Sara Gagliardi - Legislative Career - 2009 Legislative Session

2009 Legislative Session

For the 2009 legislative session, Gagliardi was named to a seat on the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee and as vice-chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Following her re-election, Gagliardi was also nominated for the post of House Majority Caucus Chair, but the post ultimately went to Representative Karen Middleton. Representative Gagliardi was the prime sponsor of 5 bills in the House of Representatives and 7 bills in the Colorado State Senate, in addition to co-sponsoring many other bills and resolutions.

Gagliardi carried House Bill 1331 in 2009 which created tax credits for the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles in the state of Colorado. The credits incentivized the purchase of plug-in vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrids, plug-in hybrid conversions, and CNG conversions. These tax credits had the dual benefits of bolstering the automotive dealership industry in Colorado and creating jobs in the field of vehicle conversion.

In addition to working on lower-profile issues during the 2009 session, Gagliardi sponsored a bipartisan measure to lower the age limit for blood donations to 16. The measure was crafted through collaboration between Gagliardi, Bonfils Blood Center, and Connor Randall, a high school student from Arvada and two-time heart transplant recipient. The three stakeholders recognized that blood donations could be increased by as much as 35% if the donation age were lowered with parental consent. Gagliardi, being vice chair of Health and Human Services and a nurse, introduced the bill and co-prime sponsored the measure together with Republican Representative Spencer Swalm to showcase the bipartisan nature of the bill. Representative Swalm, a frequent donor to Bonfils and advocate for organ and tissue donation helped lobby the measure among the Republican caucus. Gagliardi leaned on her experience as a nurse in a series of letters to the editor and opinion pieces advocating for the change and encouraging Coloradans to donate blood. The bill passed and was subsequently signed into law on March 19, 2009.

Gagliardi also carried a bipartisan measure with Republican Senator Don Marostica which created the Colorado Credit Reserve Program. The program leveraged $2.5 million dollars of state funds to provide between $50 – $55 million in loans for small businesses in the state of Colorado. The bill required a large fiscal investment up-front, but will cost the state very little, even in a worst-case situation. The bill was particularly necessary during the early stages of the recession, as credit markets were inaccessible to many businesses, yet the bill's impact has continued. As of October 2010, the measure had opened credit to 167 businesses, allowed for the creation of 1,100 jobs, and become a source of net income for the state of Colorado.