Assembly Glance: Monday in review

Military widows

June 28th will officially become Veterans' Widows and Widowers Day in Colorado after Gov. Bill Ritter signed a proclamation Monday.

Ritter told six widows at a Capitol news conference that one of the toughest parts of his job is going to military funerals and seeing not only the lives lost but the families left behind.

A plaque given to Edmee Hills of the Veterans' Widows International Network read that the General Assembly is proud to support the spouses "for the grief they must bear and the sacrifices they have made for Colorado and the nation."

Wiretaps

Ritter signed into law HB 1130 by Rep. Stella Garza Hicks, R-Colorado Springs, which allows law enforcement officers to get as many as three monthlong extensions on judge-approved wiretaps rather than the one extension to which they are now limited.

He also inked HB 1035, which extends the Military Family Relief Fund tax checkoff that allows residents to donate to a fund to help stateside spouses of deployed soldiers with everything from mortgage payments to car repairs. Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, sponsored the measure that extends the checkoff through 2010.

More horsemen

The House passed another bill to allow Colorado police to call on the help of officers from neighboring states during the Aug. 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

HB 1347, which moves on to the Senate, would require the officers be fully trained and certified in their home states. They would be given the same authority as local police, but the law would expire Sept. 15.

Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, sponsored the bill. He said it will help augment Denver's mounted police.