A bill to punish fentanyl dealers whose sales result in death languishes in the CO House, giving out tax incentives isn't free, and, because it's Friday the freakiest sunflower seedling I've seen.
When I saw Sen Pelton's op ed, I was surprised. I would have thought his bill on punishing those that sell fentanyl resulting in death would have sailed by the Assembly.
It passed out of the Senate on a bipartisan basis and is hung up in the more Progressive House.
That's too bad. The idea strikes me as a good one and a fair law: it punishes dealers (not addicts) and makes a clear statement about what we think of those who wish to enrich themselves by selling this poison.
I join Sen Pelton in his bafflement as to why it's being held up.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/dems-stall-justice-while-drugs-kill-coloradans-opinion/article_adbdd660-e8ad-11ed-8aee-03513275bd88.html
Whether or not you agree with doing it, we must remember that giving tax incentives isn't free.
Tax incentives are ways to incentivize behavior, but, as the author of the op ed below points out, at least with regard to Colorado, giving someone a tax incentive comes at the cost of shrinking government surpluses and that means less chance of going over the TABOR cap and getting a refund.
There is also the chance that in the future when we're not so flush with cash that we'll be stuck funding an incentive we put in when we had tons of spare money hanging around.
There's more to it and you're welcome to read up on the topic in the op ed below (along with an excellent report that was linked in the op ed, discussed here before, and worth special mention linked second).
No such thing as a free lunch. Despite what the Democrats running this state would have you believe.
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/04/24/bishop-legislators-special-interests-taxpayer-refunds/
https://i2i.org/governor-polis-record-on-special-interest-tax-benefits/
Last one of the day and you know what that means: something for fun and not related to politics!
I really like sunflowers: I think they're pretty, they're very low water use, and they feed the birds which hang around here.
A few years back I bought a bunch of different varieties--both colors and sizes--in addition to bringing in some wild ones from around the area. I'll always collect a few seeds at the end of the season and I let the pollinators mix and match plants (i.e. I open pollinate the flowers).
It's been fun to watch the genetic drift over time as the wild mixes in with the cultivated, as the big mix with the small.
One of the things you quickly learn about sunflowers is that if you plant them, you may not even HAVE to collect seeds because they volunteer like crazy. In fact, I often find that every Spring I am busy plucking out seedlings all over my yard.
You also learn that sunflowers can, as a former colleague who was also a farmer put it, "root through concrete". Sunflowers easily germinate in heavy clay, in freshly turned light soils, in mulch, everywhere. I have also had them germinate in mulch on top of landscape fabric and easily punch their roots down through the fabric to the soil below.
They also can germinate from way down deep in the soil. That's what you see in the picture I attached. This one is a record for me: the seed started about 6" deep and the seedling made it all the way to the surface and started growing.
The leaves show it to be some variant of the giants I've planted in the past, so that may have something to do with it, but I was impressed nonetheless.
One last thing: if you are thinking about sunflowers for your garden let me caution you. If you want to fully stop, you will likely be picking out lots of volunteers for at least two years after you stop growing them.
Sunflowers are not quite a Faustian bargain, but close to it.
Have a good Friday!