DENVER — Students from all over the state presented bill proposals at the Colorado Capitol Wednesday.
The teenagers are a part of the Colorado Youth Advisory Council. It was created in 2008 to better understand students’ needs. Students create bills on topics they feel passionately about, and present them individually to state lawmakers. A few of the bill proposals have the potential to make it to the Governor’s desk.
“We have the opportunity to present these ideas and research we have collected over the last several months and form these into policy proposals that will hopefully end up before the state’s General Assembly for passage into law,” said Siddharth Nareddy, part of the state's youth council.
Students fielded comments and tough questions from state lawmakers.
Representative Ron Weinberg (R) represents House District 51 in Larimer County. He was impressed with the students’ efforts.
“They’re essentially legislators presenting to legislators and their bills could actually become law,” he said. “They did fantastic, they stood behind their convictions.”
Weinberg said the tough questions are a must. “I think it's a disservice of any legislator to not give them the hard questions because these are ultimately going to be your future legislators, your future politicians,” he said.
Three of the six draft bills made it to the next round, in hopes of reaching Governor Polis’ (D) desk.
“They will effectively push onto the house floor and Senate floors in this upcoming session,” Weinberg said.
That is the type of success Nareddy experienced last year, when to other bills he worked on about state-level educational standards were signed by the Governor in April.
“It's definitely an empowering experience to see how I was able to elevate not just my voice but the voices of the youth behind my proposal,” Nareddy said. “I think through this process I’ve gained skills of advocacy and research that will serve to be useful to me throughout my life as a responsible and informed citizen, and hopefully as an elected official as well.”
Youth council students from all around the state participated this year including:
- Mason Evans (he/him), Senate District 3
- Makena James (she/her), Senate District 8
- Meghan Taylor (she/her), Senate District 12
- Siddharth (Sidd) Nareddy (he/him), Senate District 25
- Cate Preece (she/her), At Large
- Camryn (Cami) Sample (she/her), Senate District 31
- Eileen Farrell (she/her), Senate District 20
- Leigh Schmidt (she/her), COYAC alum
Several bill proposals presented Wednesday include:
- Bill 1 – Non-legal name changes for students in schools
- Bill 2 – Providing hygiene products at no expense to students
- Bill 3 – Creation of ethnic studies commission
- Bill 4 - Measures by schools to prevent gun violence and requiring that education providers notify students' parents about secure firearm storage law
- Bill 5 – Creation of a loan repayment program for licensed school mental health professionals practicing in Colorado schools
- Bill 6 – Improving the availability of training for youth gender-affirming health care
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