Kefalas working on health care

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Health care, transportation and poverty prevention will remain John Kefalas' top priorities if re-elected to the seat he won after two hard-fought campaigns against the same Republican opponent he faces once again.

The Fort Collins Democrat is running against Bob McCluskey for the House District 52 seat.

Kefalas, 53, said he already is drafting legislation that would move the state toward universal health-care coverage. While details are yet to be hammered out, he said, the plan would be a hybrid of the options identified last year by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Reform.

"The goal here," Kefalas said, "is to move in the direction of getting everyone some kind of health insurance."

He said the measure would give people choices, encourage preventive health care, and build on the foundation of existing programs such as Medicaid and CHP+, a low-cost insurance plan for low-income children and pregnant women.

Transportation will be on the table, too, as the legislature continues debating the ways of financing the needs identified by yet another blue ribbon panel.

Kefalas said it appears regional efforts will play a key role in meeting those demands. He expressed enthusiasm for a new Embrace Colorado coalition aimed at integrating state and local transportation planning and funding.

"Any proposal coming before us has to have a high public transit element," Kefalas insisted. "Our transportation solution cannot just be roads and highways."

He finds commuter rail particularly appealing and said he is developing legislation to create a state railroad authority that could issue revenue bonds to establish passenger rail service in the state.

Kefalas supports the Savings Account for Education ballot issue, calling it "a very creative solution." Amendment 59 would permanently eliminate the state revenue limits contained in the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, along with educational spending increases mandated in Amendment 23. Retained revenues would go into the state education fund.

Kefalas said he opposes construction of Glade Reservoir, fearing it will damage the Cache la Poudre River that flows through his district.

Groundwater protection legislation he successfully carried last session in response to proposed uranium mining near Nunn is one of Kefalas' most satisfying accomplishments. "That was an amazing process that created a strong regulatory framework," he said. "We didn't have anything on the books."

If re-elected, Kefalas said, he wants to further pursue his unfinished agenda of reducing poverty - in part through restoring the earned income credit. He also plans to continue his intensive public outreach efforts resulting in more than 50 public forums last session.

Kefalas most recently directed the Colorado Progressive Coalition's Tax Fairness Project. He previously worked as a Poudre School District teacher, a migrant health outreach worker and training counselor for Larimer County, and an adviser for Project Self-Sufficiency. Kefalas also worked for Catholic Charities as a public policy advocate and community development coordinator.

He is a graduate of Colorado State University and has a master's degree in teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey