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KUNC is a member of Capitol Coverage, a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.

It's An Election Year, So The Mood At The Capitol Is Decidedly Political

Stephen Butler
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Flickr - Creative Commons

Roughly three weeks into Colorado's annual legislative session, a lot of bills are starting to get their first hearings. We've heard the priorities of the leaders and the governor, as well as some of the more interesting bills.

But 2016 is an election year, and a presidential one no less. How will politics impact the bills being heard in committees?

Highlights From Capitol Conversation

On A Bill For End Of Life And Other Hot Button Topics

Peter Marcus, Durango Herald: "It's a moral issue for some it's a religious issue for others, and it's just common sense for some other people."

Kristen Wyatt, The Associated Press: "Whether it's guns, whether it's equal pay for women, or abortion rights, you're going to see a lot of hot button issues that move votes."

On The Political Backdrop

Wyatt: "The Democratic House and the Republican Senate are talking up things that they think are winners with the public. It's almost more important that it becomes a headline than it becomes a law,"

Marcus: "We still have a looming budget to address also, everything else they're talking about for the most part requires funding."

Bente Birkeland is an award-winning journalist who joined Colorado Public Radio in August 2018 after a decade of reporting on the Colorado state capitol for the Rocky Mountain Community Radio collaborative and KUNC. In 2017, Bente was named Colorado Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and she was awarded with a National Investigative Reporting Award by SPJ a year later.
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