DENVER — Tonight, Republicans in the Colorado legislature passed a practical and timely measure in response to the United States Supreme Court’s stay on President Obama’s Clean Power Plan out of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy.

Senate Bill 16-157, sponsored by Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, and Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, would suspend Colorado’s statewide implementation of the Clean Power Plan until a decision has been made as to its constitutionality by the highest court in the land. 

Implementing the Clean Power Plan in Colorado would inevitably be a costly and time-intensive project, paid for in full by state taxpayers. The bill proposes that the state postpones spending taxpayer resources on the regulation until the Supreme Court has issued a final ruling.

Kelly Maher, Executive Director of Compass Colorado, expressed relief in response to the bill’s introduction. “We don’t even know whether or not the Supreme Court will uphold President Obama’s job-annihilating plan,” said Maher. “Until the court has definitively ruled on its legality, there is absolutely no point for Colorado to plow through untold sums of taxpayers’ hard-earned money on its implementation. Any argument to the contrary is nothing short of reckless.”
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The legislation has been referred to the Senate Committee of the Whole.

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