Public testimony delivered to the CO Energy Code Board. Can compassion for the homeless become pathological? The Assault Weapons ban hearing was canceled.
Public Testimony Delivered to the Colorado Energy Code Board at their Tues 3/28 meeting.
The below is the testimony I just delivered to the Energy Code Board. Please get involved in some way in this state. There is nothing at all special or unique about me.
There is also, as you can see by my testimony below, absolutely no need for you to be an expert in things like electrical wiring code in order for you to speak up.
If I can help you in some way get started or with ideas of how to get involved, please ask!
Good morning all,
My name is Cory Gaines and I'm a resident of Logan County.
I realize that no one on the board passed the law that created this board, but I would like to read a few things into the record.
I question the representation that I and other everyday people have on this board. I question the amount of thought that this board put into the added costs that your new code will place on everyday Coloradans such as myself.
I say this for a few reasons.
First, when I looked at the bios of the board members, I don't see a lot of people like myself and I certainly don't see anyone from my part of Colorado. Do both DOLA and CEO realize there are parts of Colorado East of I-25?
Second, and I freely admit that I haven't heard every single bit of every single meeting, but the times I have the people I hear over and over are people that I would categorize as committed environmentalists. That's not a problem, per se, we all have differing opinions on how to do things. The issue, the concern I have with this is that committed environmentalists are committed to the environment and tend to not consider other, just as important, considerations like affordability.
Third, I would like to point out the fact that trades unions supported this bill and make up a few of the members. Trade unions, just like the environmentalists I just mentioned are also mainly concerned with making sure their members get lots of work, not with who will be able to afford the homes they work on.
There is one last thing before wrapping up and then I'm certainly open to any questions that any of you may have. I'd like to call your attention to the fact that it took you all 13 meetings to finally arrive at the point where the public is able to offer in person comment.
Thirteen meetings.
If you would like to really cement the impression that you, an unelected and unaccountable board, do not consider the effect of your decisions on the people you are writing code for, waiting until 13 meetings have passed is a good way to do it.
Thank you.
Can compassion for the homeless become pathological?
Up in Boulder there are a bunch of homeless encampments next to Boulder High School. Bad enough as-is, but it gets worse.
These encampments have recently repeatedly been the scene of fires. Fires near the athletic fields where the students would play (games canceled). Fires near the paths that some students may use to go back and forth to school.
Is there a point at which compassion and not wanting to roust homeless becomes pathological?
I would submit that yes, there is. That point is reached when children are put in danger. That point is reached when our young ones are denied chances to express themselves through a variety of activities is hampered.
It looks as though the folks up in Boulder, due to completely reasonable complaints by parents, are going to finally do something. Good for them and their (finally) acting.
While it's okay to feel for those that struggle, do we that pay taxes and are concerned for our young ones not have any rights in this situation? Can we not walk down the street without feces and needles? Can our children not be exposed to fires and encampments while on their way or at school?
I want to be fair, so before continuing I want you to read the attached screenshot. It's a quote from the article linked below that is the source for this post.
It's not too readily apparent from what I could read there, but I'd be curious to know exactly where the lawyer mentioned and the ACLU stand on the rights of children to not have this camp nearby.
I personally couldn't care less whether these folks were offered alternatives and counseled repeatedly. I personally couldn't care less if removing the camps merely shuffles them around.
Get them the hell away from the school.
https://www.dailycamera.com/2023/03/22/boulder-police-bvsd-upping-patrols-following-series-of-tent-fires/
The "Assault Weapons" ban bill committee hearing got canceled.
I posted about HB23-1230 finally getting its first hearing yesterday--this hearing would have been today (Wed 3/29).
I knew I would be working during the hearing so I had originally not planned to sign up for testimony. I decided to write an email instead.
Then I got to thinking and figured a lot of people would testify at the hearing so I signed up for testimony (where I intended, if I got there in time, to read my email out loud into the record).
Well, the hearing was postponed. See the screenshot attached for a look at the email I got after signing up.
I sent the email about the bill anyway and will watch the bill's page for its new hearing date. I'll post when I see.
If it is helpful, I also copied my email and the bill's page link below. You are welcome, as always, to use any or all of the email I wrote in your own advocacy.
If you are concerned about your Second Amendment rights, please join me in speaking up and giving serious thought to donating to one of the groups which will be fighting these bills.
Email and link follow.
An email concerning HB23-1230 (for when it comes before your committee)
Good morning.
My name is Cory Gaines.
I am writing to you all to urge you to vote no on HB 23-1230.
When I woke after last November's election, I knew that with the coming Democrat majority, law-abiding gun owners would find themselves and their rights to be collateral damage with a slew of even more restrictive gun control measures. I have been saddened and frustrated to see that my fears are coming true.
I keep hoping for some limiting principle on the Assembly's incursions into my and my fellow citizens' fundamental Constitutional (both state and federal) right to defend ourselves and bear arms. Thus far I have been repeatedly disappointed. Democrat members of the Assembly have shown themselves not only unwilling to consider the impact of their policy on law-abiding citizens, not only unwilling to stop their relentless advance of gun control bills, they have now chosen to limit further any attempts by the minority to bring moderation to the debate.
The message to Coloradans who disagree is clear: there is no room for consideration of your rights, there is no room for your voice. You are to do as we tell you and you are to do it quietly.
This bill is, more than the others you have passed thus far, the biggest bite out of our rights to date. If you read the text of the bill carefully and have even a rudimentary knowledge of firearms, you will note that a huge swath of everyday guns would be illegal under this bill. Everyday guns which, though they might look scary to those unfamiliar or to those who beat on your office doors and scream for you to "do something, anything" operate no differently than any other semiautomatic gun.
I, and countless other citizens, who abide by the laws and do not use guns for violence against others would find that I am left with fewer options of the tools I might need to defend myself, my property (yes, outside the Front Range there are uses for some of the firearms on your list in the fields of ranching and etc.), I might also find myself in possession of a gun which is now illegal to either sell to someone else in the state or to give to someone else.
I have little doubt that you will pass this terrible piece of legislation and have now moved to offer financial and other supports to groups which will (repeat will) now take you to court when it does. I look forward to defeating this bill in court.
I only wish I didn't have to pay twice for it: once with a donation and again with tax dollars to defend your thoughtlessness and rush to appease your political base.
I urge you to vote no.
Cory
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb23-1230#:~:text=The%20bill%20defines%20the%20term,is%20a%20class%202%20misdemeanor.