State Rep. Robert Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch, hosted a couple post-session town halls last week, specifically highlighting five bills that he brought to the Colorado General Assembly. 

With lawmakers introducing over 600 bills in the 2023 session, Marshall was the prime sponsor for a handful of them.

“Once you see how the sausage is made, the stuff I was able to get was actually, I think, pretty impressive,” said Marshall. 

One of the bills was HB23-1208 Income Tax Credit for Eligible Teachers, which made it out of the education and finance committees but died in appropriation as he was told there was not enough money, according to Marshall.

Rep. Matt Soper, R-Mesa County, and Sen. Janice Rich, R-Mesa County,  joined Marshall in sponsoring the bill. If passed, the bill would have given state income tax credit for a licensed teacher who is employed as a full-time public school teacher for at least half of an academic year. 

Marshall also talked about HB23-1180 County Commissioner Elections. The bill failed but would have modified county commissioner elections in counties with a population of over 70,000, requiring boards to have five instead of three members. If passed, the Douglas County Commission would have been impacted by the bill, along with six other counties 

“To me it was a pure good governance bill on its merits,” said Marshall. “It would not have affected the overall power structure, there might have been an additional voice brought in the government.”

What Marshall called “three bills wrapped in one” was HB23-1206 County Sheriffs and District Attorney’s, which proposed prohibiting certain political activities by county sheriff’s office employees. 

“I was trying to import the DOD regulation on extremism into Colorado law to apply to law enforcement,” said Marshall. 

According to Marshall, it would require the district attorney’s and sheriff’s to run as non-partisan positions as well as apply the federal Hatch Act in counties. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Hatch Act is a federal law passed in 1939 that limits certain political activities of federal employees, as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs.

Marshall said he watered down the bill to not allowing elected sheriffs and deputies to use government property or campaign in partisan political activity in uniform. The bill passed the House but died in committee with the Senate. 

Marshall also spoke about, HB23-1277 Reporting Adjustments to Taxable Income, concerning the filing of income tax returns by business entities. 

The bill has been passed and sent to the governor as of May 17. 

Marshall’s last bill was HB23-1052 Mod Property Tax Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities and the referendum.

Signed into law in late April, the bill states when determining eligibility for any state veteran benefit, the bill requires veterans who have an individual employability status to be treated equivalently to veterans who have 100% permanent disability. 

“Unfortunately, when they put the Homestead Exemption in place, they put into Colorado's constitution a definition that says to be a disabled veteran, you have to be 100% rated by the VA,” said Marshall. “So it carved out this entire class of veterans.”

Before answering public questions, Marshall spoke about his work concerning SB23-304 Property Tax Valuation.  Marshall said it was focused on commercial property owners and now there is a clarification that the data the assessor is required to provide has to include the primary method and rates they used to value the property.

Topics among the public discussion included deteriorating streets, the Gallagher Amendment, lobbyists, the assault weapons ban, special districts and how the state constructs its budget, and mental health was a recurring subject. 

While campaigning, public safety and mental health was a top priority for Marshall. 

“We put a lot of decent bills for mental health - there were a lot this year,” said Marshall. “But it is going to take a lot of money because we have let our mental health infrastructure collapse since the ‘60s, so now, everybody basically expects the default mental health providers in the state for those over 18 to be law enforcement.”

When asked why he had voted against HB23-1003 School Mental Health Assessment, Marshall said he is for mental health assessments in school, however he saw an issue with the bill. 

“It had it in there that 12 year olds could get the assessment and follow on mental health treatment through the school up to six therapy appointments, not only without parental knowledge or parental consent, but even against the expressed wishes to the contrary by the parents, and that was just a bridge too far for me,” said Marshall. 

When it came back from the Senate after being edited, Marshall voted to approve the bill. 

In addition, Marshall showed the room how to search for a bill by going to leg.colorado.gov/bills and to search for the fiscal note for the summary. 

The town hall was broadcast live on Robert Marshall’s Facebook page.