morrison said. “We do. ere’s so much to remember. e training is about me trying to understand what (the dogs) are saying. e human fails, not the dog.”

In fact, Julseth-Crosby, who started training her bloodhounds two years ago, has compiled a 19-page document called “ ings I wish I knew two years ago.”

Training involves having a dog follow a scent for several miles, helping the dog return to the SEE DOGS, P9 scent trail if needed and rewarding the dog when it nds the person or item it is directed to follow. food or toys. Once you gure that out, then trainers must convince the dog to do what they want the pup to do for the reward. It begins with what is called a puppy run-away, where you get the pup to run after a person, and when the pup nds the person, the pup gets a reward. at transitions to following a scent to nd a person.

Training can be messy as canines follow the scent wherever it takes them over all sorts of terrain in all kinds of weather.

“It’s just a matter of making it harder and harder to the point where a dog is searching 120 acres for one person or that trailing dog is following a 24-hour-old scent through a subdivision,” Bryarly said.

No matter what or who the dog is nding, it must go to it, stay there, lay down and point its nose, so the handler knows the dog is saying that the item or person is there.

Dogs cannot certify to be search-and-rescue dogs until they are at least 18 months old, but it usually takes two years or more for the rst certi cation, Bryarly said.

“Search-and-rescue dogs that are out in the public have to be just perfect,” Bryarly said. “ ey have to stay focused and not get distracted by other dogs, animals or people.”

Getting involved irty years ago, Julseth-Crosby made a pledge that she would own a bloodhound and train it to be a search-and-rescue dog. at’s because Ali Berelez, 6, who had been kidnapped and murdered in 1993, was found four days after her abduction by bloodhound Yogi. a multiple-day-a-week job.

Julseth, at that time a single parent with a 6-yearold, felt kinship with Ali’s family. However, as a full-time teacher, Julseth-Crosby decided to wait to train when she retired in 2021. True to her word, she began training her bloodhounds Bruno and Miley.

Niamh Coleman of Nederland was looking for something to do with her dogs, thinking it was a casual pastime. Now search-and-rescue dog training is closer to an obsession.

Jayne Zmijewski, who taught outdoor skills to rangers most of her life, said search-and-rescue dogs were a natural progression. She’s had four search-and-rescue dogs in the last 30 years, most recently her chocolate Labrador Kodi.

Teresa Verplanck of Bailey is training Lilo, a border collie mix, for wilderness searches. She called the SARDUS group she trains with wonderful, and trainers and dogs have become a big family.

Jake Udel, who lives near Rustic, Colorado, is a volunteer firefighter and medic, and he trains his dog, Java the Mutt, a Czech shepherd, “for the love of dogs, helping people and the activity.”

Julseth-Crosby said the number of hours can be whatever trainers can put in, but at a minimum eight hours a week, and some weeks, she trains or prepares for training as much as 40 hours a week.

The right breed

While just about any breed of dog can become a search-and-rescue dog, bloodhounds, shepherds and retrievers are the typical dogs people think of, but other breeds — if they have the nose for the work — can be certi ed.

“It works better to start with a breed that is bred to do this,” Bryarly said. “In fact, there are some breeders who breed speci cally search-and-rescue dogs. But sometimes you nd a dog that is good at this, and it’s a breed you never would have guessed could do this work.” e most important thing, Bryarly said, is the bond that the dog and handler have with each other.

“People have told me over the years that they are amazed at something their dog does,” she said. “People think they are the smart ones, but the dog is the smart one. We are just trying to keep up with them.”

Starting early

Training starts early — when pups are a few weeks old.

“Start with a dog who has a high drive,” Bryarly said. “A high-drive dog is always busy and always wanting something to do. If that energy is not channeled right away, the pup will tear your house apart.”

Most canines prefer one of two types of rewards:

Types Of Sardus Certifications

Melanie Weaver of Lafayette knew her dog, Lego,

Udel figures he’s been on 75 to 100 missions since he certified his first dog in 2005.

SARDUS a German shepherd, needed a job to have a ful lling life, and Weaver was looking for something practical. Little did she know that training Lego would be

SARDUS, one of several search-and-rescue dog organizations in the country, helps smaller organizations test and certify dogs. To get the trailing or air-scent certification, which is usually the first certification a dog earns, the canine must follow a 24-hour-old trail to find a person. SARDUS only works with law enforcement, so a person cannot request a search-andrescue dog.

Bryarly said about 30 dogs in Colorado are certified by SARDUS with most of them trailing dogs — the most of any organization in the country.

Membership in SARDUS is $25, and some people join who don’t own dogs, but they want to help in other ways such as creating tracking trails or hiding from dogs, Bryarly said.

Trainers must be physically fit since they follow their dogs through all sorts of terrain, plus they take classes such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s incident command courses, so they understand the structure of incidents and managing evidence.

For the SARDUS trainers, the work is definitely a passion.

• Trailing: Dogs who can ﬁnd scents by putting their noses to the ground.

• Air scenting: Dogs who ﬁnd scents by putting their noses into the air.

• Avalanche: Some dogs are good at smelling human scents through snow.

• Water: Some dogs are good at smelling human scents through water.

“If you think of it as work, you won’t do it for 20 years,” Udel explained. “You have to adopt the (search-and-rescue) lifestyle. It’s a life-anddeath commitment for some people — certainly the people we are looking for.”

• Disaster search: Dogs can smell through debris to ﬁnd people.

• Human remains: Dogs can be certiﬁed to ﬁnd human remains.

• Wilderness: A type of trailing in remote areas.

• Urban and suburban: Looking for missing children or older adults in cities.

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