State Lawmakers Warn of Growing Struggles for Rural Colorado at La Junta Meeting

~Anne Boswell

(La Junta, CO) -- Colorado Representative Ty Winter and State Senator Rod Pelton expressed concern before La Junta City Council Monday night. They stopped by to stand before the council to explain legislation they worked on to benefit Southeast Colorado and small rural communities such as this one.

Senator Pelton explained that life is becoming more difficult for people to stay and live in these communities in which they were raised.

"Our tax rates are just so high...it's driving industry out of the state."

Representative Winter joined in to tell that a large Coca Cola plant wanted to build an enormous facility in Colorado but the state required energy standards. It would take five years for them to meet those demands.

Giving facts that Winter prefaced that not a lot of people know, he stated it's not just big business leaving the state or not planting roots here. It's the people who feed us.

"We have lost over 3,000 family farms and ranches since 2017." Most of the farms who grow our food locally are small farms. Winter went on to say that 87 percent of farms in the state are family farms.

Winter mentioned some over-time laws that affected many local farms in Otero County.

Other topics the lawmakers brought up included the Medicaid non-emergency transport issue. Winter worked on a bill that would help with the program to help combat the fraud and get people the access to the services they need.

Winter mentioned that he wants to do more to cultivate nuclear energy in the state. Winter said developing this would bring good paying jobs to Colorado. The bill Winter worked on didn't make it through but he promised it will be given a second chance with a new governor.

Pelton talked about one of the bills he ran that would require lobbyists to register with their positions on different bills. The bill that would create transparency for legislators was vetoed by Governor Jared Polis.

Pelton said legislation is often heavily influenced by the governor's office and shouldn't be.

Both legislators thanked the council for hosting them and said it is an honor to serve the communities like La Junta and others in Southeast Colorado.

"I serve God's people on God's land," Pelton finished.

Mayor Joe Ayala had asked the pair to explain who they serve in terms of what counties and communities.

"We truly are family in Southeast Colorado," Winter added. Conflicts are easier to resolve here because people can still sit down and talk it out.

"It truly is an honor to serve those nine counties." Winter said to much applause from those in attendance of the meeting.

To read more about the legislation passed and worked on, you can read it for yourself on the legislators pages.

State Senator Rod Pelton, https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/rod-pelton

Representative Ty Winter, https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/ty-winter

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