Showing posts with label Mark Ferrandino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Ferrandino. Show all posts

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Outgoing Speaker Ferrandino on local control, gay rights, Cory Gardner

By John Tomasic

Colorado House Speaker Mark Ferrandino was special guest for a Colorado Independent event wrapping up this year’s legislative session last week. He spoke for an hour and a half with Columnist Mike Littwin and audience members at the Denver Open Media studios.

Ferrandino, a Democrat from Denver, has served three terms in the House. He is a wonk about numbers and a proud past member of the General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee. He was elected House Speaker in 2012. He was the first openly gay man elected to the legislature and the first openly gay Speaker of the House.
The Independent event was live streamed at the Denver Open Media site and broadcast live on Denver Channel 56. Video is below. Some highlights:

Local control and drilling
Ferrandino said the question of whether or not Gov. John Hickenlooper will convene a special legislative session to pass a compromise bill is complicated, especially in an election year.

“Everyone in the state is a stakeholder in this,” he said. “There are 5 million stakeholders when it comes to this issue.”

He said negotiations at the capitol over a bill introduced in the last week to provide more control over drilling to local officials came “close” to landing a compromise.
“We were close… oil-and-gas representatives, for example, were okay on one level with more local control. They were okay with it in Weld County, but not so much in Boulder County.”

He said the setback question was thorny.

“With a 2,000-foot setback limit from structures, there would be no place in the state they could drill,” he said.

Note: The initiatives seeking setbacks have been clear about the rules applying only to inhabited structures.

Ferrandino guessed there was a 50 percent chance Hickenlooper would call a special legislative session.

Gay rights
He marveled at the movement over the last decade in Colorado on the topic. It was once a political “wedge issue” used as by anti-gay rights Republicans to generate passion and votes, he said, culminating in the 2006 state amendment that banned same-sex marriage. But now it’s an issue used by pro-gay rights Democrats to generate passion and votes.
Why the change?

“More people are coming out, so more people know people who are gay and so they support equal rights. They think ‘These are my friends and my relatives.’”

He said it makes a big difference that more people in public life are gay.

“Look at the statehouse,” he said. “[Former Denver Senator] Jennifer Veiga was the first out lawmaker. Now half a decade later we’re at eight, the highest number in the country. That’s a huge change.

He said gay marriage is coming to Colorado.

“I think we’ll have it nationwide by the end of the decade. The [federal] Tenth Circuit court is weighing the issue right now and two cases have been filed in Colorado… We’ll either have it here through the courts or by ballot initiative in 2016.”

He said he was in San Francisco after California’s Proposition 8 passed and barred gay residents from marriage.

“People were really depressed, but the old timers, people who had been fighting for decades for equal rights, none of them at the time thought marriage equality was even possible. This is a seismic shift.”

Cory Gardner
“I like Cory. We worked at the capitol for years. He’s a very nice guy. But he’s a political person. He blows wherever the political winds blow. We saw that on [the anti-abortion] personhood issue. Do I believe he has moved his position on personhood? No, I don’t. I believe he just moved his public stance on the issue.”

Money in politics
“[The problem] is not the checks, they don’t matter in the way people think. There’s not that kind of quid pro quo… It’s that you’re spending all this time on Wall Street. You’re around people with different concerns. You’re not spending time with your constituents so your perspective is off.”

The Republican primary for governor
“Ha! Give me some dice and a craps table. That’s as good a way as any of guessing who’s going to win."

This article originally appeared in The Colorado Independent and is reprinted with permission. 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Rep. Mark Ferrandino to be honored as Professional Man of the Year at DGLCC's 16th Annual Business Awards Dinner

The Denver Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce has announced that Mark Ferrandino will be honored as this year's Professional Man of the Year.

Tickets are going fast, so get yours today!

Rep. Ferrandino has a sterling record of standing up for Colorado consumers and civil
rights. He sponsored legislation granting needy homeowners threatened with foreclosure 90
extra days to work with their lenders to come to a good solution. He led the fight to crack
down on payday lenders, reducing their exorbitant 300 percent interest rates. He sponsored legislation allowing state employees to designate their unmarried partners as insurance beneficiaries, and he has championed civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

Rep.
Ferrandino was first elected to the Colorado House of Representatives through a vacancy committee in 2007 to complete the term of Rep. Mike Cerbo. He was treasurer of the Colorado Democratic Party from 2005 through 2007 and has served as a co-captain for House District 2A and co-chair of the Colorado Stonewall Democrats. In 2010, he was named Rising Star by the Colorado Democratic Party, and in 2007, he was named Colorado Young Democrat of the Year for his work on behalf of the party and Democratic candidates across the state. As a college
student, he spent a semester in Washington, D.C. interning for U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer, now New York‚s senior U.S. senator.

Rep.
Ferrandino served as a senior budget analyst for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing under Gov. Bill Owens, as a program analyst for the United States Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, and as a policy analyst for the White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Rep. Ferrandino lives in the Baker neighborhood of Denver with his partner, Greg, and their
dog, Dagny.
He was born in Nyack, N.Y. with his twin sister Nicole who also lives in Colorado
with her family and has an older brother, Michael, who is a surgeon at Duke University.  His parents
are lifelong educators who worked in the New York City public school system.  He has a B.A.
in political science and economics and a Masters in public policy analysis from the University of Rochester. He was a pole vaulter in college and he can still run a mile in under six minutes.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Steadman and Ferrandino vow to reintroduce Colorado civil unions bill

Last week Colorado's own openly gay Sen. Pat Steadman and Rep. Mark Ferrandino, said New York succeeded in passing a marriage equality bill this year because New York's GOP is more savvy and vowed to reintroduce the Colorado civil unions bill that recently failed in the state house. According to Ferrandino, New York Republicans were willing to stand up to fringe elements within their party.

Below, Steadman and Ferrandino - among other Colorado politicians - appear in a video by Matt Kailey taken during Denver PrideFest 2011.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Party-line committee vote kills Colorado civil unions bill

All six Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee voted together last Thursday to kill the Colorado civil unions bill, despite testimony from their openly gay colleague, Rep. Mark Ferrandino (pictured), the bill's sponsor. "What makes me saddest is there were people on that committee who were, I think, supportive in their hearts but weren't willing to stand up against the leadership and the far-right fringe of their party," Ferrandino said.

The GLBT Community Center of Colorado (The Center) issued the following statement regarding the decision:

As a member of a coalition of organizations representing the 72% of Coloradans in support of civil unions, The Center believes that yesterday's House committee vote against moving the Colorado Civil Unions bill (SB-172) was out of touch and does not represent the views of mainstream Colorado. Disappointing but certinly not the end of the road as the fight for LGBT equality continues moving forward.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Civil Unions Bill update from Rep. Mark Ferrandino

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - CIVIL UNIONS

This past week the Colorado Senate passed SB 11-172, the Civil Union Act, with a bipartisan vote of 23-12.  The legislation now heads to the House Judiciary Committee and will be heard on Thursday on March 31st at 1:30PM.


What is the Civil Union Act?
• Allow any two unmarried individuals to enter into a civil union.
• Protect the right of free exercise of religion by not requiring priests, ministers, rabbis, and other religious officials to certify a civil union.
• Provide to parties in a civil union the legal benefits, protections, and responsibilities that are granted to married spouses, including:

o Responsibility for financial support of a partner
o Responsibility for decisions relating to medical care and treatment
o Responsibility as priority conservator, guardian, or personal representative for a partner
o The ability to inherit real and personal property from a partner
o The ability to protect exempt property from attachment, execution, or garnishment
o The ability to designate a partner as a beneficiary to retirement
o The ability to adopt a child of a partner o The ability to insure a partner
o Hospital visitation o Eligibility for family leave benefits o Survivor benefits under workers compensation laws             and local government pensions

• Provide for the dissolution, legal separation, and declaration of invalidity of a civil union.
• Allows the executive director of the department of revenue to appoint a commission to investigate what changes in the law should be made to allow partners to file a joint state tax return (without violating federal tax laws).
• Not create a marriage between partners as the public policy of the state recognizes only the union of one man and one woman as marriage.

How Can YOU Help Pass Civil Unions?
On Thursday the House Judiciary Committee will be hearing public testimony on the Civil Union Act, and will vote on if the legislation should move forward.  If you can make it on Thursday at 1:30 please come to the Capitol wearing red to show your support.  If you cannot make the hearing, please call or email your legislators to encourage them to support this important legislation.  If you do not know who your legislator is you can find them by going to Project Vote Smart.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Steadman and Ferrandino introduce Colorado civil unions bill

Colorado state Sen. Pat Steadman (left) and state Rep. Mark Ferrandino (right), both openly gay, introduced a bill on Monday that would establish civil unions for same-sex couples in the state

The Senate bill is expected to pass, but supporters say they aren't sure the bill will come to a vote on the floor of the Republican-controlled House.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Denver PrideFest 2009: State Representative Mark Ferrandino


Another of Colorado's openly gay politicians, State Rep. Mark Ferrandino, was also on the scene yesterday at PrideFest.

I caught up with him at in the VIP area.

We are both Very Important People.

Him a little more so than me.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Pictures from Ethan's gay marriage rally


Third grader Ethan organized the rally


Christopher Hubble of Colorado Soulforce speaks at rally


Carlos Martinez, Executive Director, The GLBT Community Center of Colorado, speaks at rally


Rep. Mark Ferrandino speaks at rally

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Gov. Ritter signs HB 1260


After successfully passing the Colorado State Legislature with bipartisan support, Governor Bill Ritter signed HB 1260, The Designated Beneficiaries Act, into law today.

Special thanks to Rep. Mark Ferrandino and Sen. Jennifer Veiga for sponsoring this key piece of legislation.

This bill provides the opportunity for two unmarried adults to designate one another as the person entitled to certain financial protections and decision-making powers in major life events by simply recording a form with the County Clerk & Recorder’s Office and paying a small fee.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Ferrandino's HB1260 moves forward

HB1260, Rep. MarK Ferrandino's (pictured) designated beneficiary bill is moving forward (by a vote of seven to three, yay!), with some conservatives saying that it "dilutes marriage."

According to the Denver Post, Rep. Bob Gardner is the bill's main opponent.

"What we're doing with this bill is creating de facto civil unions in Colorado," the Post quotes him as saying.

They have set up such a Catch-22: you shouldn't have certain rights unless you are married, but you can't get married so don't even ask.

Monday, February 9, 2009

There ought to be a law

What happened to Janice Langbehn (pictured left) and her partner of 17 years was tragic.

And it is just what Colorado State Rep. Mark Ferrandino (pictured left) is trying to avoid with HB 1260, which he is introducing into the state legislature.

Among other things, the bill would cement a same-sex couple's right to visit each other in the hospital.

It would also allow unmarried couples, both gay and straight, to designate certain rights and protections to each other.

Read more at Janice's website www.thelpkids.com.