Special district oversight legislation fails, but Colorado advocates still hope for metro district reform

CBS News

a day ago

A bill that some hoped would create more oversight for Colorado special districts has failed, but its supporters aren't done.
CBS Colorado's reporter in Douglas County, Olivia Young, has been covering the Meadows Metro Districts for months, and calls by some Coloradans for reform of the quasi-governmental structures.
In March, she covered HB 25-1079, a bill that would put special district board members and their direct hires under the authority of the state's Independent Ethics Commission. But the bill was laid over in a Senate committee to a date after the session, effectively killing it.
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The bill would have created an avenue for ethics complaints to be filed against special district board members like school districts or metro districts. This is the third year in a row the legislation has been introduced, and the third year in a row it has failed.
"I'm not at all discouraged by what happened in the legislature," said John Henderson with Coloradans for Metro District Reform. "Every time folks talk about this...we move forward another foot."
Henderson has spent years advocating for oversight in Colorado's nearly 2,500 metro districts.
"It's just the same old story, right? People with power who can taking much more than they should," Henderson said.
He felt this bill would be a good first step, by expanding the jurisdiction of the Independent Ethics Commission to include special districts.
"In metro districts, there are no ethics because there's no way to enforce them," Henderson said.
The lawmaker behind the bill agrees.
"I think the people of Colorado are asking for this. They're looking for a tool in order to identify these financial ethics issues and help get resolution," said Democratic state Rep. Tammy Story of Evergreen, "there are members of school communities, constituents and students and families and even educators that are very invested in the public school system, who will not have their needs met because there are some people out there who are taking advantage of the system, especially in a financial way that is not appropriate, and this would have given them a tool in order to address those situations, as well as people in special districts."
Story says the bill would have cost almost $140,000, and was budgeted for after passing the House Appropriations Committee and moving to the Senate. But the bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
"We were anticipating that it would move out, but there was a member with a philosophical concern about the bill," Story said.
Democratic state Sen. Jeff Bridges told CBS Colorado:
"The measure faced significant opposition in the Senate, largely because of how it roped in public school officials. We've seen examples across the country of bills like this one leading to the harassment and abuse of folks just doing their best to create great schools for our kids. School boards and school employees across the state brought forward serious concerns about the policy, and I stood with them in support of amendments to address those concerns. Amendments that, as I understand it, bill sponsors declined."
Story says frivolous complaints are dismissed and not made public, and that no amendments were declined.
The Special District Association of Colorado also opposed the bill. CEO Ann Terry said, "SDA opposed HB25-1079 primarily due to the lack of statewide education regarding the State Ethics Commission's jurisdiction and insufficient resources to support additional staffing and enforcement. We're eager to collaborate with the bill sponsor to thoughtfully revise the policy goals to promote accountability without fostering unrealistic expectations that the Commission can address issues beyond its authority. It's crucial that any future efforts are based on clarity, capacity, and respect for the structure of local government, and that they are adequately funded by the general fund to ensure education and staffing are provided."
"It's going to take a significant voter demand for accountability before the legislature really does something," Henderson said.
But Henderson and Story aren't giving up on the bill.
"When you're 71 years old, you realize that change doesn't happen overnight," Henderson said. "The folks who are willing to represent the people have a higher cause and will be successful. We will be successful."
"There's another year coming, and we will keep working on this until we get this bill through," Story said.
Story says she does plan to introduce this legislation again next session in Denver.