Dear Friends and Supporters,
The 65 House Representatives and 35 Senators were officially sworn in at 10:00 a.m.
on Wednesday, January 12, 2005. On Thursday, the Governor gave his "State of the State"
address before the joint House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the Attorney General and
other dignitaries. His overall tone was optimistic. Colorado is a very desirable state to live in,
and we, as Republicans, want to safeguard its positive qualities. Governor Owens stated that
we will NOT compromise our principles concerning tort reform, sensible workman's comp.
formulas, school choice, and prohibiting the Internet tax.

This session will be an interesting one. The other party is in charge now and they are flexing
their muscles. We expect to debate bills on every aspect of public life, from the cost of
education for illegal aliens to the availability of raw milk. I was recently appointed to the
"Local Government Committee" which oversees the relationship between the state
government and individual counties, cities, and towns. I am also serving on the
Transportation and Energy Committee, as I did last year.

Finalizing our budget is, of course, our priority. Let me give you an overview of the legislative
issues that confront us.

Budget, TABOR, and Amendment 23

As Republicans our goal is to provide necessary services and not "over tax or over regulate."
Because of TABOR, Colorado is the envy of many states. Our citizens enjoy one of the
lowest tax burdens. Liberal-led California has one of the highest.
Governor Owens clearly explained that the recession in 2001 was caused by the stock
market downturn, 9/11, the drought, and the fires. All resulted in 16% less revenue to the
state government. Thus, expenses had to be cut just like we do at home when less money
comes in. It had nothing to do with TABOR. The Governor's budget includes:

Asking the voters permission to retain $500 million in TABOR surplus

Reducing the state's income tax from 4.63% to 4.5%

Investing $100 million annually in transportation, allowing the state to bond for up to
$1.7 billion for new highways and bridges

Amending TABOR to eliminate the "ratchet effect" during and following recessions

Securitize the tobacco settlement to address short-term budget needs

Transportation

Our transportation budget is about $1.2 billion per year. This goes to maintain the existing
infrastructure; none is left for new highways or bridges. The Governor wants to change this.
He has plans for about $1.7 billion in 25 - 30 year bonds to use for new construction, which is
a commonly used financing tactic. We need about $100 million to spend on the widening of I-
25 from Hwy 52 (4 miles south of Longmont) to Hwy 66 (about 3 miles north of Longmont).
There will be a bill introduced allowing the tolling across county lines to provide the revenue
and funding for a major highway and commercial rail line to be built in eastern Colorado from
the Fort Collins area to Pueblo. This is a $2 billion project being put together by private
business. This would allow almost all of the freight trains to not use the lines through Denver
and allow many of our trucks to bypass the front range metro area. This would also free up
our existing rail lines for passenger rail from Fort Collins to Pueblo.

Our CDOT 2030 Statewide Plan is due to be finalized in February 2005. Please send your
comments to: http://www.dot.state.co.us/StateWidePlanning/PlansStudies/2030Plan.asp

Right now the federally mandated Environmental Impact Study (EIS) on I-25 from Hwy 66 to
Wellington is costing $15 million for 3 years. We need to secure funding for these
improvements. In the next 10 years, we also need to spend about $12 billion on other state
projects such as widening of I-25 from Castle Rock through Colorado Springs, and
completion of the last part of W-470 on the northwest part of the Denver metro area.
Twenty years ago, we spent about 12% of our budget on our transportation needs. Now it is
less that 6%. Twenty years ago, we spend 3% of our budget on prisons, now it is about 9%.
It looks like we are using money to build concrete walls instead of concrete to drive on.
Please don't get me wrong, we need to lock up the dangerous criminals. The
average prisoner has 9 felonies before they are put into a state prison. We are much safer
when this type of criminal is kept behind bars for as long as possible.

My Legislative Agenda

I have introduced three bills. One is to change the bills that a legislator can carry from 5 to 4.
One is to reduce the session from 120 days to 90. The other is to increase the penalties for
causing an accident while going through a yield right of way sign. This has been the cause of
many motorcycle accidents and deaths. I honestly believe that we can get our work done in
90 days rather than 120. For instance, Montana meets 60 days every other year. Texas
also meets every other year.
George Washington said "Government is not reason or eloquence. It's more like fire - a
dangerous servant and a fearful master." Our goal should be more efficiency and less laws.
Yet last year in Colorado, about 720 laws were introduced and about 430 were signed by the
Governor. If we do this every year, what kind of "fire" will we leave our children 20 or 30
years from now?

Visit Me!

At your convenience, please come and visit me at the Capitol. Reply to this e-mail or call me
at 303 866 2947. I will do my best to bring you on to the House floor. An alternative is to
listen to committee meetings and the House and Senate proceedings by going to http://www.leg.state.co.us

Join me at the Larimer Republican Breakfast Club on Monday morning, Jan. 17th, at 7 a.m. It
is at the Cottonwood Club, just south of the intersection of Trilby Road and Hwy 287. Come and hear Congressman Bob Beauprez.
Even with our problems and warts, we have the best country in the world- by far!!! I always appreciate your support and most importantly, your prayers!

Respectfully,
Rep. Jim Welker
House District 51 -