Compromise yields success for Rep. Looper

Rep. Marsha Looper wrapped up the 2010 General Assembly session with 11 new laws on the books that ranged from regulating how used tires are stored to giving wounded troops cheaper hunting licenses.

While the Calhan Republican spent the session in the minority caucus, she wound up with just one bill killed, a record that even Democrats call impressive.

“At the end of the day, there are reasonable people on both sides of the aisle,” Looper said of her legislative success.

With the final measures signed by Gov. Bill Ritter last week, the Pikes Peak region’s 14 state lawmakers including Looper had 74 bills become law. Forty-six bills were  killed by the Legislature and one was vetoed. For a comjplete list of bills from local lawmakers, click here.

Looper’s record was unmatched by her fellow Republican representatives, who had 27 votes in the 65-member chamber this session.

Most Democrats couldn’t touch her batting average.

“She’s very pragmatic,” said Rep. Michael Merrifield a Colorado Springs Democrat, who had four measures become law against four killed.

The General Assembly session was marked by deep partisan divides over issues including how to balance the state budget and whether to eliminate more than a dozen exemptions to the state sales tax.

Looper said she worked to find middle ground on issues. One of her bills  set tough regulations for automakers that close local dealerships.  Another expands courts that provide veterans with treatment rather than jail.

Looper is unopposed in her bid for a third term representing eastern El Paso County.

Sen. Dave Schultheis, a Colorado Springs Republican who had a single bill pass against four killed in the Senate, said Looper used the art of compromise.

“I can’t criticize anything she’s done,” he said. “She put through a number of good bills that were passable by the Democrats.”

Schultheis said his record resulted from his refusal to back down on key issues.

“My personal style is I go after the big issues, not necessarily those the Democrats would support,” he said.

Looper said she worked hard to court Democrats.

The biggest issue she faced this session involved the 30 million used tires stored at a facility in her district. Looper worked before the session to craft plans with Democrats and Republicans on the House Transportation Committee that redirect state waste tire fees toward a cleanup effort and require tire recyclers to install fire suppression systems.
“Everybody understood we had to do something,” she said.

Only once in 2010 did Looper offer a bill that didn’t draw bipartisan praise.

She penned a measure that would ban the transfer of enemy combatants held by the military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to prisons in Colorado.

That measure was killed in committee on a partisan vote.

LOOPER’s LAWS
Calhan Republican Rep. Marsha Looper sponsored 11 measures during the 2010 General Assembly that were signed into law.

HB1018: Redirects fees on waste tires to recycling programs and mandates fire prevention systems at waste tire dumps, including one with 3 million tires in El Paso County.

SB177: Gives tax breaks to businesses that use the remains of trees killed by bark beetles to generate electricity.

SB34: Updates state pesticide regulations to comply with federal mandates.

SB2: Allows the state to appeal insurance company benefit denials on behalf of Medicaid patients.

SB106: Creates a 17-memberfood systems advisory council.

SB211: Cuts the price of hunting licenses for severely wounded troops.

HB1128: Streamlines some state regulations, including requirements now placed on sports agents.

SB47: Clarifies who can make funeral decisions for troops killed overseas.

HB1104: Allows statewide expansion of veterans courts, which allow vets to get treatment rather than jail time for some offenses.

HB1175: Allows military spouses to more easily transfer out-of-state professional licenses to Colorado.

HB1049: Grants car dealers more rights when an auto manufacturer closes dealerships.

For a full list of 2010 measures from the Pikes Peak region’s 14 state lawmakers, visit gazette.com/politics