Colorado House District 53
Working hard, serving our community, listening and learning from the experiences of others, standing with those who are suffering, and being unafraid to do the right thing are values that I aspire to every single day”
Andrew Beosenecker
Andrew Boesenecker (Base-uh-neck-er) is running for reelection to represent Colorado House District 53 (west Fort Collins). Owing to a long history of service to the Fort Collins community, Mr. Boesenecker was chosen to complete the term of Representative Jeni Arndt when she became mayor of Fort Collins last year.
As a representative, Mr. Boesenecker served on two committees: the Transportation and Local Government Committee and the State, Civic, Military, and Veteran Affairs Committee. Much of his work focused on key areas to remedy the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, including food and housing insecurity, childcare, and support for small businesses. During the term, Mr. Boesenecker stayed true to the progressive values formed from his years as a public school teacher and a Lutheran clergyman, as well as his work in the healthcare and non-profit sectors of our community. Mr. Boesenecker has an impressive record for a new legislator starting in the middle of a legislative session, introducing several bills that were ultimately signed into law:
- Oil & Gas Reporting directing the Office of the State Auditor to conduct a performance audit on oil and gas reporting that comes into Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Department of Revenue, and Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. Currently the data and reporting are siloed and this audit will assess reporting compliance, violations, and auditability of the data across the agencies.
- Protections for Mobile Home Park Residents, which provides vital protections and opportunities to mobile home park residents, including an expanded opportunity to purchase, relocation assistance when needed, and protections against costly park rules and regulations.
- Privacy Protections for Protected Persons, which allows health care workers, code enforcement officers, animal control officers and child protection workers to shield their information online to prevent of doxing and threats against them or their families.
- Powerline Trails requiring utility providers to notify a local government of the possibility of a powerline trail (recreational trail) anytime a new transmission line is cited, or an existing transmission line is cited for expansion.
- Culturally Relevant Training for Health Professionals providing $1M in funding to create training for health care professionals to improve care for LGBTQ+ people, noting the barriers that LGBTQ+ people face in receiving equitable and affirming care.
Mr. Boesenecker also supported and co-sponsored important bills including:
- The Reproductive Health Equity Act, which codifies the protections of Roe v. Wade into Colorado statute. He was among House Democrats who held the line for over 24 hours of non-stop debate to protect a person’s fundamental right to make reproductive health care decisions free from government interference.
- Internal Election Security Measures which, in the wake of the events in Mesa County, provides increased protections and election security and enumerates the circumstances under which a person is ineligible to serve as a designated election official for a county or a coordinated election official.
- Collective Bargaining for Counties to expand county employees’ rights to collective bargaining.
Mr. Boesenecker’s has a long list of priorities that he plans to tackle in his next term, including:
- Increasing per-pupil funding and pay for educators
- Protecting air, water and land and reversing the devastating effects of climate change
- Housing affordability and security
- Access to affordable medical care
- Protecting women’s reproductive rights
- Racial and economic justice
- Civil rights, including for the LGBTQ community and immigrants
- Campaign finance reform
With redistricting, Donna Walter, who lost to Cathy Kipp in the last election is now in District 53 and is running against Mr. Boesenecker. A third, right-leaning unaffiliated candidate is attempting to collect enough signatures to join the ballot. To find out how you can help keep CO HD53 represented by a democrat who is working in the best interest of the community, visit Andrew Boesenecker’s website.