Copyright 2000 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
May 5, 2000 Friday 2D EDITION
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A-18
LENGTH: 517 words
HEADLINE:
Child advocates hail legislation Session was good for kids, many say
BYLINE: By Carol Kreck, Denver Post Staff Writer,
BODY:
No legislative session in history treated
Colorado children better than the one that drew to a close this week,
child advocates agreed Thursday.
To mark the occasion,
children, advocates, legislators and Gov. Bill Owens gathered in the
Capitol rotunda Thursday to look back at what they did, and forward
to what they need to do.
A record $ 80 million was appropriated for
children, money that is expected to change the face of child care,
provide health insurance and dental care for
children of the working poor, and offer parents of young children
tax credits. The unprecedented success was due to bipartisan
consensus on the needs of Colorado children, said Barbara O'Brien,
president of the Colorado Children's Campaign.
'We had a
voter education campaign in 1998, and a lot of the legislators here
today heard from their constituents,' O'Brien said. 'They're now in
leadership.'
Oxana Golden, director of the state's Division of Child
Care, was excited about additional funds for Consolidated Child
Care Pilots, which anticipated welfare reform by experimenting with
new ways to offer quality child care to low-income families.
Golden was enthusiastic about getting 18 new
licensing inspectors for child-care facilities. 'We'll be able to
respond to serious complaints within 48 hours. Now it's taking seven
days.'
There is still much to do, said Denver Health
pediatrician Paul Melinkovich, president of the Colorado chapter of
the American Academy of Pediatrics.
'We need to make sure
every kid eligible for Medicaid or Colorado Child Health Plan Plus
(CHP+) is enrolled.' Some 40,000 are not, Melinkovich said.
Premiums for CHP+ are among the highest in the country,
he said. They need to be lowered so poor families can afford them.
'All low-income kids eligible for dental care should get
it,' he said. Reimbursements to dentists must be fair, or they
won't accept poor children. The dental care appropriation means
Colorado no longer is the only state in the country that doesn't
provide dental care to low-income kids, he said.
The $ 80
million approved for children included:
$ 10 million for health
insurance for children of the working poor.
$ 3 million for
nurse visitation for first-time, at-risk mothers.
$ 19
million for child literacy efforts.
$ 15 million for youth tobacco-use
prevention, cessation and education.
$ 6 million for
community health-care services for children and families.
$
22 million in tax credits for parents with children under age 6.
$ 500,000 in additional funds for the Youth Crime
Prevention and Intervention Fund.
$ 2.1 million in additional
funds to improve quality of child care.
$ 1 million for 18
additional inspectors to make child-care facilities safer.
$
1.6 million for special-education services.
Establishment of a new
Division of Prevention to strengthen and consolidate state prevention
programs.
Establishment of a statewide Child Care Commission.
Addition of dental programs in CHP+.
LOAD-DATE:
May 05, 2000 
