The Colorado House dedicated Military and Veterans Appreciation Day to unanimously adopting 13 joint resolutions honoring veterans across every major conflict and demographic group, then passed the contested HB 1001 — a bill streamlining administrative approval of affordable housing on nonprofit, school, and housing authority properties — over sustained bipartisan opposition rooted in local control and demographic arguments.
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Representative Richardson argued that eliminating public hearings from residential development approvals is 'the heart of civic engagement' and that local governments already have authority to streamline their own processes without a statewide mandate. Representative Brooks cited nine mayors who appeared at committee opposing the bill, stating 'My mayors show up to the meeting and say this stinks, please don't pass this. And we say, that's cute. You know, drive safely on the way home. Why are we ignoring our mayors?' Speaker Pro Tem Besanecker countered by citing a Thornton three-story affordable housing development that received Prop 123 funds and planning/zoning approval but was denied at one o'clock in the morning by a city council.
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“Being an African American veteran is about loving a country that has not always loved you back, yet still choosing service. Hard times make hard men, and hard men make hard decisions.”
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Sign in to subscribeThe house will come to order. Will all those who are present in the chamber and able to stand please rise for the presentation of the colors by the Colorado Air National Guard. It. Present arms. The national anthem will now be sung by Michaela Jade Carter, daughter of Representative Carter. O say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the paroiless fight O' er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly streaming and the rockets regular the bombs bursting in air Gave truth through the night that our flag was still there O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave O' er the land of the free and the home of the grace. Hell is turned Hatch. Thank you to the members of the Colorado Air National Guard for presenting the colors. Master Sergeant Logan Tucker, Staff Sergeant Israel Staton, Staff Sergeant Augustus Wyatt and and Airman First Class Jacob Caesar. Thank you also to our anthem singer, Michaela Jade Carter. Now I invite our legislators who have served in the military to please come down to the well and…
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