Those who think young people have no interest in state politics, or no chance of becoming directly involved in the State Legislature, can find local evidence to the contrary.

State Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, recently finished his 14th and final Legislative session, since he is term-limited. This might make him sound like a grizzled legislative veteran, but back in 1994, he was the president of the Colorado Young Democrats before being appointed to fill a vacancy in the state House of Representatives.

“One of the first bills I introduced in my very first session was about putting student representation on the CU Board of Regents,” said Tupa. “The rights and issues for students have always been near and dear to my heart.”

Tupa then won elections to the House in 1996 and 1998, became a Senator in 2000, and won another Senate race in 2004.

And even in 2008, Tupa was still carrying legislation with the interests of students in mind. He told the Daily several weeks ago that he intended to “go out with a bang,” and his name was listed as a sponsor on roughly 20 pieces of legislation in 2008.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More CU & The People's Republic

• Two cited in fight outside McDonald’s
• Sponsored research at CU breaks record
• SunEdison tour stops at Staples

Share and Enjoy [?]

Newsvine
del.icio.us
Digg
Furl

For example, the Legislature approved Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 37, a measure that encourages the state’s Department of Higher Education (DHE) to review policies surrounding student fees and fee structures.

Sens. Tupa and Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, along with Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, sponsored SJR 37. It also “strongly encourages” DHE to involve students, student organizations, governing bodies of institutions of higher ed, and members of the Legislature in the fee review process.

“It’s an important resolution, even though it doesn’t have the force of law like a regular bill, because it really does reflect the will of the Legislature,” said Tupa. “It’s a strong statement by the legislative branch that we’re directing DHE to take a pretty in-depth, exhaustive review and analysis of student fees for higher education across the state, campus by campus.”

Tupa and Rep. John Kefalas, D-Ft. Collins, also carried Senate Bill (SB) 73, the College Textbook Affordability Act.

Gov. Bill Ritter has signed the bill into law. It requires book publishers to provide instructors or faculty members with textbook pricing information, and information about substantive revisions to the book. The bill also requires publishers offering “bundled” textbook packages, which might include items such as DVDs, to offer the bundled items separately.

Tupa and Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, successfully carried SB 167 through the Senate and House, although Ritter had not signed it into law as of Monday. The bill would require private institutions of higher education to apply for and receive approval from DHE before doing business in the State of Colorado.

“Currently, there’s no protection that the state or the students have against diploma mills – colleges that just open up shop, take the students’ money, say ‘We have a degree that’s worth something,’ and the kids wind up out of tens of thousands of dollars,” said Tupa.

On Monday, he said about half of the legislation he carried in 2008 had to do with education or environmental issues.

“”I would say that in my 14 years in office, I’ve made a concerted effort to stay focused on issues that are important to Boulder and my constituents, and education and the environment are probably the two most important issues for the citizens I represent,” said Tupa.

On the environmental front, Rep. Kerr and Tupa carried and got Ritter’s signature on House Bill (HB) 1270. The bill would limit the ability of homeowner’s associations (HOAs) or covenant-controlled communities to prohibit homeowners from using certain energy-saving strategies.

For example, 1270 mentions devices such as retractable clotheslines, evaporative coolers, attic fans, rolling shutters or awnings for shade.

“There are thousands of HOAs across the state, and many prohibit these kinds of things,” said Tupa. “These are energy-efficient devices, and this is a change in law to reflect peoples’ attitudes about being environmentally conscious.”

There was also time in the session for Tupa to tackle a little local controversy. Reps. Rob Witwer, R-Golden and Claire Levy, D-Boulder, joined Tupa in successfully carrying HB 1148, and Ritter has signed the bill into law.

The bill was introduced after Boulder residents Richard McLean and Edith Stevens were awarded a portion of their neighbor Don and Susie Kirlin’s property. McLean and Stevens claimed to have used the portion of the property for more than 18 years, and the District Court awarded the property to the couple under the law of “adverse possession.”

But the ruling touched off a firestorm of citizen outcry, particularly from land-rights advocates. The new bill would only allow an adverse possession acquisition to go forward if the party making the claim has satisfied the common-law elements of adverse possession, has a “good faith” belief that they are the actual owner(s) of the property, and can prove the claims.

“The fact that it happened in my district is one reason why I took interest in it, but it was also a fairness issue,” said Tupa. “If you own property and don’t develop it, but somebody else is using it, there shouldn’t be a possibility that you could lose your property for that reason.”

Tupa said Monday that he hasn’t yet decided what he will do in the future, but said he’d like to stay involved in public education. The vice chair of the Senate Education committee also worked as a teacher for 10 years, and Tupa said he would like to be a part of one or more of the current educational improvement or reform efforts.

He said he’s leaving the Legislature on a personal “high note,” and said he’s proud of the 2008 legislative accomplishments of the Democrats, but also said it’s time for a change.

“Even without term limits, I probably wouldn’t have run for re-election anyway,” said Tupa. “My family situation has changed, with two young kids, and I’m ready for the next phase of my political involvement.”

FYI

For more information about Sen. Ron Tupa, visit his Web site www.rontupa.com. To read any of the state bills or resolutions referred to in this story, visit the Web site www.leg.state.co.us.