Capitol Coverage: Colorado’s New Speaker Of The House Talks Priorities For The 2017 Session

Democrat Crisanta Duran will serve as the top lawmaker in the state House of Representatives next session, leading the 65-member chamber as speaker of the house. She will also be the first Latina to serve in that role in state history. Image: Incoming Democrat House Speaker Rep. Crisanta Duran Credit: Bente Birkeland/Captiol Coverage.

Capitol Coverage: Colorado’s New Speaker Of The House Talks Priorities For The 2017 Session kgnu

Duran discussed her priorities for the next four months.

On Democrats’ inclusivity:

Duran: We want the Colorado house Democrats to stand for not taking any Coloradans for granted, and not leaving any Coloradans behind, so I’m hoping the next legislative session will be productive.

On how her party gained three seats in the House, despite national losses:

Duran: I think that’s representative of the fact that we have leaders from all areas of Colorado that listen to their constituents and deliver results to the issues people deal with every day.

On the roughly half-billion-dollar budget shortfall lawmakers must close:

Duran: We need to make sure that we’re adequately investing in education and transportation. With so much growth to this state and economic activity that we’ve seen here, we need to ensure that we invest in our roads, in bridges, in infrastructure, that we think about how to organize our roads, not just to move cars, but people.

Capitol Coverage is a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.