Thursday, March 15, 2007

GOV. RITTER SIGNS EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION AND HIGHER EDUCATION BILLS INTO LAW


Gov. Bill Ritter signed four bills into law today – one dealing with notification of the availability of emergency contraception to sexual assault survivors, and three addressing the needs of public institutions of higher education.
 
Senate Bill 60 was co-sponsored by Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, and Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver. It directs that all licensed health-care facilities providing emergency care to sexual assault victims have protocols for informing a survivor, in a timely fashion, of the availability and use of emergency contraception. The measure provides exceptions for individual health care professionals on the basis of religious or moral beliefs.
 
"A lot of people spent a lot of time working very hard on this bill," Gov. Ritter said. "Thank you to everyone who participated in this extremely collaborative process."
 
"I truly believe this is a great day for women and a great day for women's health," Sen. Boyd said. "We will be assisting some of our most vulnerable citizens with this bill."
 
SB 48 was co-sponsored by Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, and Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins. It allows public institutions of higher education to enter into an unlimited number of employment contracts extending longer than five years, provided such contracts are for research to be performed in university settings. The goal is to make Colorado public institutions more competitive in recruiting and retaining research faculty and staff. This provides institutions of higher learning with a tool other than tenure to recruit and retain research faculty and staff.
 
SB 54 was co-sponsored by Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, and Rep. Fischer. It lifts statutorily enforced capital bonding limits and replaces them with market-based limits established pursuant to prevailing market methods. The legislation lifts the statutorily enforced 6 percent bond limit, thereby permitting the University of Colorado and Colorado State University to issue debt in accordance with their Moody's bond ratings.
 
House Bill 1026 was co-sponsored by Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, and Sen. Bacon. It requires graduate students to purchase health insurance, with the intent of lowering health insurance premiums at Colorado State University. CSU enrolls hundreds of professional graduate students each year. If CSU could require health insurance coverage of its graduate students, the premiums of all students and employees would be expected to drop.