Forced Pooling and Other Issues: An Interview with Representative Lori Saine

I have represented House District 63 since January 2012 and I am running for my last term this November.

House District 63 is a large district bounded by 6 different county lines and runs along the state borders of Wyoming and Nebraska. It is a lot of windshield time wherever I go in a district that covers a great majority of the 4000 square miles of Weld County.

Despite differences on a handful of topics, I have worked with Boulder County Representatives Jonathan Singer and Mike Foote on some very important issues that benefit the residents of the entire state, including legislation on a DUI felony law and equal treatment in adoption law.

I think it is important to note the legislature agrees on more than we disagree. It is an important part of leadership to communicate to citizens that good leaders work together regardless of party affiliation and get things done. Part of the vitriol we see in national politics today can be traced back to leadership at the local and state level.

The 811 bill was another concept that had been tried and failed for over 16 years. SB167 passed this year, finally giving Colorado a true one-call 811 system to receive the location of underground facilities. Furthermore, all new underground facilities installed starting in 2020 must be able to be located electronically and engineering plans must meet certain standards established by the American Society of Engineers for defining the accuracy of an underground facility location. The law also creates an underground safety commission to address those operators that haven't been obeying current law and putting everyone at risk.

The town of Firestone advocated for this law to ensure the safety of their citizens around underground pipelines and this change in law will also benefit present and future generations of the state of Colorado.

Voters are tired of sitting in traffic, healthcare costs are gobbling up their disposable income, and housing costs are increasing faster than builders can find and train workers to build new homes.

I am committed to working on solutions for affordable healthcare. I did pass a bill in 2017 that gave lawsuit transparency for consumers and gave builders confidence to build large projects again in Colorado. That is translating to a lot more plans on the drawing board, but now more workers are needed.

We missed the boat on transportation funding again this year. There were solutions within our means to fix our roads that have been largely ignored for the last 20 years, but Coloradans only got a pittance back. So there may be a ballot question called "Fix our Damn Roads" and if passed by voters, will finally make the legislature direct an appropriate amount of money toward transportation.

Building roads and bridges is a core function of government because an individual can't do it themselves. If we pay taxes, we should expect our government to budget like we do at the kitchen table--purchase needs first before wants and wishes.

While the session is four months long, it really is a full-time job all year. Success during those four months is made or broken by the work you put in during the interim. It starts the day after session ends. OK, maybe the second day after session: most of us have to catch up on some sleep after working past midnight for weeks. But just this last couple weeks I had many 12-hour days, traveling between meetings with constituents about their concerns or legislation ideas for next year.

I would say professional relationships were more strained this past year. It seemed certain members were trying to score political points rather than working on the things Coloradans care about. Shame and blame strategies regarding policies (not even under our purview) replaced the dialog we used to have on kitchen-table issues.