housing for younger residents and baby boomers who want to downsize. A November report for the Denver Regional Council of Governments linked current laws to the lack of new condos. Currently, Only about 2 percent of new housing in the state is multifamily units made for ownership — far lower than the 20 to 25 percent of such housing stock in other states represented by condos. Senate Dems Key Issues for 2014 Below are a few key policies the Senate democrats have prioritized for the 2014 session. Key policies for education: Ensure that college is accessible. Provide a twenty-first century K-12 education. Key policies for financial security: Restore the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program. Expanding rural internet access. Key policies for disaster relief: Repairing roads and bridges after disasters. Keeping local firefighters safe and able to fight wildfires. Ammunition Magazine Manufacturer Magpul Follows through with Threat to Leave Colorado Magpul Industries threatened to leave Colorado last year after the legislature passed a measure banning weapons magazines with more than 15 rounds. The Erie-based ammunition magazine manufacturer recently announced it is relocating its operations to Cheyenne and Texas. "Moving operations to states that support our culture of individual liberties and personal responsibility is important," CEO Richard Fitzpatrick said in a news release. The move is expected to happen within the next 12 to 16 months, the company said, and it hopes to relocate at least 92 percent of its workforce outside of Colorado in that time. “Right to Local Self Government” Initiative A movement is underway to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would give local governments across the state the power to protect the health and safety of residents by banning or restricting oil and gas drilling and other industrial activities now permitted by state law. The effort, which would be an amendment to the state constitution known as the "Right to Local Self-Government Act," is being pushed by the budding . According to organizer Cliff Willmeng, who led the charge to ban oil and gas drilling in Lafayette, the measure would address any type of corporate project that a local community would deem to be a threat. "That could include hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), but would not be limited to it." Willmeng said the intent of the proposed act would be to ensure that state law and corporate interests don't trump local law when it comes to making decisions about what's best for the health and wellbeing of a community, but it would clearly affect way more than oil and gas development.
Ballot measure proponents have six months to collect signatures from the time the ballot title is set, with a deadline of Aug. 1 to turn in all signatures. Connect for Health Colorado and Colorado Medicaid Update Between October 1 and December 31, more than 138,000 Coloradans signed up or were approved for health coverage that took effect January 1, 2014, according to data recently released from Connect for Health Colorado and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. The first half of the open enrollment period saw a strong increase in the pace of enrollments as the December deadline approached for customers seeking health insurance coverage on January 1st of 2014. Connect for Health Colorado, working in partnership with the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, extended the deadline from December 15th to December 27th to accommodate as many additional customers as possible. The enrollment period for private health insurance continues until March 2014, with customers currently enrolling in plans with coverage starting February 1st. The enrollment numbers for Connect for Health Colorado exceeded their own early conservative projections of approximately 37,000 enrollments by the December deadline by 16,000 additional lives covered. The Medicaid expansion numbers announced at the end of December reflect individuals actually enrolled in the program. Since Medicaid eligibility is determined on a monthly basis, the prior numbers reflected estimates of eligibility at a point in time. Medicaid enrollments can and do change as individuals income or personal circumstances change. Colorado Medicaid refers individuals who are over income for Medicaid directly to Connect for Health Colorado as these individuals could benefit from an advance premium tax credit or other financial assistance offered through the marketplace. Category Total Medicaid Connect for Health Colorado (private health insurance) Individual and Family Enrollments (starting 1/1/2014) 138,160 86,432 51,728 Individual and Family Customer Accounts 71,688 (from PEAK) 141,545 Daily Website Visitors (average daily) 3,303 (Oct. 1-31) 3,553 (Nov. 1-30) 4,722 (Dec. 1-31) 8,636 Number of employees and estimated number of dependents enrolled through Small Business Marketplace 1,045