Late Breaking News…Extra, Extra Read all about it!

Colorado State Senator Joyce Foster decides to NOT throw her beautiful New Hat into the ring for Governor or Mayor. After all it was expensive, stunning and a real bargain! It took me a long time to find just the right hat and it fits; it goes with my wardrobe; and my granddaughters love it…so there!

I sincerely respect my friend Governor Ritter on his decision to not run for reelection. He has always served this state with integrity and honor. I’m sure we will see him in leadership positions again when the time is right and I look forward to his continued vision and friendship.

I loved the first day of the legislative session. We had the very rare opportunity of watching government work at a very fast pace! We needed to have the Race to the Top Education bill passed to send with our grant proposal to the U.S. Department of Education in by January 19th so Colorado could be selected as a leader in Education and potentially receive $60-$175 million. What an investment this State would be making for our children. There was bipartisan support for this effort. Here’s hoping we make the cut and bring home the prize.

Bills, Bills, Bills. Reading them, writing them, and making sure they don’t have too much arithmetic in them is the subject matter of each day for the 120 days we’re in session. As we wait (not so patiently in my case) for Congress to settle on health care reform I’ve decided to carry a few bills that may make peoples lives a little better. I will provide more information on these bills as soon as it becomes available.

• HB 10-1021 Health Care Coverage for Maternity Services
• HB 10-1004 Standardizing Health Insurance Forms
• HB 10-1005 Home Health Care
• HB 10-1031 Medicaid Dental Health Services
• SB Medicaid Over-the-Counter Medicines

In addition to these health care bills I’m sponsoring some “good government” bills…which quite frankly you won’t see in the newspaper because they’re not very flashy…just legislation that needs to be a little fixed up!

It’s interesting that I’ve become the local government cheerleader. Last year I fought to make sure there was no legislation passed that would usurp local government’s authority. It became a full time job!

The following two links contain information that I believe you will find interesting. The first link provided shows propositions that will be very harmful to all of us Propositions 101, 60, and 61. The next link I would like to share is to a fun benefit dinner for Health Care for All Colorado on January 23rd Health Care For All Colorado Foundation.

I urge you to stay in touch with me. The most important work I do is for you. This past Summer and Fall I assisted many of my constituents with accessing unemployment benefits. If you need assistance with accessing any department call me and we’ll do our best to figure out a solution. Please know I will try to make myself available so just give me a call. I wish you all a healthy, peaceful and productive New Year.

Joyce Foster
Colorado Senate District 35