What your Weld County representatives accomplished during the 2022 Colorado legislative session: Dan Woog edition

Written By Kelly Ragan

Dan Woog represents House District 63. Photo courtesy of Zip Data Maps.

By Kelly Ragan

What have your Weld County representatives done for you lately? With the 2022 Colorado legislative session done for the season and an election on the horizon, it’s important to take stock of what our representatives accomplished this year.

Don’t worry, we’ve done most of the hard work for you.

We’ve looked at the bills each of our Weld County representatives were named prime sponsors of and show you what they got passed and what they didn’t. We’ll show you who the other prime sponsors were so you can get a sense of how bipartisan your representatives were this year.

Here we have Dan Woog. He represents Colorado House District 63, which includes a large swath of Weld County (think Eaton, Ault, Pierce, Nunn, Wiggins, Fort Morgan, Brush, and Akron). 

Bills passed 

The Alternative Transportation Options Tax Credit, HB22-1026: This bill created a tax credit for employers for offering alternative transportation options to employees, such as transit passes and bike share memberships – to the tune of 50% of expenditures.

Signed into law: June 7, 2022

Other prime sponsors: 

Sales and Use Tax Exemption Municipal Public School Construction, HB22-1024: This bill requires home rule municipalities (like Weld County) to exempt construction and building materials used in public school construction from sales and use tax. 

Signed into law: April, 2022

In July, five Colorado cities, including Denver, Boulder, Commerce City, Pueblo and Westminster sued to challenge the bill, according to a report by Colorado Politics. The lawsuit claimed the bill violated the state constitution by limiting the taxing authority of home rule municipalities. 

Other prime sponsors:

Increase Alcohol Beverage Excise Tax Exemption, HB22-1017: This bill expanded the existing excise tax exemption for alcohol brought by air passengers into the state from a foreign country. It increased the exempt quantities from up to one gallon, or four liters, to: 

  • 2.25 gallons of malt liquor and hard cider

  • 9 liters of vinous liquor 

  • 6 liters of spirituous liquor

Signed into law: March 24, 2022

Other prime sponsors: 

Bills failed 

Choice in Low-performing School Districts, HB22-1207: This bill would have required chronically low-performing school districts to create a parent choice program. It would have created a spending account of sorts dedicated to each student for parents to use to explore alternative educational options, such as charter schools, home-based education programs, private schools, tutoring, transportation and more. Had it passed, the bill would have required an appropriation of $1.4 million. 

Other prime sponsors:

  • None

Green Hydrogen to Meet Pollution Reduction Goals, HB22-1140: This bill would have dubbed green hydrogen a renewable resource, enabling qualifying retail utilities to use it meet renewable energy standards. Green hydrogen is hydrogen derived from energy sources such as wind, water and solar, but it is generally considered expensive and inefficient, according to CNBC. 

Other prime sponsors: 

Income Tax Deduction for Rent, HB22-1127: This bill would have created a state income tax deduction for rent paid in Colorado. The bill would have allowed folks making below $40,000 for single filers and $80,000 for joint filers to deduct up to $17,500 for rent paid on a rental residence. 

Other prime sponsors:

  • None 

On-demand Air Carrier Aircraft Sales Tax Exemption, HB22-1109: This bill would have created a sales and use tax exemption for the sale, storage, use or consumption of aircraft used (or purchased for use) in interstate or intrastate commerce by an on-demand air carrier. 

Other prime sponsors: 

Customer Right to Use Energy, HB22-1020: This bill would have prohibited a state agency, local government, or homeowner’s associations from limiting or prohibiting the use of natural gas, propane, solar photovoltaics, micro wind turbines, etc. for electricity generation, cooking, hot water, or space heating jn residential or business spaces. 

Other prime sponsors: 

Kelly Ragan
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