Here is a list of the bills I sponsored: 

Credit Military Training Towards State Licensure.  Requires state occupational licensing agencies to give credit for military training towards licensing.  This helps veterans move quickly into civilian jobs and also expands the skilled labor pool.

Correcting an injustice to our 100% Disabled Veterans.  The Colorado Constitution includes a property tax exemption for 100% Disabled Veterans.  Unfortunately, Colorado passed a badly worded law in 2007 that conflicted with this constitutional provision, creating a bureaucratic nightmare.   My bill ensured that all 100% service-disabled veterans receive the property tax exemption they were entitled to under Colorado Constitution.    

Out of state Teacher Licensing – Military Spouses.  Local military spouses brought to my attention that teachers with out-of-state licenses could only waive into Colorado if they taught 3 continuous years at a prior location.  However, many military couples move every two years, so they could not meet this requirement.  This bill eliminated this continuous-year requirement. 

Other bills I ran to support veterans which were signed into law:

• Ensure veterans organizations (ex., American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars) have the same state sales exemption as other charitable organizations. 

• Extend state-wide the successful local Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center pilot program for transitioning veterans into jobs.

• Colorado to join interstate compact for occupational licensing for speech pathology and audiology.  Helps military spouses with out-of-state licensing. 

• Modify eligibility for Military Family Relief Fund (solely funded by tax check-off) to help families when the military member voluntarily deploys. 

• Military Spouse Occupational Licensing.  I was able to get a critical amendment for licensing added to the Create Occupational Credential Portability Program bill which impacts military spouses.  This amendment was essential in Colorado’s bid to be the permanent home for US Space Command and helped military spouses get jobs in Colorado. 

NOTE:  Veterans Living Centers bill.  I was contacted by a veteran’s spouse who was trying to get her husband into a veteran’s living center.  There was no veteran living center in the Pikes Peak region.  I ran a bill to review this program.  After the House passed the bill, the state agency agreed to use existing funds to do the review, so my bill was no longer necessary.  Of course, the state agency ended up doing nothing. 

Fighting on principle:

I tried to kill my own veterans hiring preference bill when the Democrats put an amendment on inviting a lawsuit if the employer hired a “white male veteran.” Really—I am not kidding.   I took my name off the bill and got all my Republican colleagues to remove their cosponsor names from the bill.  We voted NO.  The Democrats passed it anyway.    Disgusting.