Colorado Capitol Report

In this Capitol Report:

• CACI Urges Members to Vote for Pro-Business Legislative Candidates
• Easy Peasy: Register! Vote!
• Celebrate Manufacturing Day! CACI Drives Manufacturing Awareness
• CACI Recognized at National Conference for Membership Growth

CACI Urges Members to Vote for Pro-Business Legislative Candidates

In July, CACI endorsed a slate of 53 incumbent and new legislative candidates.

Currently, Republicans control the 35-member Senate by one vote and the Democrats control the House 34 to 31.

CACI supports candidates who it believes will advocate policies that will create jobs and enhance the state’s economic climate.  The best chance for such policies to succeed is when the control of the legislature’s two chambers is split between the Democrats and the Republicans.  CACI and the statewide business community that it represents learned this lesson the hard way in recent years.

Of the 53 candidates, eight are Democrats and the rest are Republicans.

Of the 11 Senate endorsements, six are for incumbents and five are for new candidates.  Only one of the 11 Senate endorsements is for a Democrat: Representative Angela Williams (D-Denver), who is seeking the Senate District 33 seat.

Of the 42 House endorsements, 28 are for incumbents and 14 are for new candidates.  CACI endorsed four incumbent Democrats and three new Democrat candidates.

CACI views candidates through the lens of whether or not CACI considers them to be pro-business.  Consequently, the CACI slate of endorsements reflects bi-partisanship.

Incumbents earned CACI’s endorsement based on their voting records for the 2015 and 2016 sessions or efforts to work “behind the scenes” to help support good-for-business bills or defeat anti-business bills.

New candidates endorsed by CACI represented themselves as individuals with whom CACI can work at the State Capitol and who will be supportive of business or who conveyed that they will work with CACI.

Control of the two chambers for the 2017 and 2018 sessions likely depends on the outcome of a small number of key races in swing districts.  Below are six key races and the CACI endorsements that reflect CACI’s interest in maintaining a balanced legislature.

House

• Representative J. Paul Brown (R-Ignacio), House District 59
• Representative Kit Roupe (R-Colorado Springs), House District 17

Senate

• Senator Laura Woods (R-Arvada), Senate District 19
• Senator Larry Crowder (R-Alamosa), Senate District 35
• Representative Kevin Priola (R-Henderson), Senate District 25
• Nancy Doty (R-Littleton), Senate District 26

In addition, CACI urges its members to personally give to these six endorsed candidates.  A corporation or a non-corporate business entity cannot give money directly to a candidate.  An individual can give a legislative candidate up to $400.

For news media coverage of CACI’s legislative candidate endorsements and more information about some of the key races, read:

“Key Senate Races: Senate District 26,” CACI Colorado Capitol Report, September 30^th.

“Three Key Senate Races: Who Will Control the Colorado Senate in 2017 & 2018?” CACI Colorado Capitol Report, September 23^rd.

“Union Small-Donor Committees Target Key Legislative Races,” CACI Colorado Capitol Report, September 16^th.

“Statewide business group seeks to keep Colorado Senate in Republican hands,” by Ed Sealover, The Denver Business Journal, July 26^th.

For more information about CACI’s legislative candidate slate, contact Loren Furman, CACI Senior Vice President, State and Federal Relations, at 303.866.9642.

Easy Peasy: Register! Vote!

On Monday, October 17^th, county clerks across Colorado will start mailing out some three million ballots for the November 8^th elections to active, registered voters.

Residents have, however, until Election Day to register.  Ballots must arrive in the offices of county clerks by 7 p.m. on November 8^th to be counted.

Voters can update their voting record on the Secretary of State’s Web site to insure that their ballot arrives at their current address.

Celebrate Manufacturing Day! CACI Drives Manufacturing Awareness

Today is Manufacturing Day in Colorado and throughout America.  Today we celebrate all manufacturers who contribute to our economy and our way of life.  But today is just one small part of CACI’s ongoing work to make Coloradans, especially policymakers, aware of the importance of our manufacturing sector in Colorado.

Partnering with CACI, Governor John Hickenlooper has proclaimed October “Manufacturing Month.”  His proclamation details important aspects of Colorado manufacturing, from advanced technology research, to workforce training, to a $20 billion annual impact on the state’s economy.  You can read it here.

CACI Recognized at National Conference for Membership Growth

Earlier this week CACI earned the award as runner-up for membership growth in its category at that Association of State Chamber Professionals annual conference in Austin, Tex.  We appreciate the new members who joined CACI in the last year, and, of course, all our great members for supporting CACI’s work to Champion for a Positive Business Climate in Colorado!