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-'- March 6, 1995 Page 10 The Capitol Reporter Legislature Gulf veterans seek aid ...,- By Mila LARKIN The Capitol Reporter Persian Gulf War veterans met with members of the Senate State Affairs Committee in an attempt to draw attention to "Persian Gulf Syndrome" last week. Gulf soldiers have been com- plaining of ailments ranging from dizziness and depression to bleed- ing gums and hair loss, said Maj. Denise Nichols, a retired Air Force nurse and member of the Persian Gulf Veterans Asso- ciation. Several military members and veterans testified that the symp- toms veterans are suffering clC6e- ly resemble the shutting down of the immune system in AIDS. Nichols contended that the gov- ernment is not responsibly re- searching the cause and cure for the syndrome. She said there is evidence troops were exposed to some sort of chemical or biological weapon or possibly even radioac- tive fallout, "The Department of Defense position is no use (of biological weapons), intentionally or acci- dentally, oo:urred," Nichols said. But that position doesn't jibe with testimony of veterans who spoke to the committee, "Our (biological/chemical detec. tion) alanns went off every day for the first three weeks," testified veteran Bruce Able. Able said soldiers were told that the alanns were just oversen- ~- BY CATHE~INE MEJIA The Capitol Reporter ......:. It seems the House and the Senate have come to a meeting of the minds over funding fcr lower- cost institutions of higher educa. tion, but the road to consensus was rocky. It began last Monday when a conference committee was called to amend a higher education refonn bill. HE 1196 was approved by the House and then by the Senate two weeks ago. The second confer. ence committee report was adopt- ed by the Senate last Thursday. The first conference committee was tense at best. Sen. Al Meiklejohn, R-Arvada, set the tone as he walked in saying, "I feel like Daniel walking into the lion's den." The committee chairman, House Majority Leader Tim Foster, R-Grand Junction, dis- agreed that Meiklejohn was at a disadvantage, calling him "Daniel ~_.. Gulf War vet Darwin Rulz testified about Desert Storm Syndrome. sitive and there was no need to be Veterans complained th~ until concerned. The alanns got to be the syndrome is acknowledged by such a nuisance that some were the government as a sickness with deactivated, Able said. origins in the Gulf War, they can't Catherine Magree, another receive proper medical benefits. Gulf War vet, tearfully told the Able testified that because they committee she "saw IDushroom- are no longer on active duty, they shaped clouds," and her biological cannot get treatment from veter- weapons detector also constantly ans hospitals. went off. "Part of the covel"up is to save When Sen. Joan Johnson, D- face and not have to pay the medi- Mams County, asked if those tes- cal (expenses)," Able said, tifying thought the government Witnesses asked the state to was covering up something, collect data on the illness and to Nichols and several of the veter. show more support for veterans. ans testiJYing said, "Yes." "Inaction is too much for the ''We want answers," Nichols troops (to handle)," she said. "We said. "The illness is real" will not die quietly.. with a machine gun." Both sides seemed to have plenty of ammunition. House committee members ProlXlsed an amendment making it clear that in terms of funding, lower-cost institutions of higher education would be given special considera- tion to encourage students to attend lower-cost institutions with the most room for enroll- ment growth, "Our concern has been that we cannot handle the enrollment growth in the higher ed. institu. tions. When you have a limited nwnber of funds, you want to fun. nel some of those to lower-cost institutions," said Rep. Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood. Senate committee members were worried. about the exclusion of other institutions. "I don't want to cut the research institutions out of it," Meiklejohn said. Both sides continued to argue their points, but when the amend. ment was finally moved, it received unanimous approval. Anderson adjusts figures in school finance measure BY IJsA 5cHRB1lE~ The CapitoIIIepor1er Rep. Norma Anderson, R- Lakewood, continued her crusade last week in the House Finance Conunittee to sculpt the perfect School Finance Act. Anderson's HE 1327 would increase the per-pupil base formula $68 from $3,390 to $3,458. After three factors were taken into account - cost of living, at-risk kids, and size factor - the mini- mum funding any district could receive would increase from $3,975 to $4,200 for public school financing. The bill also includes a 2 percent increase to cover inflation for the 1994-95 fis- cal year ending June 30. "Without this bill, we have no funding," Anderson told the committee before it voted unanimously to move it to Appropriations. Prior to hearing continu- ous supporting testimony for HB 1327, the committee heard HE 1218 by Rep. Paul Schauer, R-LittIeton, which calls for an adjusted mill levy to correct problems which were created in the previous School Finance Acts. Schauer's bill is specific to the Cherry Creek School District, but Anderson said she intends to amend the bill to include all districts that exceeded their mill levy in past years. "It gets rid of the non-uni- form elements" in the mill levy, Schauer said after the meeting. "I call them nuisances," Anderson said in an inter- view last week. The new bill gets "rid of all the leftovers from pre- v i 0 u s act s , " address- ing dis- tricts that Anderson exceed their mill levies and districts that have tax money left over. HE 1218 was taken off the table to be amended into HE 1327 after all the witnesses supported that action. "Representative Anderson, your bill is getting bigger, and 1 believe it's getting bet- ter," said Phil Fox of the Colorado Association of School Executives. Rep. Jeanne Faatz, R- Denver, said the bill address- es an equity issue, that is, whether appropriate funding is provided to all state dis- tricts, Also under lIB 1327, $1.5 million would be taken off the top of state funds' and given to Denver Public Schools because of its feder- ally mandated costs of busing students for desegregation, which other districts are not required to do. ,Teacher-firing bill terminated Education consensus rocky The surprise for House mem- bers came the following day when the amendment waS rejected on the Senate floor, Meiklejohn described the com- mittee meeting to his colleagues as being "eyeball-to-eyeball" and then moved for rejection of the conunittee report. His motion was approved and the committee went back to the drawing board. "What are we going to do?" asked Anderson, before the meet- ing started, "I don't Imow; you got us into this," Foster replied. Meiklejohn entered the meet- ing with Foster greeting him as the "great rejecter of the confer- ence conunittee report." A compromise was hammered out with both sides giving a little more than they had the first time around, ''We should not single out that area, just stick with consideration of that area," said Senate President Thm Norton, R.Greeley. The committee agreed and passed the revised amendment unanimously, " A controversial bill revising teacher firing policies met its death in the Senate last Thursday, HB 1256 by Rep, Jeanne Adkins, R-Parker, which had been approved by the House, met with the same players tak. ing sides when it arrived in the Senate Education Committee, where it was championed by Sen. Dottie Wham, R-Denver. The associations of school administrators were once again pitted against the organizations representing teacher interests. Lauren Kingsbery, who sup- ported the bill on behalf of the Colorado Association of School Boards, said the current law hampered the dismissal process. "I do think the cost is some- thing that can have a chilling effect: Kingsbery said. The bill would have limited continuances to 60 days, instead of 120 days, thereby reducing legal fees, substitute teachers' pay and paid leave for the teach- er involved in legal action. The executive director for the Colorado 'Education Association, Judy Behnke, said if the law isn't working, the fault lies with the inefficacy of administrators. "If we have an incompetent teacher in the school system, it's because we have an incompe- tent administrator who's not doing their job," Behnke said, The committee split along party lines on the vote to approve the bill, 3-3. The motion to kill the bill was approved 4-2, with Sen. Al Meiklejohn, R- Arvada, voting with the Li9ht6ender's ~"1..- ,..,''''~ , ' Stained GLass Custom Stained Glass for Home and Office Windows · Doors · Lamps · Specialty Over 25 years 01 designing, building and repairing stained glass For questions or quotations call: (303) 426.5622 Democrats. Sen. Charles Duke, R-Monument, was excused. Meiklejohn requested the witnesses remain after the vote to give them some advice. He asked if each witness had attempted to talk with the other side before bringing legislation; the answer was a resounding "no." He pointed out that both sides had agreed to the compro- mises in current law and sug- gested that they try to work it out next time before it goes as far as the Statehouse. "It bothers me that the play. . ers haven't talked to each other," Meiklejohn said, "A handshake is more important than that, as hard as we worked back in 1990 to get this compromise," - Cat""rine Mejia The Rocky Mountain News hm. more news of interest for you. 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