Colorado House District 12: Tracey Bernett

Oct. 16—Name: Tracey Bernett

Party: Democratic

Website: www.traceybernett.com

Age: 67

Family: Frank Bernett, husband of 38 years; two children, a daughter and a son.

How long have you lived in Boulder County: 26 years

Professional background: Computer industry consultant, various management and professional positions in the computer, aerospace/defense, energy and construction industries

Political/community experience: President of the Outreach United Resource Center board, chairman of the Butterfly Pavilion Board of Directors, vice chair of the Sustainable Resilient Longmont Board and member of the Rotary Club of Longmont.

Education: Bachelor of science in engineering, Cornell University; MBA, Harvard University.

According to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, Colorado teachers earn almost 36% less than other workers with college degrees, the widest such gap in the nation and a full 3 percentage points worse than the next closest state, Virginia. How would you help the state change this and boost salaries for Colorado educators?: Aside from ballot initiatives to reform or ideally eliminate (the) Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, the only way to increase teacher salaries is to find money from other sources or help schools save money. This year, the Colorado Legislature did both. Using federal stimulus funds, we paid down the Budget Stabilization Factor by $250 million — a full $100 million more than previous years. I passed a bipartisan bill that will save school districts significant time and money negotiating contracts for goods and services and will ensure those contracts abide by Colorado's student data privacy laws. My work on the Joint Technology Committee focuses on upgrading the state's aging computer systems, which will save significant money in the long run. Whether these actions will increase teacher salaries will be determined by local school districts, which set their own budgets. I will continue to work on creative ways to help our schools and teachers get resources they need.

Do you have any thoughts on how Boulder County and the state can lessen the amount of crime they are experiencing due to the backlog of cases the courts are facing, which is also being compounded by the jail's previous arrest protocol that was put in place during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic?: For years, Colorado has woefully underinvested in mental health care, jail diversion strategies for people with mental health and substance abuse issues, reducing recidivism and affordable housing. The pandemic exacerbated these issues. This year, we spent more than $800 million of federal stimulus funds tackling these issues, increasing mental health and substance abuse services, affordable housing and other priorities. I've passed multiple bills to help low-income residents save on utility costs and foster affordable rental housing developments. On JTC, I approved a $33 million project to enable remote court hearings, making it easier for participants to attend court proceedings to help reduce the backlog of court cases. I will continue to focus on these strategies going forward.

What programs would you support Colorado exploring and implementing to address the frequent wildfires occurring in the wildland-urban interface?: The Marshall Fire — my district — demonstrated there is no longer a "wildfire season" and that no one is immune from climate-induced wildfires. We passed many bipartisan bills this year addressing forest management, wildfire mitigation, insurance reform, watershed protection, firefighting equipment and support for firefighters — plus one of my bills that improves our emergency radio communications system. We need to enact a statewide building fire code, so that communities are better protected from future wildfires.

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