Colorado’s legislative session only lasts 120 days, but lawmakers are often hard at work in the period between sessions, called the “interim.” That’s so they can introduce bills as soon as the session starts in January.
For instance, State Rep. Elizabeth Velasco (D-Glenwood Springs) is once again co-chairing the interim Wildfire Matters committee, which will draft wildfire-related bills to introduce in January.
Last year, Velasco and State Sen. Perry Will (R-New Castle) both sponsored bills out of the Wildfire Matters Committee, related to grants for rural communities, and emergency evacuations for people with pets. Will is not running for re-election, and is instead running for Garfield County’s Board of County Commissioners.
Velasco said environmental issues are top of mind for her this summer, given the very busy fire season the state has had, including several large fires on the Front Range and a series of small fires in her district. Bureau of Land Management fire managers say they’ve had 51 human-caused wildfires so far this summer. She’s also concerned about heat and rapidly rising temperatures.
One of those is related to protections for outdoor workers against heat, pulling from recently updated federal OSHA guidelines.
“Access to water for workers, access to shade, and breaks, and education around identifying heat stroke: those are some of the guidelines that I'm going to be reviewing as we create some protections for workers here in Colorado.” she said.
She also said she and other lawmakers will be doing more work on emergency responses to fires, along with broader resiliency-related issues.
“The fireproofing and weather-proofing of the grid… you know, we saw the failures in Texas, where people are without power for days, and we don’t want that to happen here in Colorado,” she said.
Hurricane Beryl caused extensive damage and widespread power outages last month in Texas, prompting conversations about how the state manages its energy grid.
In addition, Velasco says she’s working on creating protections for outdoor workers in rising temperatures, and other environmental issues.
Velasco is running for re-election in her district, which makes up the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys, Glenwood Canyon, and the piece of Eagle County that includes Dotsero. She’s facing a challenge for her seat from Republican Caleb Waller of Silt.
