This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, we’re back with another episode that packs a punch as the Colorado House and Senate rush to close out several major bills before the legislative session ends on May 8th (that’s today!).
Major Moves in the State Capitol
As the clock ticks to sine die o’clock, the legislature is bustling with action, tackling everything from housing deals to crucial climate agreements. A landmark transit deal is in the works, introducing new fees on oil and gas production to support public transit and environmental efforts, with heavy hitters from both the environmental and climate advocacy community as well as big industry players saying they’re allllll aboard.
Housing and gun safety were also huge pieces on the agenda this year, with transformative bills expected to make significant impacts. Meanwhile, the state's education funding formula and tax credit proposals aim to help out rural schools and cut child poverty in half, showing just how significant this legislative session will be.
“That's Bullshit!”
One of our favorite segments return this episode, featuring our 63rd favorite member of the Colorado House of Representatives (you already know #64 and #65 are DeGraaf and Bottoms)! This week, we call out the outlandish gun safety statistics flaunted by Republicans. Claims of millions of crimes prevented annually by guns don’t hold up under scrutiny, and we're here to debunk these myths, backed by reliable data and, you know, common sense.
GOP Primary Shenanigans
The Colorado Republican Party seems to have thrown its full weight behind all of their worst candidates running for congress this year, with Chairman of the party Dave Williams presenting the prime example.
Our 8th Favorite Member of Congress from Colorado
Lauren Boebert’s week has been anything but quiet, from trying (and failing) to pull flags down at college campus protests to being heckled in an absolutely unbelievable fashion that regular listeners to the show will certainly appreciate (say the name three times), we dive into the news of the week from our representative from the 3rd (and possibly soon to be the 4th) district and their political implications for both the GOP and Colorado Democrats alike.
Kristi Noem Killed a Dog (and her career)
In a shocking admission, Governor Kristi Noem’s decision to publish a book that was supposed to help her secure the Vice Presidential nomination by…telling a story about a time she shot a dog in a ditch has sparked widespread criticism and hopefully has derailed her political ambitions permanently. “This politician killed a puppy,” used to be a joke political operatives told about how far they are willing to go with negative ads, but this one actually did it!!
That’s it for this week’s episode! If you loved listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on Nice Twitter aka Threads, and forwarding this email or sharing this post with your friends, your enemies, and your dog! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time
Episode 193: Just...Don't Shoot Dogs, Okay?