ASSEMBLY GLANCE

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 12, 2008 | by ED SEALOVER

College textbooks

College students may have a little more money for burgers and beer next year after the House overwhelmingly approved a measure Tuesday that is intended to reduce the cost of textbooks.

Many professors order new textbooks every three years or so, leaving students unable to resell their copies or to buy cheaper used versions of the books. SB 73 would require textbook publishers to list their changes to each new edition and to list the costs of printing each book, a move that Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, hopes will allow some professors to continue using older books for longer.

The measure passed 60-4 and heads back to the Senate for a vote on amendments. Colorado Springs Republican Reps. Douglas Bruce and Larry Liston were among the "no" votes.

Oops

Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Stephanie Takis chewed out Sen. Mike Kopp for what she called a procedural gaffe in bringing a bill to her requesting a new license plate bearing the insignia of the Army's 4th Infantry Division.

One problem: Kopp later confirmed that the offense for which he was castigated was completely irrelevant to the bill.

For most license-plate bills, sponsors must collect signatures from 3,000 Coloradans who commit to buying the plate when it becomes available. Kopp, R-Littleton, neither collected signatures nor came up with a design for the plate, and Takis, D-Aurora, voted against the bill, saying she couldn't see blowing off those requirements for one particular group.

The aide to Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Stella Garza Hicks, who authored HB 1175, later found, however, that the signature requirement is waived for all military plates. Still, the bill moved ahead to the Senate Appropriations Committee by a 5-1 vote.

Sign of the times

Rep. Douglas Bruce, who has been criticized for getting nothing done since his January swearing-in, now points proudly to a recent accomplishment: the handicapped signs outside the south entrance of the Capitol.

The signs used to say "Handicap accessible," but Bruce, the son and brother of English teachers, complained that the placard was grammatically incorrect if it was to mean that the nearby entrance was able to accommodate people in wheelchairs. He asked Capitol staffers to replace them with the new signs, which feature the international symbol of a person in a wheelchair and just say "visitor's entrance" and the hours that the building is open.

State reptile

Meanwhile, Bruce's greatest nemesis continued its inexorable slow march to triumph.

Senators unanimously approved a bill Tuesday to name the Western painted turtle as the state reptile. HB 1017 heads now to Gov. Bill Ritter.

After fourth graders from Skyline Vista Elementary School proposed the designation for the turtle, Bruce was the lone vote in committee against the proposal.