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2021 was my first year as your State Representative. And what a year it was!

The General Assembly convened for three days, then adjourned for a month thus extending the legislative session into June. In a "normal" session, a freshman member would have a week, maybe two, to "learn the ropes." But that was not the case in 2021. At the beginning it was like drinking from a firehose. Gradually that all changed.

I was able to hone in on issues that many of you mentioned during the 2020 campaign. I heard many voices expressing concern about mental and behavioral health services or lack of, about how the lockdown was affecting our students and our small businesses, and about how much our "rights" were being taken away from us. As a freshman representative, I did not have the opportunity to choose the committees I wanted to be a part of. However, I did get to serve on the Behavioral Task Force of which we will all be hearing much more about soon. And I was able to sponsor a task force to inform Coloradans about kidney disease, its treatment, and how it can be prevented.

I am a strong supporter of initiatives that seek to better the lives of all Coloradans, and was excited that I was a primary sponsor on several bills that made their way through the legislature and were signed last year by the Governor, including:

HB21-1271: Supporting the Child Protection Ombudsman which aids child protection in court;

HB21-1234: Supplemental Education High-Impact Tutoring Programs, which funds local educators to support students through COVID-19 pandemic;

HB21-1171: Kidney Disease Task Force, which serves to evaluate the detection, treatment and awareness of kidney disease in Colorado and make recommendations to the general assembly;

HB21-1059: Online Student Protections, which protects students learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic from discrimination based on their home environment, among others.

This year, the Senate and House Republicans issued a joint "Commitment to Colorado." The three areas of commitment are making Colorado more affordable for the average family, prioritizing public safety, and more parental choice in their children's education. These three are what is driving my work at the capitol this year. I look forward to sharing in future columns what I am doing at "The People's House" - our Colorado State Capitol.