Three Takeaways From Our Interview With Speaker Of The House Crisanta Duran

Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran is heading into her final legislative session as a lawmaker. She talked to statehouse reporter Bente Birkeland about her goals when the session starts up on Jan. 10.

Here are some highlights from statehouse reporter Bente Birkeland's interview with her.

On what she hopes to accomplish:

Rep. Crisanta Duran: "We are going to be focusing on the struggles of hard working Coloradans. It's great to be from Colorado. We have one of the strongest economies in the nation. But we also know that there are a lot of people who are responsible and working hard and doing everything they can, but still aren't getting ahead. So we want to address some of the affordability issues head on as it relates to the high cost of housing and high cost of child care."

On the focus on consumer protection for her caucus this next session:

Duran: "To ensure that Coloradans' data can be protected, and also thinking about student loans — to ensure there is adequate protections for students who obtain them. Right now we are seeing there are some irresponsible corporations where there has been breeches of Coloradans' data, so we want to do more to make sure that Coloradans have access to adequate protections and we're looking at a variety of measures on that front."

On how a new HR person and a review of policies can improve working at the Capitol:

Duran: "It is crucial that we take these issues very seriously and we make sure we are addressing them for the next generation of leaders who want to be able to succeed."

Capitol Coverage is a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.