Who's awesome?

Morgan Carroll, Jay Leno and Diana DeGette, that's who.

DeGette's stem cell bill will be voted on in the Senate next week, according to the Post. And yesterday I got two press releases from her office. The first reported her urgings that Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt appoint "a new Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Population Affairs who is committed to family planning and women's health." The second read that next Tuesday, DeGette "will host a roundtable discussion on pending federal reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program."

Photo: DeGette speaking at the Point to help launch a new Fannie Mae program to assist minority home ownership in Denver.

Would George W. Bush support HB-1331?

HD36's Morgan Carroll writes about HB-1331 at SquareState:

...I am sponsoring, along with Rep. Debbie Stafford (R-Aurora) and Sen. Lois Tochtrop (D - Thornton) HB 07-1331. Several other states have taken a far more aggressive lead on sharing public information with the public to help make informed decisions when selecting a physician... HB 1331 enhances the information service provided by the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners to the public so that patients can search for professional infractions against a license or findings of medical negligence. Every patient deserves the ability to make an informed choice and provide informed consent when possible.

Even the White House recognizes that an informed patient more likely to make good decisions. The President's healthcare plan includes this sentence:

To get the best quality care for the best price, patients need to know in advance what their medical options are, the quality and expertise of doctors and hospitals in their area, and what their medical procedure will cost. (Ed. - Emphasis added)

Ritter hails energy legislation (and etc.)

Best email waiting for me in my inbox? Bill Ritter's press release supporting landmark New Energy Economy legislation:

Gov. Bill Ritter today hailed the final passage of House Bill 1281, the legislative centerpiece of his 2007 renewable energy agenda for Colorado.

"I applaud lawmakers from both parties for their bipartisan cooperation and vision as they work to enact Colorado's New Energy Economy," Ritter said. "In 2004, when Colorado voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 37, we became the first state in the country to set renewable energy standards by citizen initiative.

"We're making history yet again with HB 1281 by expanding those standards and continuing to establish Colorado as the nation's renewable energy leader."

The governor congratulated lawmakers, investor-owned utilities, rural electric associations, environmental organizations, labor groups, consumer advocates and others for their collaborative efforts in shaping HB 1281.

"HB 1281 will help stimulate the rural areas at the heart of the New Energy Economy - regions like the Eastern Plains and San Luis Valley where wind, sun and agriculture are abundant," Ritter said. "The bill will help us attract manufacturers of wind turbines and solar products. It also will stimulate research and development of emerging energy technologies.

"And by expanding our renewable energy production and consumption, we'll reduce our reliance on foreign oil, which is good for our environment and our national security.

"I look forward to signing HB 1281 and the remainder of the New Energy Economy legislative package very soon," the governor added.

Other assorted good tidings:

• Hilarious: Bob Beauprez has a copycat.
• 2008 update: In Colorado, Washington and cyberspace.
• Lobbyists: Morgan Carroll owns you.

Some random March healthcare links

• John Aloysius Farrell: "Health care is a hot topic, but specifics are hard to come by."
• Morgan Carroll: "Injured workers deserve better in Colorado!"
• Colorado Media Matters: "Rosen's guests misled on infant health care."
• And then there's this from the John Edwards campaign:

Bill Ritter, Morgan Carroll cheer me up

This morning the GOP has been corrupt, hypocritical, racist and corrupt again and again. I almost didn't want to check my RSS feeds again for fear I'd learn yet another way wingnuts are messing up our country.

But I did, because I'm actually getting my RSS feeds through an IV drip now. And I was pleased to find this from the Rocky:

More than a dozen bills aiming to transform Colorado into the green energy capital of the nation are wending their way through the legislative process, inching toward Gov. Bill Ritter's desk for his blessing.

Bills that double Colorado's current goal for electricity from renewable resources, help build power lines to carry wind energy, require gasoline to contain a certain amount of ethanol and have new homes and buildings comply with energy efficiency codes.

Ritter is expected to approve most of the major renewable energy and energy efficiency bills. He promised voters last year he would transform Colorado into a new energy economy that depends less on foreign oil or pollution-causing fossil fuels.

Promises made, promises kept.

Then I learned from Morgan Carroll that her worker's comp choice bill has passed out of the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee.

Sunshine and lollipops and rainbows, people. Life is good.

Morgan Carroll takes on workers comp reform

One of the ironies of market-driven healthcare is that it actually limits choice, when compared to a single-payer voucher system. For instance, injured workers in Colorado can't even choose their own doctors. HD36 representative Morgan Carroll is out to change that. A press release states:

Next Monday, March 5, the House Committee on Business Affairs and Labor will hear Rep. Morgan Carroll's HB-1176, which would, for the first time, give workers injured on the job the ability to choose and to change the physician who treats them. Colorado's Workers Compensation Act currently does not permit injured workers any doctor choice or any right of change. Only a small minority of states deny injured workers these rights...

"The free market allows us to choose who fixes our cars, to choose who fixes our homes, and to choose where we buy our groceries, but Colorado's Workers Comp system does not allow workers any choice in who 'fixes' their bodies after they're hurt on the job. That's not 'free' and it certainly isn't fair," said Rep. Carroll.

It looks like Carroll is in for a fight. Currently, the Colorado Secretary of State lists 50 lobbyists working to oppose the bill, with only 10 lobbying for it. Another 51 are listed as either monitoring or amending. [Source]

Cross-posted at SquareState.

The Internet is a good thing for politics

And I ain't just talking about Presidential politics, although it is. I didn't even realize that Colorado Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff had a blog. And, of course, HD38's Morgan Carroll has one too.

But I digress. This post - in the spirit of All Positive, All The Time Week - is all about giving a shout-out to this post, in which an intrepid blogger sits through a townhall with several elected Republicans, reports on the bills they are carrying, and even catches them fibbing. It's the type of thankless but important journalism you're just not going to find in the Post, folks.

Morgan Carroll liveblogging on 527 reform from 7:30 to 8

Hereabouts.