Wheat Ridge o cials hear about home rule issues, state legislation

BY ANDREW FRAIELI AFRAIELI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Wheat Ridge City Council members met with a representative of the Colorado Municipal League and Sen. Jessie Danielson to discuss several initiatives under consideration at the Capitol, including some that o cials feared might limit the city’s self-governance.

A ordable housing, elder care and other issues came up during the March 6 study session, but concern about home rule issues dominated much of the discussion.

Councilmember Leah Dozeman

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raised questions about House Bill 23-1065, which would give the state Independent Ethics Commission jurisdiction over complaints about local o cials and employees. Colorado Municipal League Legislative Advocacy Manager Heather Stau er said the league opposes the e ort.

“We feel pretty con dent that the ethics commission does not have jurisdiction over home rule municipalities, especially if they have rules around ethics that substantially address what the ethics commission addresses,” Stau er said.

Wheat Ridge, a member of the league, is a home rule city. Home rule cities and towns in Colorado are able to establish their own regulations regarding goods and services that are taxed locally. ey also may claim more control over local matters of signi cance. e league, which represents hundreds of municipalities around Colorado, stated opposition to several bills, in their current forms, because it believes they infringe upon home rule localities.

Another concern arose over Gov. Jared Polis’ push for more a ordable housing through publicprivate partnerships. Stau er said the league believes the e orts might impose zoning changes on municipalities as well as changes to landuse policies.

said. “I think where we land on it is that we don’t think that taking local governments out of the equation, that we’re going to be able to provide more a ordable housing.” e league also opposes Senate Bill 23-166, which would create a wild re resiliency board tasked with creating building codes for urban areas near wildlife areas.

Equal Pay For Equal Work law, and a proposed law, the Job Application Fairness Act.

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“We all agree that a ordable housing is important to our communities and it is a huge challenge that local governments are facing,” Stau er

“Obviously, building codes are under the purview of local governments,” Stau er said. “We do think it’s appropriate for local governments to have some say in what those building codes are... We think creating a statewide code to address wild re may not be appropriate for every community.”

Other e orts opposed by the league included an update to 2019’s

Danielson, a Democrat who represents District 22, which covers Wheat Ridge, is supporting such efforts. Danielson said the job application bill would help prevent age discrimination. It aims to prohibit prospective employers from requiring age-related information. She said identi ers, such as graduation dates, can be used to discriminate against applicants based on their age.

Danielson also touched on efforts to address equal pay and home health care.

Other bills that the League supported or opposed can be found in the March 6 study session’s agenda.