Robert J "Bob" Lane for Colorado Senate District 35

Eliminate targeted enterprise zones and expand these incentives to every part of the state including all of district 35. All parts of Colorado should be treated equally on this measure.

Eliminate Colorado income taxes on the net earnings of all business owners, be they incorporated or not, with net business earnings below $161,000. This change will be retro-active on the 2008 tax year and in all future years. The rapid economic growth resulting from this tax elimination would create more than enough new state revenues to pay for itself. The new business development resulting from this step should be phenomenal. Colorado would move up quickly on the overall business "friendliness" index.

Business property taxes should be totally waived for all start-up businesses for three years. After three years any business property taxes should be levied on a (percent of revenue generated)basis on the property asset in question. The previous year's business tax return revenues would be the basis for this calculation. An unproductive business property asset should not be taxed at all.

The state of Colorado should begin to fully fund the tuiton and other costs for up to K-16 for all students who meet a set of continuing academic standards. This benefit will be available to all students on a merit basis regardless of race, color, creed, or family economic situation. The increased costs of this proposal could mostly be met through the use of college and university endowments and private grants from big corporations, the military, associations such as unions, wealthy individuals, and the federal government. This change would also greatly promote Colorado's business "friendliness" image because it will be an ongoing effort to create the trained work-force necessary for today's global economy. It will correct the big "disconnect" between the education programs currently available versus the skills that are actually "in demand".

We could take a big step towards solving the health insurance crisis by converting health insurance back into the competitive business it should be within our state. The Life insurance industry has grown rapidly without federal government regulation or interference and it produces ever greater values for the consumer. This should be the model for fixing the healthcare mess. We could move back to a "health insurer competitive" environment by having Colorado create an independent catastrophic medical loss coverage fund that would cover all Colorado citizens, not already on medicare, for catastrophic medical conditions that have accumulated a total treatment cost greater than $250,000. Individual citizens would be responsible for obtaining the supplemental coverages necessary to protect themselves and their families from the first $250,000 of medical treatment risk. These plans could be purchased either individually or through employer sponsored groups. The premiums for these plans would become totally affordable because of the massive competition that would result from a multitude of insurance companies and medical professionals entering this market to create innovative coverages to meet the need. Senior citizens on medicare would also see a big increase in the quality and availability of their basic services including lower cost prescription drugs. The catastrophic coverage fund will be independently and competitively managed and re-insured by a qualified independent insurance company. The insurance company manager will be chosen every four years through a competitive bidding process. The catastrophic fund will be initially funded by a re-allocation of government gambling revenues from the lottery, the race tracks, and the casino zone. Included in the necessary legislation and amendments to implement this proposal will be a provision to allow the casino zone to open for full 24 hour Vegas style gaming to maximize the revenue generating potential. (The fund would also pick up those few citizens with uninsurable catastrophic conditions already incurred). This program would make Colorado, along with District 35, a much more economical place to live and do business.

Colorado's children are an asset and not a liability! Colorado's working families deserve a break! I will propose to enact an immediate income tax credit increase for each dependent child retro-active on the 2008 tax year and in all future years. We will eliminate the current confusing formulas for calculating the credit and adopt this simple formula:

(the number of dependent children under age 19) x $400 = Your Colorado income tax credit.

Also, in order to promote the financial stability of our family households I propose to enact an income tax credit for the annual term life cost component for all life coverages purchased on family "breadwinners". There will also be a credit for the completion of a basic certified family financial plan that would include essential steps like "making a will" and a mortgage and credit card debt analysis. A standard questionnaire to be completed by the family's financial professional will be the audit proof for this plan completion. All of these income tax credits would be more than offset by future reductions in welfare and social services expenditures.

To immediately improve the day-to-day lives of the residents of district 35, as well as, dramatically reduce energy usage and "greenhouse" emissions statewide, I will introduce "anti-rush-hour" and "anti-congestion" legislation. The key features of this idea would be to start with the requirement that all Colorado State employees and city employees in the metro areas would immediately change their schedule to a 10-6 (or later) workday. This would also include the General Assembly. There would be a corresponding introduction of a Colorado energy credit for all private employers that" follow-suit" with "tele-commuting" and re-distributed working days. The expanding global economy no longer requires strict adherence to the old 8-5 working hours discipline.

I would like to do everything I can to eliminate the regulatory barriers that are preventing Nuclear power generation from coming back to Colorado. This is a complex issue but I believe it is one of the keys to energy independence.

A special issue important to many district 35 residents is the status of current and proposed homeowner association (HOA) rules and regulations. I will conduct a thorough and neutral review of all existing and proposed HOA rules and regulations and look for logical ways to make improvements. These rules and regulations need to be standardized and fair to both HOA boards and their property owner members. It appears that many abuses may be occurring on both sides of the relationship and this needs to be addressed!

A suggestion for helping the I-70 bottleneck problem would be to propose a greater utilization of our historic railroads. Railroads have been an important part of Colorado's history and they could now be used to alleviate much of this problem. The Colorado department of transportation should immediately begin to subsidize daily ski trains from the Denver Union Depot to the Winter Park resort and others. Also, a daily train could be subsidized that would leave from the Pueblo airport and travel through the historic Royal Gorge route to arrive in the Minturn-Vail area after about a 2 and ½ hr. trip. To initially create a large incentive to use these routes the used train tickets could be turned in to receive free gas coupons. This alternative would appear to be much cheaper than the massive capital investment that would have to be done to widen I-70.

Expert committees are being developed to back up each of these overall platform ideas with specific implementation details.

As your "sitting" senator I would deal with each other issue presented to me in the General Assembly in the same common sense manner that I developed the above platform suggestions. I would always negotiate to create the maximum benefits for district 35 and Colorado as a whole.

Sincerely,

Robert J. "BOB" Lane

Working together we can "CHANGE" the right things!