5234 days, and Jim Dyer is no longer counting

5234 days, and Jim Dyer is no longer counting

May 15, 2001

Capitol Report
By Senator Jim Dyer

Faithful readers, I write this column from the Colorado Senate floor on Wednesday, my last day to serve as your state senator and the last day of the 120-day first regular session of the 63rd Colorado General Assembly.

Tomorrow I expect to be sworn in as the 47th Public Utilities Commissioner since the then-Railroad Commission was established in 1885.

I’ll be the first Western Slope commissioner since 1975 and only the fifth in history. I intend to bring our rural point of view to the PUC where the other two commissioners are from the Denver area. Wife Shari and I will continue to make our home in Durango. I’ll commute to Denver most weeks by air or will teleconference, fax, e-mail and FedEx my way to getting the job done.

This is also my 5,234th consecutive day in office while in the House and Senate.

Personally, it’s been a great ride; I hope you’ve enjoyed it, too. And I believe that, with your support, we have gotten many good things done.

Prime, of course, is the Colorado Children’s Health Plan Plus that I sponsored in 1990 and now has nearly 30,000 youngsters enrolled. This plan offers a wide range of medical services for the children, from newborns to 18-year-olds, of working people. The cost is low for those who qualify. Call (800) 359-1991 or (303) 436-3138 for information.

At the risk of making this sound like a campaign speech (although I don’t see myself running for office again), I’ve also made laws that have encouraged land conservation, cleaned up abandoned and leaking oil and gas wells, cut capital gains taxes, set up rug courts, protected the income of spouses of nursing home residents, and designed at the Division of Wildlife as an enterprise exempt from TABOR ... and dozens more laws that I believe have at least incrementally improved our state.

Have there been failures?

Sure. Prime among them is not getting surface owners a fairer shake from the oil and gas industry. My great and good friend Mark Larson will carry on this battle. And this would be the time to wish my successor, Jim Isgar, well. He is straightforward, honest and smart in his aw-shucks ways.

Writing these weekly columns has been a joy; thanks for your response, both positive and otherwise. Over the past 15 regular legislative and several special sessions, I figure these musings would stretch 5,112 column inches or 142 yards.

But the most satisfying part of the job has been you, my friends. Thanks for the memories. And mostly, thank you, Shari Dyer. I love you.

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It is late morning on the Senate floor. The solemn business of crafting "growth" legislation grinds on out of sight. As I see it, this is the basic conflict between individual property rights and the rights of the community at large to enjoy a certain quality of life.

Although Sen. Ed Perlmutter, D-Wheatridge, worked until 3 a.m. to resolve this dilemma, I smell a special session in the air. Senator-designate Jim Isgar is ready for this and has been creatively involved in solving the farm and ranch pieces of House Bill 1225. Jim has been visiting and getting briefings the last three days here. He is a quick study.

The mood on the floor has gone from the giddiness of school kids about to go on summer vacation to the seriousness of adults dealing with the death penalty.

A certain sense of fatigue is settling over the body as final action on House amendments to senate bills is taken. The calendar of remaining actions dwindles.

At noon the majority (18-17) Democrats meet and get a briefing on the growth bill. There is deadlock. Republican Gov. Bill Owens made an unprecedented visit to the Democratic caucus. While warmly received, he didn’t convince us to pass some small parts of the bill, while not addressing the core issue that I described above.

After a cheeseburger and fries in a greasy spoon across Colfax Avenue, the House Democrats put on their annual spoof of the majority party members. Mark Larson’s well-documented battles with the speaker were grist for that humor mill.

Back on the Senate floor, I got final approval for my Senate Bill 214 concerning air quality standards for prescribed burns, and minutes later final approval for Senate Bill 157 concerning funding of the Colorado water conservation board projects.

A long debate on venture capital for rural areas brings us to late afternoon. Barney Anderson, a retired economics professor from Fort Lewis College who is here with Jim Isgar, listened in rapt attention to the stultifying debate. I voted yes; he would have voted no.

Tempers shorten as multiple parliamentary motions require recall of key senators involved in getting agreement on HB-1225.

The sun sets literally and figuratively on my legislative life.

My last official duty was to head the three-senator delegation to inform the governor that the session was over.

And I walk out the front door of the Capitol into the night and my next adventure.

Jim Dyer is a former state representative and senator from Durango. He can be reached in Durango at (970) 259-1942.