Colorado Focus: Democratic Accomplishments Nationally and in Colorado

DEMOCRATIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS: from the Boulder County Democratic Party

With President Obama’s leadership, Democrats have
• saved & created jobs
• strengthened working families
• supported small businesses
• supported the members of our military and their families

* Passed historic health care reform
* Pulled our economy back from the brink of collapse
* Created and saved 3.5 million jobs
* Cut taxes for small businesses
* Cut taxes for 95% of American workers
* Started to rebuild America’s road, rail, and water infrastructure
* Provided unprecedented accountability
(American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aka the stimulus)
* Made equal pay for equal work the law
(Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act)
* Expanded health care to an additional four million children
(State Children's Health Insurance Program aka SCHIP)
* Seated Sonia Sotomayor ‐ the first Latina Justice in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court
* Designated more than 2 million new acres of wilderness and parks
* Strengthened tourism and rural economies
(Omnibus Public Land Management Act)
* Provided tough new protections for consumers
(Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights)
* Provided law enforcement resources to prevent and prosecute hate crimes
(Hate Crimes Prevention Act)
* Provided access to medical services for low‐income patients with AIDs and HIV
(Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act)
* Provided the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products, the #1 cause of preventable U.S. deaths
* Improved funding for VA health care
* Extended the homebuyer tax credit for troops
* Made payments to military personnel moving due to base closures tax exempt
* Expanded GI Bill benefits to cover the full cost of a college education for all children of fallen U.S. service members

Here in Colorado, Governor Ritter and Democrats in our state legislature:

* Cut taxes for 30,000 small businesses
(House Bill 08‐1225, Rice/Williams)
* Created new jobs
(Job Growth Incentive Program, HB 09‐1001, Rice/Heath)
* Helped Colorado’s small businesses get the loans and credit they need
(SB 09‐67, Heath/Marostica & Gagliardi)
* Provided the first new transportation‐funding initiative in almost 20 years to keep roads and bridges safe and create jobs
(FASTER, SB 09‐108, Gibbs/Rice)
* Doubled Colorado’s voter‐approved renewable energy standard so that the state’s biggest utilities will generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020
(HB07‐1281, Schwartz/Pommer& Witwer)
* Allowed homeowners to reduce their electric bills by selling excess solar energy back to their utility company
(HB08‐1160, Solano/Shaffer & Isgar)
* Helped homeowners afford solar panels, and creating new jobs for installers through a lease‐to‐own financing tool
(SB 09‐51, M. Carroll/Levy)
* Started a review and realignment of education in Colorado from pre‐school to college that sets new content and assessment standards
(SB 08‐212)
* Created the nation’s first statewide five‐year dual‐degree program, allowing students to concurrently earn a high school diploma and college associate’s degree in five years
(HB 1319, Merrifield and Massey/Williams)
* Reformed healthcare in Colorado to address cost‐shifting and the high cost of uncompensated care (two of the main reasons for skyrocketing costs for small businesses and healthcare providers), provide coverage to 100,000 uninsured Coloradans, and do so without cost to employers or taxpayers
(the Colorado Healthcare Affordability Act of 2009, HB 09‐1293)