Dear Friends and Supporters,

Our legislative session began Wednesday, January 11th. It is exciting to be back at "the people's business." In the Governor's last "State of the State" address, he highlighted accomplishments in his seven years in office. House leadership spoke as well. Even though there have been some very difficult times, we have made good progress in transportation, accountability in education, improving our economy, and the reduction in various taxes - even with the passage of Referendum C.

THE VETO PEN:

In this coming session we will re-hash bills similar to those that the Governor vetoed last year's total of 47. He must at times use this veto power because Republican lawmakers do not have enough votes in the committees and on the floors to kill certain bills that are not good for Colorado. For example, in order for our economy to improve, our state needs to be friendly to businesses. But last year there were a number of bills that were hard on businesses. Thankfully, the Governor vetoed many of these bills. He has his veto pen ready again this year.

TRANSPORTATION:

We will need to allocate as much money as possible from our budget for transportation. Out of our current transportation budget, we bring in about $818 million and pay about $167 million for the T-Rex bonds. What is left goes to maintenance. We have nothing left for new lanes in our highways or new bridges. We need at least $100 million per year for new lanes and bridges. Really, we need much more that - close to $400 million per year.

This is why I am working directly with Rep. Josh Penry, (R) Grand Junction, to securitize our tobacco money. Securitization means that we will receive a flat sum of about $1.5 billion instead of $60 million per year. The $1.5 billion would be allocated in this manner:
-Half would be a "rainy day" fund, with the interest going to health care.
-$100 million would be spent on capital construction. Colorado owns about 2,450 buildings; many of these need to be repaired and/or replaced.
-$650 million would be spent on construction of new lanes and bridges.

Of course, I will fight hard to get money to widen I-25 for northern Colorado.

COSTS OF INCARCERATION:

I am very concerned about our exploding prison population. Twenty years ago the Department of Corrections (DOC) consumed 3% of our budget. That percentage is now 10%--and is growing by an additional rate of 5% almost every year. Consider these statistics:
-We now have 31 adult prisons, and three more need to be built. We have 10
youth prisons.
-Our county jails along the Front Range, from Larimer County to Pueblo
County, are completely full.
-Our prison population is a little over 21,000, and is expected to be over
27,000 within 5 years.
-We are spending about a billion dollars annually on our prisons: our DOC
budget is over $600 million and our judiciary budget is $300 million.

These statistics are truly alarming. We need to be "tough on crime," but we must look at ways to maintain greater fiscal responsibility while continuing to protect the public. These are some suggestions:

1) Review our sentencing laws. For example, we could create alternative, yet effective, methods of punishing people who do not commit crimes of violence.
2) Continue to expand our "community correctional facilities." These cost about $7,800 per year per prisoner compared to $28,000 for a regular prison.
3) Look more carefully at how sources of crime could be curtailed. For example, there are 1,600 "foreign born" in our prisons, costing us about $45 million annually. The federal government needs to control our borders.
4) Strongly encourage faith based organizations to get involved in prison ministries, during and after incarceration. Prisoners who experience a spiritual conversion and a network of post-prison support are much less likely to return to prison.
5) The current practice of paying prisoners 60 cents an hour and giving them $100 upon release sets them up for failure. All able prisoners should be working at a viable job in prison, such as making a product that can be sold on the open market. Half of their earnings could be placed in a savings account so that when the prisoner gets out (95% do someday), they would have some money to rent a place to live and to find a job.

BILLS THAT I AM CARRYING

I am currently sponsoring two bills:
"Citizenship Data in our K-12 Public Schools"
"Consumer Rights Regarding the Use of Social Security Numbers."
Watch for more information on these bills in upcoming weeks.

BILLS IN THE STUDY PHASE
"Campaign Finance Reform with the Use of Office Accounts."
"Protection of K-12 School Teachers from Frivolous Lawsuits."
"The Streamlining of our Sessions by the Reduction of Late Bills."

FINAL COMMENTS

Congressman Tom Tancredo gave a great talk at the end of our Republican caucus meeting on Monday. Tom said that he does not know Jack Abrahamoff, has never met him, and has never received any money from Jack. Tom stated that because we concentrate so much power in our federal government in Washington D.C., with a $2.4 trillion budget (can you believe that?), it can be expected that there is much opportunity for corruption. But ethical legislators can and will resist those opportunities, and will continue to serve their constituents with integrity.

Between 3 - 4 million illegal aliens are coming across our southern border every year. Tom stated that an overwhelming number of Americans want our borders secured and controlled.

I am looking forward to the next few months and I always like to hear from my constituents in Loveland. Please feel free to send me an e-mail or a letter. I read all of them personally and I do respond to all of them. If you plan to come to your Capitol, please let me know and, if possible, I will take you on to the House Floor.

Respectfully,

Rep. Jim Welker
House District 51