Hickenlooper’s Seventh State of the State Address: Speech Better, Climate Worse – 9News

Governor John Hickenlooper’s seventh State of the State speech was better delivered than the first six. He paced himself carefully and didn’t fight the teleprompter. But, the January 20th presidential inauguration hung like a dense cloud over the State Capitol.

Washington
The Governor made repeated references to the changes coming from Washington that will likely send more responsibility to the states, some of which Democrats don’t want, much of which will decrease money for established programs.

It’s no secret that we’ve just been through one of the most toxic political campaigns on record.

Regardless of who you supported, we can all agree: last year was divisive.

But we’ll soon have a new president, and it is clear that the new administration and Congress seek a different relationship between the federal government and the states.

In the early 20th century, Justice Louis Brandeis popularized the idea that states are the laboratories of democracy. And in the coming years, we expect more responsibility to be directed our way.

9News political reporter, Brandon Rittiman, with 9News political analyst, Floyd Ciruli, framed the speech and the political context as 9News livestreamed the speech from the Capitol.

Photo: 9KUSA

Health Care
There were bipartisan moments in the speech. For example, Hickenlooper’s recommendation that more revenue must be added to the transportation infrastructure and the Internet should be built out to rural areas. But possibly the most contentious moment was when Republicans (who control 18 Senate seats – a majority) did not stand and applaud the Governor’s health care comments.

Since 2011 we’ve helped over 600,000 people get basic health insurance, and 94% of Coloradans now have coverage...

That’s a lot of good news, but we all know actions in Washington could threaten the progress we’ve made.

I think most of us would agree that the last thing we would want is Congress making all of our decisions around healthcare.

If changes are inevitable I will fight for a replacement plan that protects the people who are covered now and doesn’t take us backward.

Colorado and its governor are not unique. All the country’s governors and legislators are watching the first 100 Trump days with intense interest, some more anxious and hostile than others.