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January 08, 2013 10:52 AM UTC

Sen. Brophy Makes Lemonade - Plans Odd Bills

  • 31 Comments
  • by: IndyNinja

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Sen. Greg Brophy has been in the Senate minority for a while, but now that Colorado’s lower chamber is back in the hands of the Democrats, he won’t be seeing the kind of GOP issues come across his desk this year that he did last year.

But instead of holding his breath til he turns blue or sponsoring some far-right legislation for Democratic target practice, he is making the most of his time in the minority by sponsoring legislation that is sure to keep him in the headlines throughout the session, and just might pass to boot.

While Sen. Brophy hasn’t announced all of his bills yet, the first three he has been talking about are all a lot of fun to debate.

Automated Cars

In several states, legislatures have passed rules concerning “driverless cars” as a response to Google’s ongoing project to develop and market the software that powers them. Brophy says his legislation is modeled after these other states and will provide restricted allowance for automated vehicles.

Teens in Bars

This bill is similar to laws in Texas and elsewhere that allows parents to give permission for their children to consume alcohol in an establishment that normally serves alcohol, such as bars or restaurants. In Colorado, it is already legal for a person of just about any age to consume alcohol so long as they are in the presence of their parents, have their permission, and they are on private property. This bill would extend that provision for people 18 years old and up to drink at the bars as well… with mom.

Daylight Savings

The biennial fight over the existence and practice of daylight savings time. This time around, Brophy plans to draft the bill as a referred measure and leave the matter to the voters. As usual, the breakdown will be whether MST or MDT is the new standard.

Comments

31 thoughts on “Sen. Brophy Makes Lemonade – Plans Odd Bills

  1. here . . . why three bills, when one could do the trick?

    . . . I’m thinking something along the lines of teens drinking in bars prior to sunset during MDT hours as long as they travel home in automated cars?

    Still need to figure out how to throw in melon blasting with multi-round magazine ARs . . . but then, why should I have to do all of Brophy’s heavy thinking?

  2. I should say that I think the old 3.2 system for 18 year olds was probably a good idea so I have no problem with liberalizing the drinking age a bit.

    But Brophy decided to propose this after being unable to order his daughter a drink in a restaurant on her 20th birthday.  So he decides that needs legislation.  Strange.  

    Anyway, on the merits of the bill I think its a generally bad idea.  Imagine owning a restaurant or bar and trying to navigate this one.  How do they avoid liability?  By demanding to see birth certificates or adoption papers proving that the adult is really a parent?

    1. Everyone should just switch to UTC and get it over with. No confusion over what time the ball game starts, or when the President is speaking… Okay, maybe not.

      But why lie about what time it is? We aren’t a 9-5 society anymore, nor do we have the same challenges with resources that we had back when DST was implemented. If you don’t like that the sun is down early, implement winter hours that start and end earlier.

      Having said all of that… (A) it’s not important enough to put on a referendum, and (B) if we vote to go to MDT year-round I’ll have confirmation that this state still has a long way to go to true intelligence. I’d probably vote in favor of year-round MST; I’d definitely vote against MDT.

      1. I’ve always thought that it is the height of arrogance and a sign of our attitude towards our world to change the hour of the day  rather than changing our schedules to fit the seasons.

        But not important enough that I particularly want to change it.

      2. Who wants to always be worrying about leap seconds? Not me, that’s for sure.

        And what kind of bastard acronym is UTC? The Brits wanted UCT, the French wanted TUC, and so they compromise on UTC? A pox on both their houses!

    2. In the summer it would be nice for the sun to go down earlier by the clock so there’s more time for things to cool off in time for bed. As for winter, I don’t hate early winter sunset as much as I would hate sending little kids to school in the pitch dark.

      But the pros and cons of whether to daylight save or not to daylight save and the inconvenience of not being able to drink in bars and restaurants with your 20 year old kid (horrors) are not exactly my idea of top priority problems.

      Just a thought: Wouldn’t it be a lot easier for the Brophy’s to have that birthday drink at home instead of trying to pass legislation?

      Our legislative session is pretty short. This is the stuff that is uppermost in  the mind of Sen. Brophy?  Can’t think of a thing that might be a little more pressing to take care of first? Gee. How statesmanlike.

      And while I’m sure automated cars are a safer bet for the near future (the frequency of computer glitches in general  makes the prospect a little… oh, I don’t know…terrifying?) it just reminded me of how, when I was a kid, we were all supposed to have hovercraft by now.  

  3. Daylight savings time is a waste of time.

    Just set the clock – and leave it alone. (AZ and HI, for example)

    The alcohol thing is …dumb.

    And if it imperils federal funding for highways or anything else- it should be killed.

    Automated cars are coming.

    Licensing them in way that makes the roads safe (safer) is good.

  4. Kids under 21 drink. Some of them way too much. But this occurs even though we have laws against it. And because all alcohol is equally illegal, a lot of kids drink hard liquor.

    I’d like to see it change as follows. Kids who graduate high school can drink beer & wine. That way they start off on lesser alcohol. And if those are legal, most will go for the legal booze as that is a lot easier to acquire and doesn’t face problems if they are caught.

    As to the graduate high school, that keeps it from being commonly handed over to high school students where the age 18 does give beer & wine to high school students. Plus it provides a strong incentive to stay in school and graduate.

    1. If we could rais the gasoline tax to offset the loss of federal funding, ok.

      2010  federal highway funding to Colorado approx $600mm

      2010 approx 300mm gallons of gasoline bought (sold)  

      So to offset the loss $60mm (10% of federal funds) we would have to raise the gasoline tax about $0.20 per gallon.  I’m in – otherwise no way.

    2. I’m for a lower drinking age (see above), and I generally like your ideas, David.

      BUT… conditioning rights on educational achievements feels counterintuitive to American democracy. And while I understand that we condition one’s ability to drive a car on the completion of educational courses in driving, this feels different. It’s the government saying: this is the kind of person we want you to be, and if you become that kind of person, we’ll reward you by letting you do something that, by the spirit of the 21st Amendment, you should have the right to do anyway.

      For comparison’s sake: imagine if there was some right (say, the ability to run for office) that we conditioned on the completion of post-secondary education. Wouldn’t that seem wrong? Completing post-secondary education is a choice, and choosing to go to college undoubtedly opens many doors for an individual. But those doors should be opened and shut by discerning individuals (employers, etc.) rather than written into the letter of the law.

  5. This the 21st Century, folks. Let the sun rise and set whenever it wants, as long as it gets its work done and puts in an average of 12 hrs. a day.

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