HB 1101 requires employers offering dependent coverage to offer a health insurance rider for employees' unmarried children under age 25 who are living at home or otherwise financially dependent upon their parents. Young adults aged 18 to 24 are more likely than other age groups to lack health coverage. This bill was designed to make health insurance more accessible to this group.

HB 1105 makes it easier for a victim of domestic abuse who has quit a job due to that abuse to qualify for Unemployment Insurance benefits by reducing the paperwork they must submit to qualify. It also allows a victim time to seek medical attention, find safe housing and child care by exempting them from actively seeking work for the first 15 business days of their receiving Unemployment Insurance benefits.

HB 1327 was a response to a US Supreme Court Case that revises procedures whereby the prosecution may seek an enhanced sentence for conviction of certain violations. The bill requires the prosecutor to file a separate motion for enhanced penalties at least 30 days prior to the trial, allege the aggravating circumstances, and provide the defendant with discovery of all evidence to be introduced.

HB 1332 provides meaningful campaign finance reform through better reporting of contributions from corporations and limited liability companies. Specifically, it strengthens the Fair Campaign Practices Act by: * expanding the definition of "corporation" to include nonprofits and organizations incorporated under the laws of another state or foreign country; * prohibiting a limited liability company (LLC) from contributing to a candidate committee, small donor committee, political party, or political committee if any member of the LLC is prohibited from making such a contribution; and * prohibiting an LLC from contributing to a candidate committee, small donor committee, or political party if the LLC has elected to be treated as a corporation by the Internal Revenue Service or the shares of the LLC are publicly traded.

SB 149 continues the Benefits Application Assistance Program to help Department of Corrections inmates apply for Medicaid and supplemental security income prior to release to July 1, 2007. This program was set to discontinue this year leaving more families at risk for losing health care coverage.

SB 143 was the annual rule review bill to implement the recommendations of the Committee on Legal Services, which Rep. McGihon will chair in 2006. The committee conducts an annual legislative review of rules and regulations of state agencies. In 2005 the debate over this usually tame piece of legislation turned heated over rules implementing the federal Clean Air Act. Colorado's clean air statute is more stringent than the federal act concerning new energy resource reviews and thus the committee did not include the less strict federal rules in Colorado's state implementation plan (SIP) for the federal Clean Air Act. Though we won the battle over protecting our environment from pollution, we will end up losing the war. Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment will decrease the state's standards in its SIP in 2006.

HB 1017 restructures Colorado's Medicaid statute to conform with federal law and regulation.