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Heck No to HB24-1107 & HB24-1296
Strip the People of their rights to appeal their leadership and violate Sunshine laws for transparency in government information. Take the seconds it takes to copy/paste, or write your own, and send an email to your legislators NOW. These are being amended and will be debated tomorrow in the House. Note: for transparency, it's important the press and us get copied.
You can read the most current version of each bill at the links above.
Emails need to go out tonight, if possible!
Developers Rule Bill - HB24-1107 would mandate citizen groups may have to pay the City or County (other taxpayer-funded government agency) Attorney fees if they lose a 106 which are hard to win as courts do not like to overturn legislative bodies, but the fact that THREE of the FIVE 106 cases filed in 2022 were won is a giant red flag that leadership is not doing their job. Bogus traffic studies, dubious geohazard reports, disturbing fire codes that allow massive development on single egress are but a few reasons why citizens' rights to appeal our legislative bodies is so very important -- and that means ALL citizens not just wealthy ones which is what this would do, discriminate against the low income citizens. That's wrong. Though the proponents, the developers and their puppets, are promoting this as helping more affordable housing be built faster which, by the way, our state demographer just released a report showing our housing is at a surplus of 18,000 units with vacancies rising as prices drop - free markets work, the truth is the bill is to serve the wealthy, elite developers. It is anti-equity, anti-justice and anti-democratic. The Developer Kings of Colorado are the only ones who benefit here.
UPDATE: HB24-1296 Passed with amendments that greatly reduce the impact to neighborhoods thanks to the work of the Colorado Community Coalition. So, that language is removed from the sample email below.
The "Vexatious Person"Bill - HB24-1296 would almost be funny with such a scandalous branding term if it were not so frightening. This bill started as allowing cities and the state to brand all non-press citizens as "vexatious" for making Colorado Open Records Requests for information from our already excessively secretive government. They have tweaked to say the state, cities and counties could go to the courts to brand a citizen group or individual as "Vexatious Persons" for asking for too much information or, maybe too "sensitive" of information and fine them as well as put them in time-out. We agree with the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition's position on this. The government already redacts "sensitive" information. The people should not be denied transparency into our leadership, we fund, because bad people abuse data like calendar information or addresses. If one doesn't want to live in the public eye and hold the immense powers of public office, perhaps pursuing librarian work would be a better path?
Sample email below: Note, just an email that says vote no works too, but we wanted to provide some framework to those who are busy and want to support but don't have time to research deeply. Again, copying us and the press matters bunches. Thank you for being a great neighbor!
Below is an excellent email Russell Maclearn wrote we encourage all to read. The Macleans have given us permission to share and for anyone to use that language as well.
To: judy.amabile.house@coleg.gov, ryan.armagost.house@coleg.gov, jennifer.bacon.house@coleg.gov, mark.baisley@senate.co.com, shannon.bird.house@coleg.gov, rod.bockenfeld.house@coleg.gov, andrew.boesenecker.house@coleg.gov, scott.bottoms.house@coleg.gov, mary.bradfield.house@coleg.gov, brandi.bradley.house@coleg.gov, jeff.bridges.senate@coleg.gov, kyle.brown.house@coleg.gov, janet.buckner.senate@coleg.gov, marc.catlin.house@coleg.gov, james.coleman.senate@coleg.gov, lisa.cutter.senate@coleg.gov, jessie.danielson.senate@coleg.gov, lindsey.daugherty.house@coleg.gov, ken.degraaf.house@coleg.gov, chris.kennedy.house@coleg.gov, Ruby.Dickson.house@coleg.gov, monica.duran.house@coleg.gov, regina.english.house@coleg.gov, elisabeth.epps.house@coleg.gov, gabe.evans.house@coleg.gov, tony.exum.senate@coleg.gov, stephen.fenberg.senate@coleg.gov, rhonda.fields.senate@coleg.gov, lisa.frizell.house@coleg.gov, meg.froelich.house@coleg.gov, lorena.garcia.house@coleg.gov, bob.gardner.senate@coleg.gov, joann.ginal.senate@coleg.gov, julie.gonzales.senate@coleg.gov, serena.gonzales-gutierrez.house@coleg.gov, eliza.hamrick.house@coleg.gov, chris.hansen.senate@coleg.gov, anthony.hartsook.house@coleg.gov, leslie.herod.house@coleg.gov, nick.hinrichsen.senate@coleg.gov, richard.holtorf.house@coleg.gov, sonya.jaquez.lewis.senate@coleg.gov, Iman.Jodeh.house@coleg.gov, junie.joseph.house@coleg.gov, cathy.kipp.house@coleg.gov, barbara.kirkmeyer.senate@coleg.gov, chris.kolker.senate@coleg.gov, sheila.lieder.house@coleg.gov, mandy.lindsay.house@coleg.gov, william.lindstedt.house@coleg.gov, larry.liston.senate@coleg.gov, stephanie.luck.house@coleg.gov, meghan.lukens.house@coleg.gov, paul.lundeen.senate@coleg.gov, mike.lynch.house@coleg.gov, javier.mabrey.house@coleg.gov, janice.marchman.senate@coleg.gov, bob.marshall.house@coleg.gov, matthew.martinez.house@coleg.gov, tisha.mauro.house@coleg.gov, Dominick.Moreno.senate@coleg.gov, Julie.Mccluskie.house@coleg.gov, karen.mccormick.house@coleg.gov, barbara.mclachlan.house@coleg.gov, dafna.michaelson.jenet.senate@coleg.gov, kyle.mullica.senate@coleg.gov, David.Ortiz.house@coleg.gov, jennifer.parenti.house@coleg.gov, byron.pelton.senate@coleg.gov, rod.pelton.senate@coleg.gov, kevin.priola.senate@coleg.gov, rose.pugliese.house@coleg.gov, janicerichsd7@gmail.com, Naquetta.Ricks.house@coleg.gov, dylan.roberts.senate@coleg.gov, robert.rodriguez.senate@coleg.gov, said.sharbini.house@coleg.gov, cleave.simpson.senate@coleg.gov, emily.sirota.house@coleg.gov, SenatorSmallwood@gmail.com, marc.snyder.house@coleg.gov, matthew.soper.house@coleg.gov, tammy.story.house@coleg.gov, tom.sullivan.senate@coleg.gov, rick.taggart.house@coleg.gov, brianna.titone.house@coleg.gov, alex.valdez.house@coleg.gov, kevin.vanwinkle.senate@coleg.gov, elizabeth.velasco.house@coleg.gov, stephanie.vigil.house@coleg.gov, ron.weinberg.house@coleg.gov, mike.weissman.house@coleg.gov, perry.will.senate@coleg.gov, jenny.willford.house@coleg.gov, don.wilson.house@coleg.gov, faith.winter.senate@coleg.gov, ty.winter.house@coleg.gov, steven.woodrow.house@coleg.gov, mary.young.house@coleg.gov, senatorrachelz@gmail.com
CC: governorpolis@state.co.us, kevin.klein@state.co.us, westsidewatchcos@gmail.com, news@cpr.org, news@kktv.com, news@koaa.com, news@fox21news.com, news@krcc.org, news.tips@abc.com, newsroom@coloradosun.com, newsroom@denverpost.com, breeanna.jent@gazette.com, oliviaprentzel@coloradosun.com, tips@kdvr.com, tips@nbcuni.com, tips@cnn.com, tips@thefp.com, news-tips@nytimes.com, tips@reuters.com, ASack@kxrm.com, andy.koen@koaa.com, newstips@9news.com, talkshow@aol.com, newstips@denver7.com, kyle.clark@9news.com, KCNCNews@cbs.com, achalfin@krcc.org, tips@thefp.com, tips@kdvr.com, tips@cnn.com, news.tips@abc.com, KRDO Radio <radionews@krdo.com>, pprengaman@ap.org, newstips@9news.com, dave.donelson@coloradosprings.gov
Subject: Vote No to Developers Rule (HB24-1107) Bill
Dear Representatives and Senators,
I am deeply troubled by two pieces of legislation that strike to the core of democracy, freedom and fairness that are before you. Please consider the serious ramifications of the Developer Rules Bill HB24-1107.
Below are the reasons I oppose the Developers Rule Bill HB24-1107:
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It disadvantages low-income neighborhoods and is anti-equity.
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We already pay the City and County Attorneys. We should not have to pay them twice to do their jobs. If they would do their jobs in protecting our interests, there would be o need for 106 Appeals.
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There were four 106 Appeals filed in Colorado Springs in 2023. One was the 2424 developer suing the City/people trying to reverse the first denial in year of a development based upon evacuation and public safety concerns. They lost and did not pay the City Attorney fees. The second and only Appeal filed that involved "affordable housing" which is being used to sell this was against the Launchpad, a Sec 8 housing development with units that cost $400,000 each - more than median family income homes. The geohazard and state laws were not followed or omitted in evaluating this development. Residents above it are concerned their homes will slide when the rains come because it is built on Pierre Shale. Do residents property rights matters? People have invested their lives and savings building their homes there. The third Appeal involved a market-rate 400 unit, 7 story apartment complex being built at a critical chokepoint in an already over-built, dense housing neighborhood. The complex is also proposed to be on a Streamside Overlay that mandates a geohazard study for the land. That study was not done. Additionally, the full traffic study was not presented to City Council. We did a separate video-based study showing that the traffic was, in reality, 2X what their study showed because they did their study in the dead of winter, January. The last Appeal was for a Water Tank that Colorado Springs Utilities built and admitted they were wrong but refused to fix it. Residents were telling them it was wrong along the entire process. Now, homeowners and businesses face damage to their business and property. What are citizens to do under these corrupt conditions? The 106 Appeals are expensive and rarely done because of the expense, but this bill will destroy citizen's right to redress when clear errors are made.
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In Colorado Springs, the developers spent $2,000,000 buying our City Council and Mayor and another $500,000 on school boards for Urban Renewal Authority controls, so our leadership does not protect our interests and consistently votes against citizens who raise concerns about their public and life safety as well as our property rights.
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Colorado Springs is the largest WUI in the state and faces serious concerns about evacuation. Our fire leadership has edited our code to be among the most lax in the state adding additional exceptions to approve developments the on single access/egress roads in spite of showing them we are already trapped today.
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In 2022, there were a total of FIVE 106 Appeals were filed, STATEWIDE. 3 of those were won by citizens which is the evidence for the need as there was clearly something the leadership was doing wrong. One was dismissed and one was lost.
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Lastly, in 2023, our Colorado Springs leadership amidst uproar passed "ReToolCOS" which dramatically restricted our rights to know of developments (many can now be administratively approved) and required onerous conditions for citizens to appeal or even have a public meeting.
Under these oppressive and abusive conditions, the courts are the only chance citizens have to stop many dangerous developments that threaten our public and life safety.
Please help protect our rights and public safety by voting no to HB24-1107.
Sincerely,
[Insert Name]