Sara Gagliardi
Encyclopedia
Sara Elizabeth Gagliardi (born March 9, 1958) is a legislator in the U.S. state
of Colorado
. A career nurse, Gagliardi was first elected as a Democrat
in 2006 to the Colorado House of Representatives. She represented House District 27, which encompasses most of Arvada, Colorado
, until her defeat in the 2010 election
by Republican
Libby Szabo. During her time with the House of Representatives, Gagliardi served as vice-chair for two legislative committees and successfully carried 22 bills into law, predominantly on health care, state services and education, and state fiscal issues.
, Gagliardi graduated from high school in 1976 and attended Iowa Lakes Community College beginning in 1976, where she earned certification as a licensed practical nurse
, a certification which she holds to this day.
Gagliardi, at the time a single mother, worked full time as a surgical nurse in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the Emmetsburg Community Hospital (now the Palo Alto County Hospital). Gagliardi moved to Colorado
with her boys and worked for the The Children's Hospital in Denver. In 1982, she also worked for the Wallace Village for Children, before beginning a 28-year career with Kaiser Permanente
.
, since the mid 1980s, Gagliardi has been a member of Spirit of Christ Catholic Church since 1989, where she frequently taught Sunday school
. After marrying Jack Gagliardi and having her third son, Sara Gagliardi served on boards and committees in Arvada such as the accountability committee at Vanderhoof Elementary, the parent advisory committee at Drake Middle School, and the Arvada High School
Boosters. She has been involved with education policy and has worked as a Cub Scout leader, a volunteer in the city, and as the chair of the Arvada Northwest Business and Professional Women's Committee. Gagliardi's joined the Service Employees International Union
Local 105 during her professional career with Kaiser, as SEIU represented 5,000 similar workers in that industry. Later in her time with Kaiser, Gagliardi worked as a union steward
for Local 105, monitoring and enforcing the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between the company and the workers.
's gubernatorial campaign in 1998 and as senate district coordinator for Colorado State Senator Sue Windels in 2000, before running for the State House herself unsuccessfully in 2002. She has also worked on Denver
and Arvada city council races, and campaigned for protecting or expanding education funding through Colorado's Amendment 23, and later Referenda C and D. Gagliardi was elected in 2006 and served four regular sessions, spanning the 66th and 67 General Assembly of the State of Colorado, from her swearing-in date in 2007 until her successor's in 2011.
Gagliardi has continued her employment as a nurse during her time at the Statehouse. As Colorado's General Assembly operates between the extremes of a "citizen legislature
" and a "professional legislature", a non-government job is often necessary to supplement the state's pay scale. Regular legislative sessions begin annually in January and constitutionally
, they must last no more than 120 days. Though some committees do work through the interim, the period from mid-May until December allows members to keep seasonal jobs. Kaiser allowed Gagliardi to take a five-month unpaid leave of absence each year to discharge her legislative duties with the understanding that she would return after the session. Through most of her time with the House of Representatives, Gagliardi worked in a Denver-area dermatology clinic, although in 2010 she was moved into the field of oncology
where she has remained through the entire campaign season and post-election until the present.
Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 8 bills in the House and 3 in the Senate during her first session.
Gagliardi's most high-profile bill during the 2007 session was also her most controversial. HB-1303 was a measure to create a statewide "no-junk-mail" registry, similar to the successful National Do Not Call Registry. After opposition by some Colorado businesses and the U.S. Postal Service,
the bill was killed in a House committee, at her request, to allow the measure to be revised and reintroduced in future sessions. Following the session, Gagliardi also joined an effort to deter purveyors of spam email
from operating in the state of Colorado.
Gagliardi also offered an amendment to the state budget to provide additional funding for veterans homes in Colorado, and was one of the few Democrats to vote against a plan pushed by Gov. Bill Ritter
to freeze property tax rates to provide additional public school funding. Rep. Gagliardi was also a co-sponsor of Senate bills to provide legal immunity to school staff who intervene to stop disruptive behavior, and an unsuccessful measure to revise rules regarding the expiration of frequent flier miles. Gagliardi sponsored a few health care measures which overlapped her personal experience, but most of her remaining bills were sunset reviews and statutory cleanup bills, as is common for incoming legislators who are learning legislative procedure.
Near the start of the 2007 legislative session, Gagliardi also adopted an "open door" policy for the Capitol and invited any resident of her district to visit her office at the Capitol or shadow her during floor and committee work. She developed email and print newsletters, similar to those offered by members of Congress, for distribution to her constituents each month during her time with the House of Representatives.
Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 7 bills in the House and she sponsored 5 from the Senate, in addition to numerous co-sponsorships. Gagliardi was joined in 2008 by chief of staff Ian Silverii, a Democrat
with experience in politics and education policy. In addition to her legislative duties, Gagliardi held a series of town hall style meetings on issues of importance to her district.
Gagliardi and Representative Mark Ferrandino
proposed the "American Dream Protection Act of 2008," which would have allowed judges to delay home foreclosure
s by 90 days, in response to the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis
which was affecting Colorado and the United States more generally. After encountering overwhelming legislative opposition to the bill, which was characterized in committee as being too drastic, the bill was amended to instead increase public outreach efforts to avoid foreclosures, and more stringent notification requirements for banks when foreclosing. The bill was eventually adopted by the General Assembly, and as signed into law by Governor Ritter, the measure required mortgage holders to provide 30 days' notice to homeowners before beginning foreclosure proceedings and provide them with contact information for the Colorado Foreclosure Prevention Hotline.
During the session, Gagliardi also sponsored legislation to expand funding for the Colorado Responds to Children with Special Needs (CRCSN) Program by increasing the cost of birth certificate
s by $0.75. This measure, once adopted, provided about $200,000 annually to the program which works to prevent birth defects and developmental disabilities, and supports those who suffer from these disabilities.
Gagliardi sponsored two measures to allow Medicaid reimbursements for services provided by advanced practice nurses in Colorado; both were passed into law and signed by Governor Ritter in March 2008. She also sponsored a successful bill to revise property tax
collection procedures in conjunction with tax increment financing
to give local governments more budgeting flexibility through the down economy.
In July, following the legislative session, Gagliardi announced a proposal to lower the age limit for blood donations to 16 throughout the state.
endorsed Gagliardi. Gagliardi was again joined by campaign manager Allen Weisheit, and as in previous elections, she was competing for a seat with voter registration numbers favoring Republicans; again her race was expected to be strongly contested. Gagliardi prevailed with just over 50 percent of the popular vote, some 1600 votes ahead of Bodnar; American Constitution Party
candidate Amanda Campbell took 4 percent of the vote.
. 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.
who had served on her staff since 2008. In addition to her committee positions through 2010, Gagliardi had also worked between 2009 and 2010 on a number of interim committees, the most important of which being the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction Task Force, headed by Representative John Kefalas
. Gagliardi's own experiences as a struggling single parent in the 1980s helped to drive her interest in the committee's work. Tasked with cutting the state's poverty rate in half in a decade, the committee's recommendations focused on providing social services that end cycles of poverty and providing broad economic opportunities to all who live in the state.
For a fourth year, Gagliardi continued to hold town hall meetings in Arvada every month on topics such as jobs legislation, alternative education and apprenticeships, the national economy, the state budget, education policy, and energy policy. She also hosted meetings with the Jefferson County
School Board, job fairs, and an informational meeting on starting a new business, as well as twice-monthly informal "constituent coffee" meetings at coffee shops in Arvada. Gagliardi and her staff also adopted a policy of responding individually to emails coming from any of the district's 78,500 people.
Working on the state's budget consumed much of the 2010 legislative session for most members. Colorado's projected budget shortfalls for the 2010-2011 fiscal year were substantial and obvious cuts had been made in years prior. All functions of state government had undergone cuts in previous sessions, but the ongoing reductions in state spending also threatened to defund numerous departments and functions of government. Gagliardi agreed with many additional cuts in the state's budget, but argued extensively against further reductions in spending for education, infrastructure, and "social safety net" programs. To prevent these cuts, she voted with many fellow Democrats to close tax loopholes and end certain business tax exemptions which altogether totaled more than $110,000,000 annually. Her support for these measures made her the target of attack ads and coordinated letters to the editor condemning her position as a violation of TABOR
and a tax hike during a recession.
Most of Gagliardi's measures were unrelated to the budget, however. Gagliardi sponsored an overhaul of the state's food stamp system, now known as SNAP
with centrist Jefferson County Republican Ken Summers
. The measure, House Bill 1022, underwent extensive revisions due to its contentious nature. As introduced, it would have expanded food stamp eligibility, removed an asset test, extended the certification period for food assistance, and created an outreach plan to pair private volunteer groups with the government in order to promote awareness of SNAP and to help counties deal with increased caseloads. Though the original bill proved monstrously expensive given the state's dire economic forecast, subsequent amendments brought costs under control while still preserving the core of the measure. After a lengthy period in negotiation, the measure was passed 52-10 in the House, and 22-12 in the Senate. Once signed into law, 1022 became the new backbone of Colorado's food assistance program.
Gagliardi also sponsored the Colorado Health Services Corps Act of 2010 which provides loan repayment assistance to medical professionals who agree to work in poor or underserved areas of the state. Among her other bills during the 2010 session, Gagliardi also sponsored a "sensible government" bill to help minors in the foster care system register for drivers education, a measure to allow doctors to override health insurance companies when chosing oncology medicines, and a measure to register surgical technologist
s following the Rose Medical Center Hepatitis C Incident of 2009.
Both Gagliardi and Republican challenger Libby Szabo engaged in extensive fundraising and spent similar amounts on their campaigns. Gagliardi's campaign relied heavily on face-to-face interaction, as it had in previous elections. By the end of October 2010, Gagliardi had visited 14,725 constituents at their homes, over 5,000 of which in 2010 alone. Though Gagliardi received many local endorsements, Szabo's endorsement by national Republican figures raised the race's publicity substantially. On October 15, The Denver Post
endorsed Szabo's bid for Colorado's 27th House District. Later the same day the Arvada Press
released their endorsements, and while they praised Gagliardi heavily for her constituent outreach, they endorsed Szabo's bid for "radical changes." Gagliardi's campaign continued to run on her record of legislative accomplishments, despite being hammered by attack ads from her opponent, all while 527 groups poured money into the district trying change the electoral outcome.
On Tuesday, November 2, 2010, Szabo defeated Gagliardi in a three-way race after emerging with 51% of all votes cast in Colorado's 27th House District.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. A career nurse, Gagliardi was first elected as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in 2006 to the Colorado House of Representatives. She represented House District 27, which encompasses most of Arvada, Colorado
Arvada, Colorado
The City of Arvada is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties in the Denver metropolitan area of the U.S. State of Colorado. Olde Town Arvada is located northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver...
, until her defeat in the 2010 election
United States elections, 2010
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were contested in this election along with 38 state and territorial...
by Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Libby Szabo. During her time with the House of Representatives, Gagliardi served as vice-chair for two legislative committees and successfully carried 22 bills into law, predominantly on health care, state services and education, and state fiscal issues.
Biography
Born in Estherville, IowaEstherville, Iowa
Estherville is a city in Emmet County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,360 in the 2010 census, a decline from 6,656 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Emmet County. Estherville is home to the main campus of Iowa Lakes Community College...
, Gagliardi graduated from high school in 1976 and attended Iowa Lakes Community College beginning in 1976, where she earned certification as a licensed practical nurse
Licensed Practical Nurse
Licensed practical nurse is the term used in much of the United States and most Canadian provinces to refer to a nurse who cares for "people who are sick, injured, convalescent, or disabled under the direction of registered nurses and physicians. The term licensed vocational nurses is used in...
, a certification which she holds to this day.
Gagliardi, at the time a single mother, worked full time as a surgical nurse in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the Emmetsburg Community Hospital (now the Palo Alto County Hospital). Gagliardi moved to Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
with her boys and worked for the The Children's Hospital in Denver. In 1982, she also worked for the Wallace Village for Children, before beginning a 28-year career with Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
.
Involvement in Arvada
A resident of Arvada, ColoradoArvada, Colorado
The City of Arvada is a Home Rule Municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties in the Denver metropolitan area of the U.S. State of Colorado. Olde Town Arvada is located northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver...
, since the mid 1980s, Gagliardi has been a member of Spirit of Christ Catholic Church since 1989, where she frequently taught Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
. After marrying Jack Gagliardi and having her third son, Sara Gagliardi served on boards and committees in Arvada such as the accountability committee at Vanderhoof Elementary, the parent advisory committee at Drake Middle School, and the Arvada High School
Arvada High School
Arvada High School is a public secondary school operated by Jefferson County School District R-1 in Arvada, Colorado, United States.-Demographics:Arvada High constitutes following racial demographics:-History:...
Boosters. She has been involved with education policy and has worked as a Cub Scout leader, a volunteer in the city, and as the chair of the Arvada Northwest Business and Professional Women's Committee. Gagliardi's joined the Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
Local 105 during her professional career with Kaiser, as SEIU represented 5,000 similar workers in that industry. Later in her time with Kaiser, Gagliardi worked as a union steward
Union steward
A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company, who represents and defends the interests of her/his fellow employees but who is also a labor union official...
for Local 105, monitoring and enforcing the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between the company and the workers.
Political and Professional Career
Gagliardi entered politics working with Colorado State Senator Martha Ezzard in petitioning for the extradition of convicted murder Daniel Arevalo She volunteered with Gail SchoettlerGail Schoettler
Gail S. Schoettler was the 44th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado from 1995 to 1999. She had previously served as Colorado State Treasurer from 1987 to 1995.-1998 Governor Race:...
's gubernatorial campaign in 1998 and as senate district coordinator for Colorado State Senator Sue Windels in 2000, before running for the State House herself unsuccessfully in 2002. She has also worked on Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
and Arvada city council races, and campaigned for protecting or expanding education funding through Colorado's Amendment 23, and later Referenda C and D. Gagliardi was elected in 2006 and served four regular sessions, spanning the 66th and 67 General Assembly of the State of Colorado, from her swearing-in date in 2007 until her successor's in 2011.
Gagliardi has continued her employment as a nurse during her time at the Statehouse. As Colorado's General Assembly operates between the extremes of a "citizen legislature
Citizen legislature
In the United States, a citizen legislature is one made up primarily of citizens who have a full-time occupation besides being a legislator. James Madison wrote that legislators should be "called for the most part from pursuits of a private nature and continued in appointment for a short period of...
" and a "professional legislature", a non-government job is often necessary to supplement the state's pay scale. Regular legislative sessions begin annually in January and constitutionally
Constitution of the State of Colorado
The Constitution of the State of Colorado is the foundation of the laws and government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The current, and only, Colorado State Constitution was drafted 1876-03-14, approved by Colorado voters 1876-07-01, and took effect upon the statehood of Colorado on 1876-08-01...
, they must last no more than 120 days. Though some committees do work through the interim, the period from mid-May until December allows members to keep seasonal jobs. Kaiser allowed Gagliardi to take a five-month unpaid leave of absence each year to discharge her legislative duties with the understanding that she would return after the session. Through most of her time with the House of Representatives, Gagliardi worked in a Denver-area dermatology clinic, although in 2010 she was moved into the field of oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
where she has remained through the entire campaign season and post-election until the present.
2006 election
In 2006, Gagliardi aided by campaign manager Allen Weisheit, faced incumbent Republican Representative Bill Crane, in a rematch of the 2002 legislative elections, in which Gagliardi had received 46% of the vote against Crane and Libertarian Gregg Miller. During her 2006 run, however, she was endorsed by the Denver Post, and, in an exceptionally close election which was not decided until provisional ballots were counted, Gagliardi eventually was declared the winner, having narrowly defeated Crane by 111 votes. This was less than one half of one percent of the total votes cast in the district. The race, being the narrowest legislative election in Colorado that year, set the stage for a series of close uphill elections for Gagliardi in a district with more registered Republicans than Democrats.2007 legislative session
In the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Gagliardi sat on the House Health and Human Services and the House Local Government Committee.Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 8 bills in the House and 3 in the Senate during her first session.
Gagliardi's most high-profile bill during the 2007 session was also her most controversial. HB-1303 was a measure to create a statewide "no-junk-mail" registry, similar to the successful National Do Not Call Registry. After opposition by some Colorado businesses and the U.S. Postal Service,
the bill was killed in a House committee, at her request, to allow the measure to be revised and reintroduced in future sessions. Following the session, Gagliardi also joined an effort to deter purveyors of spam email
E-mail spam
Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
from operating in the state of Colorado.
Gagliardi also offered an amendment to the state budget to provide additional funding for veterans homes in Colorado, and was one of the few Democrats to vote against a plan pushed by Gov. Bill Ritter
Bill Ritter (politician)
August William "Bill" Ritter is an American politician of the Democratic Party, and was the 41st Governor of the state of Colorado, from 2007 to 2011. Before his election in 2006, he served as the district attorney for Denver...
to freeze property tax rates to provide additional public school funding. Rep. Gagliardi was also a co-sponsor of Senate bills to provide legal immunity to school staff who intervene to stop disruptive behavior, and an unsuccessful measure to revise rules regarding the expiration of frequent flier miles. Gagliardi sponsored a few health care measures which overlapped her personal experience, but most of her remaining bills were sunset reviews and statutory cleanup bills, as is common for incoming legislators who are learning legislative procedure.
Near the start of the 2007 legislative session, Gagliardi also adopted an "open door" policy for the Capitol and invited any resident of her district to visit her office at the Capitol or shadow her during floor and committee work. She developed email and print newsletters, similar to those offered by members of Congress, for distribution to her constituents each month during her time with the House of Representatives.
2008 legislative session
In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Gagliardi returned to the committee assignments from the previous session, sitting on the House Health and Human Services and the House Local Government Committee.Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 7 bills in the House and she sponsored 5 from the Senate, in addition to numerous co-sponsorships. Gagliardi was joined in 2008 by chief of staff Ian Silverii, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
with experience in politics and education policy. In addition to her legislative duties, Gagliardi held a series of town hall style meetings on issues of importance to her district.
Gagliardi and Representative Mark Ferrandino
Mark Ferrandino
Mark Steven Ferrandino is a legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado and the Minority Leader of the Colorado House of Representatives. Appointed to the legislature in 2007, Ferrandino represents House District 2, encompassing south central Denver...
proposed the "American Dream Protection Act of 2008," which would have allowed judges to delay home foreclosure
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
s by 90 days, in response to the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....
which was affecting Colorado and the United States more generally. After encountering overwhelming legislative opposition to the bill, which was characterized in committee as being too drastic, the bill was amended to instead increase public outreach efforts to avoid foreclosures, and more stringent notification requirements for banks when foreclosing. The bill was eventually adopted by the General Assembly, and as signed into law by Governor Ritter, the measure required mortgage holders to provide 30 days' notice to homeowners before beginning foreclosure proceedings and provide them with contact information for the Colorado Foreclosure Prevention Hotline.
During the session, Gagliardi also sponsored legislation to expand funding for the Colorado Responds to Children with Special Needs (CRCSN) Program by increasing the cost of birth certificate
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
s by $0.75. This measure, once adopted, provided about $200,000 annually to the program which works to prevent birth defects and developmental disabilities, and supports those who suffer from these disabilities.
Gagliardi sponsored two measures to allow Medicaid reimbursements for services provided by advanced practice nurses in Colorado; both were passed into law and signed by Governor Ritter in March 2008. She also sponsored a successful bill to revise property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
collection procedures in conjunction with tax increment financing
Tax increment financing
Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is a public financing method which has been used as a subsidy for redevelopment and community improvement projects in many countries including the United States for more than 50 years...
to give local governments more budgeting flexibility through the down economy.
In July, following the legislative session, Gagliardi announced a proposal to lower the age limit for blood donations to 16 throughout the state.
2008 election
Gagliardi sought a second term in the legislature in the 2008 statewide elections, facing Republican John Bodnar whose bid to unseat Labuda was endorsed by the Denver Post; the Arvada PressArvada Press
The Arvada Press newspaper is delivered weekly, primarily by youth carriers, to 37,200 single-family households in Arvada, Colorado, USA. On May 5, 2005, the paper replaced the former Arvada Sentinel Newspaper....
endorsed Gagliardi. Gagliardi was again joined by campaign manager Allen Weisheit, and as in previous elections, she was competing for a seat with voter registration numbers favoring Republicans; again her race was expected to be strongly contested. Gagliardi prevailed with just over 50 percent of the popular vote, some 1600 votes ahead of Bodnar; American Constitution Party
American Constitution Party
The American Constitution Party was originally formed as the American Tax Payers Union in 1991. It is now the Colorado affiliate of the national party known as the Constitution Party and is based in Arvada...
candidate Amanda Campbell took 4 percent of the vote.
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 MiddletonKaren Middleton (Colorado legislator)
Karen Middleton is a legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. After a career as a development officer and project manager in the field of education, Middleton was appointed to the Colorado State Board of Education in 2004 and won election to a two-year term in 2006...
. 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
Spencer Swalm
In the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Swalm sat on the House Health and Human Services Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee...
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
Don Marostica
Don Marostica is a real estate developer and former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado, currently serving as director of the state's Office of Economic Development and International Trade....
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.
2010 legislative session
In January 2010, Gagliardi was named vice-chair of the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, replacing Rep. Ed Casso. Gagliardi was the only Sophomore legislator in the Colorado House to hold two vice-chair positions at the same time. For the 2010 legislative session, Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 8 bills originating in the House of Representatives and 12 additional measures originating the Senate, thus making it her most legislatively-productive session. Gagliardi was joined in 2010 by chief of staff Kevin J.D. Wilson, a political independentIndependent (voter)
An independent voter, those who register as an unaffiliated voter in the United States, is a voter of a democratic country who does not align him- or herself with a political party...
who had served on her staff since 2008. In addition to her committee positions through 2010, Gagliardi had also worked between 2009 and 2010 on a number of interim committees, the most important of which being the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction Task Force, headed by Representative John Kefalas
John Kefalas
John Michael Kefalas is a legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. An educator and lobbyist before first running for the legislature in 2004, Kefalas defeated a Republican incumbent to win election to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Democrat in 2006. He represents House District 52,...
. Gagliardi's own experiences as a struggling single parent in the 1980s helped to drive her interest in the committee's work. Tasked with cutting the state's poverty rate in half in a decade, the committee's recommendations focused on providing social services that end cycles of poverty and providing broad economic opportunities to all who live in the state.
For a fourth year, Gagliardi continued to hold town hall meetings in Arvada every month on topics such as jobs legislation, alternative education and apprenticeships, the national economy, the state budget, education policy, and energy policy. She also hosted meetings with the Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Colorado
Jefferson County , whose slogan is the "Gateway to the Rocky Mountains", is the fourth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. Located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Jefferson County is adjacent to the west side of the state capital, Denver....
School Board, job fairs, and an informational meeting on starting a new business, as well as twice-monthly informal "constituent coffee" meetings at coffee shops in Arvada. Gagliardi and her staff also adopted a policy of responding individually to emails coming from any of the district's 78,500 people.
Working on the state's budget consumed much of the 2010 legislative session for most members. Colorado's projected budget shortfalls for the 2010-2011 fiscal year were substantial and obvious cuts had been made in years prior. All functions of state government had undergone cuts in previous sessions, but the ongoing reductions in state spending also threatened to defund numerous departments and functions of government. Gagliardi agreed with many additional cuts in the state's budget, but argued extensively against further reductions in spending for education, infrastructure, and "social safety net" programs. To prevent these cuts, she voted with many fellow Democrats to close tax loopholes and end certain business tax exemptions which altogether totaled more than $110,000,000 annually. Her support for these measures made her the target of attack ads and coordinated letters to the editor condemning her position as a violation of TABOR
Taxpayer Bill of Rights
The Taxpayer Bill of Rights is a concept advocated by conservative and free market libertarian groups, primarily in the United States, as a way of limiting the growth of government...
and a tax hike during a recession.
Most of Gagliardi's measures were unrelated to the budget, however. Gagliardi sponsored an overhaul of the state's food stamp system, now known as SNAP
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people and families living in the U.S. Though the program is administered by the U.S. Department of...
with centrist Jefferson County Republican Ken Summers
Ken Summers (Colorado legislator)
-2006 election:Summers faced Democrat Jayson Haberkorn, an elementary school teacher, in the 2006 race for the 22nd house district seat. Summers was endorsed by the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post...
. The measure, House Bill 1022, underwent extensive revisions due to its contentious nature. As introduced, it would have expanded food stamp eligibility, removed an asset test, extended the certification period for food assistance, and created an outreach plan to pair private volunteer groups with the government in order to promote awareness of SNAP and to help counties deal with increased caseloads. Though the original bill proved monstrously expensive given the state's dire economic forecast, subsequent amendments brought costs under control while still preserving the core of the measure. After a lengthy period in negotiation, the measure was passed 52-10 in the House, and 22-12 in the Senate. Once signed into law, 1022 became the new backbone of Colorado's food assistance program.
Gagliardi also sponsored the Colorado Health Services Corps Act of 2010 which provides loan repayment assistance to medical professionals who agree to work in poor or underserved areas of the state. Among her other bills during the 2010 session, Gagliardi also sponsored a "sensible government" bill to help minors in the foster care system register for drivers education, a measure to allow doctors to override health insurance companies when chosing oncology medicines, and a measure to register surgical technologist
Surgical technologist
A surgical technologist, also called "scrub tech," "surgical technician," or "operating room technician", is an allied health professional working as a part of the team delivering surgical care in some countries. They possess knowledge and skills in sterile and aseptic techniques...
s following the Rose Medical Center Hepatitis C Incident of 2009.
2010 election
Arvada, which contained more registered Republicans than Democrats, was one area heavily targeted by Colorado Republicans hoping to make gains during the midterm 2010 legislative elections. Gagliardi was joined by campaign managers Allen Weisheit and Elliot Goldbaum and treasurer Dave Fischer as well as a sizable group of volunteers from Arvada.Both Gagliardi and Republican challenger Libby Szabo engaged in extensive fundraising and spent similar amounts on their campaigns. Gagliardi's campaign relied heavily on face-to-face interaction, as it had in previous elections. By the end of October 2010, Gagliardi had visited 14,725 constituents at their homes, over 5,000 of which in 2010 alone. Though Gagliardi received many local endorsements, Szabo's endorsement by national Republican figures raised the race's publicity substantially. On October 15, The Denver Post
The Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
endorsed Szabo's bid for Colorado's 27th House District. Later the same day the Arvada Press
Arvada Press
The Arvada Press newspaper is delivered weekly, primarily by youth carriers, to 37,200 single-family households in Arvada, Colorado, USA. On May 5, 2005, the paper replaced the former Arvada Sentinel Newspaper....
released their endorsements, and while they praised Gagliardi heavily for her constituent outreach, they endorsed Szabo's bid for "radical changes." Gagliardi's campaign continued to run on her record of legislative accomplishments, despite being hammered by attack ads from her opponent, all while 527 groups poured money into the district trying change the electoral outcome.
On Tuesday, November 2, 2010, Szabo defeated Gagliardi in a three-way race after emerging with 51% of all votes cast in Colorado's 27th House District.