Scrivner Policy Roundtable

This roundtable focused on ranked choice voting and open primaries, both types of electoral reform gaining popularity around the country. Coloradans will have an opportunity to vote on these issues in November's election. Proposition 131 would eliminate single-party primaries and instead create an all-candidate primary for all voters. General elections would also switch to using a ranked-choice voting system, where voters rank candidates by preference and the least favored candidates are eliminated in rounds until one candidate has a majority.

The proposition would have big implications for elections moving forward and has many vocal supporters and opponents. This roundtable convened a panel discussion with those deeply familiar with the pros and cons of these reforms, followed by dynamic group discussions to understand the various dimensions of the proposition.

Pressing issues in agriculture and food production, both international and domestic, are receiving heightened attention in the shadow of economic uncertainties and climate change. In the US, many of these related issues are rolled every 5 years into what is known as ‘the Farm Bill’. The omnibus, multiyear farm bill addresses a range of critical issues relevant to Colorado farmers and ranchers, consumers, and the natural environment. From conservation subsidies that support rural livelihoods to food stamps that address urban hunger, from domestic supply chains to international trade and aid programs, the Farm Bill sets the course for US food and agricultural policies. With this omnibus legislation currently under difficult negotiation in Congress, this Roundtable examined the process, content, and significance of the bill, key ongoing debates, and how the bill can best help Colorado consumers, producers, and the environment.

The Denver Basic Income Project (DBIP) provides 12 months of direct cash assistance to 820 people experiencing homelessness in Denver. The DBIP theory of change acknowledges that individuals, regardless of their income or housing situation, know best how to meet their basic needs. By providing individuals experiencing homelessness with 12 months of unconditional cash transfers, these individuals will be able to make the choices they need to address their housing precarity. Interim results of DBIP are now available and a robust discussion is ensuing on the impact guaranteed income can have for people with limited financial resources. This presentation provided a description of DBIP and reviewed results from the interim report.

Despite a common value of using data to drive policy change, there is a known gap in making research evidence timely, relevant, and useful for decision-makers. Traditional ways of approaching rigor and research translation are falling short. The Colorado Lab presented on lessons learned from health, early childhood, and justice to illustrate actionable ways that researchers and evaluators can better align their evidence-building approaches with the needs and goals of policy decision-makers. In this session, we identified concrete methods to bridge the research to policy divide as we work together to improve the lives of Coloradans.  

While misinformation is not new, we are living in a moment where access to information has never been greater. And while this has presented us amazing opportunity as a society, it also comes with 21st century challenges such as threats to trust in information, science, institutions, and our democracy. The Institute for Science & Policy shared some of their work on engaging the public and community members on the topic of misinformation. They shared results from a from a series of events on the role that local journalism and communities can have in combatting misinformation and engaged the audience in a deliberative dialogue process.

The collection of quality, replicable data has largely been absent in relation to Colorado's aging community. As one of the fastest aging states in the country, this poses a significant problem for our state, and has been a roadblock to ensuring quality outcomes for older Coloradans. To fill this sizeable hole, the Bell Policy Center developed an inaugural State of Aging report to assess not only how older Coloradans are currently doing, but to provide information on both the systems supportive of these outcomes and indicators of future success. While capturing information about the present state of aging, this report also provides long-term value in creating a benchmark against which to measure future progress and change.

The Roundtable presenters were Common Sense Institute's 2021 Terry J. Stevinson Fellows, Evelyn Lim and Peter LiFari. With an influx in the Colorado population over the last twenty years, housing affordability has quickly become a pressing issue in many parts of the state. While this is not an issue unique to Colorado and its major urban areas, it remains an important issue to maintain Colorado's quality of life and economic competitiveness.