Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are exactly halfway through the session. "Time really flies by when we're having fun!" This comment is tongue-incheek,
of course. It hasn't been fun to deal with the arbitrary dealings of so many of our Democratic colleagues, who
are now in control of the House and Senate.

The majority of our legislation is NOT partisan in nature. Usually, the conflicts come between the parties when we
have legislation relating to unions vs. management, school choice programs, fiscal spending vs. large government
programs, individual responsibility vs. government supervision, redistribution of wealth through legislation, traditional
family values vs. no values, pro-life vs. pro-death for the unborn babies, and sensible environmental solutions
vs. radical environmentalism. This is a long list, but it may surprise you that the majority of the 400 or so bills that will
pass through the Senate and House don't apply to the above.

Bills of Importance this Past Week:

HB05-1194 - by Rep. Romanoff (D) concerns a proposal that will be presented to the voters this coming
November. The state income-tax rate would fall from 4.63% to 4.5% for 10 years. During that decade, the state would
be permitted to keep and spend all of the revenue the lower rate generated, or about $8.3 billion to $13.2 billion in
potential refunds over the next 10 years (depending on whose estimate you believe). Currently, this amount would be
refunded to taxpayers under TABOR. Under Romanoff's proposal, taxpayers would not get a TABOR-generated tax
refund during these 10 years, but the lower tax rate would save taxpayers about $1.6 billion dollars during this period.

According to the Rocky Mountain News, "Not only does this gargantuan spending boost lack any true guarantee
regarding were the money goes, but the plan also puts a gun to voters' heads in 2015, virtually requiring them to "de-
Bruce" their refunds again. The ballot plan is almost sure to fail at the polls."

After several hours of debate on the House floor, the bill passed by 41 YES, 22 NO, and 2 excused. There were 6
Republicans that voted YES. I voted NO, and spoke from the "well" twice on how we can get a better proposal than
this bill. Last year, we had 5 proposed budget bills leave the House to the Senate with a 2/3 vote. I voted YES on
three of those bills. But this year, the Democrats killed Rep. Keith King's proposed budget bill in a committee without
letting it come to the floor for debate. This is very wrong! This year, partisanship is playing a bigger part of the process
in this type of bill and it should not. There were over 10 amendments presented to 1194, but the Democrats voted
every one of them down. One amendment let children who are poor have the right to go a school of their choice
instead of being trapped in a failing public school. Even though the dropout rate for disadvantaged minority students
is about 60% in the Denver Schools, the Democrats voted this amendment down. This doesn't make sense to me.
Wealthier parents can pull their children from a failing school, and send them to a private school instead. All parents
should have the ability to help their children succeed now. It is time to stop this discriminatory process.

If you open the file attached (Tabor 1194), you will see what this bill does to the taxpayer's pocket book. I don't believe
the voters will approve this ballot proposal in the fall. That is another reason why I voted NO. Why present a bill to the
voters that has almost no chance of passage? We can hope that this bill will be improved in the Senate. I spoke from
the podium that our state government can streamline some operations and prioritize our spending on K-12 education
in a different way. We should be encouraging more home schooling (even with small tax credits), on-line schools,
private schools, charter schools, and the best public schools we can develop. It now takes about $9,000 of the
taxpayer's money to get a child through a public school in a year, about $4,000 for a private school, about $5,600 for
on-line schools (this could be done for about $4,600), and $0 (that is nothing) to teach a child at home and about
$6,000 for charter schools. We should note though that our public schools teach some students that are mentally
and/or physically disadvantaged. Since 47% of our budget is for K-12 education, we should be dedicated to spending
this money more wisely.

Our total state budget was about $3 billion in 1985 and now it is over $14 billion. Colorado had about 2.2 million
citizens in 1985 and now has about 4.6 million. In the past 20 years, the growth of the state government has far
outpaced the rate of inflation and the growth of the economy. We need to run a "tighter ship."

Four weeks ago, I explained - in detail - how the Independence Institute presented nine great ideas on how we can
have a more efficient state government. If you go to my web site (www.jimwelker.com) you can read what I stated in
the Capitol Update #5. Click on "Legislation" and then "Weekly Updates." We need to make the hard decisions and
not allow runaway government spending.

HB05-1020 by Cerbo (D) concerns the change in how we compute our unemployment insurance benefits. This bill
passed 35 to 28. All D's voted YES and all R's voted NO. This bill will cause unemployment insurance rates to go up
and will be detrimental to many businesses, large and small. This will hurt our economy.

SB05-036 by May (R) concerns the limitations on the driving privileges of newly licensed minor drivers. I was a cosponsor
of this bill, so I voted YES. It passed 49 to 14. Until a new driver is 16 1/2, he or she can only have one
passenger. Young drivers are easily distracted, and there have been many tragic accidents with multiple-fatalities in
this age group. Lives will be saved with this bill. Under a very good amendment, for special circumstances parents can
extend this limit by giving written permission for their child to ride with a new driver.

,b>HB05-1224 by Madden (D) concerns the requirement of the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) to go before the
Senate and House Joint Legislative Committee for informational purposes. The bill passed 33 to 29 on the "second
reading" and then by 37 to 26 on the "third reading." If I hadn't stood up (called a division vote) on the "second
reading," the bill would have died. I was one of three R's that voted YES. As a conservative Republican, this is very
unusual for me!

I voted YES because I believe that the General Assembly (35 Senators and 65 Representatives) is "in the dark"
regarding what is happening on our energy and telecommunications proceedings. It concerns me that executives of
Excel and Qwest (formerly US West) are earning millions of dollars in salaries when their businesses are essentially
monopolies. I think $400,000 or less per year for a President of a monopoly is good enough. I could live on that.
Couldn't you? The CEO of Excel made more than $5.6 million in the last three years. People who manage
monopolies should not get wealthy off the citizens of Colorado.

Colorado citizens spend about $1 billion on our state roads and highways per year, and the General Assembly is well
informed on our transportation needs by CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation). In contrast, our utility and
communication bills are over $8 billion and we know almost nothing. It doesn't make much sense to me. We deserve
more accountability from the PUC. I don't want the General Assembly to "tell the PUC what to do," just like we don't
"tell CDOT what to do," but it would be good for all of us if we were more informed, and could act as a team. I believe
that openness in government is very important. That is why we have a "Sunshine Law."

If you wish to review the most prominent bills that are before us, open the file below called "Bills in the News."

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE GOP (The Party for All the People)
1. Protect the rights of the individual.
2. Protect the free enterprise system.
3. Reduce government to the lowest practical level.
4. Endorse and practice fiscal responsibility.
5. Endorse "traditional family values" from Judeo-Christian beliefs.
6. Protect our great country with a strong national defense and border protection.

Please continue to pray for our President, Vice-President, Senators, Representatives, Supreme Court, Judiciary,
Governor, state Representatives and Senators, county and city elected officials, our school boards, our police and
firemen, and our soldiers that are fighting for our defense and freedom. (I Timothy 2:1,2)

Thank you for your prayers and support!
Rep. Jim Welker
House District 51