Democrats Vow To Protect Jobs, Focus On Job Creation

DENVER (CBS4)- Democratic state lawmakers vow to work with their counterparts during the 2012 legislative session. Wednesday was the opening day of the session at the state Capitol in Denver.

State Senator Linda Newell, a Democrat representing Littleton, said lawmakers have a lot of work to do this session. She also hopes everyone will work together, especially on key issues like business and job creation.

"I come from business and there is no partisanship in business. We don't even know each others' political parties, so it's natural for me. I don't only reach across the aisle I practically live in the aisle sometimes. So I think you are going to see some bipartisanship," said Newell.

"During the interim the Senate Democrats have been working not only on job creation, but also retention, making sure that we're retaining the businesses that we do have, we're supporting them and making sure we can help them expand.

"The Senate Democrats have a jobs package this year. I am working on a couple of bills with the governor, with the business community and with my Republican friends across the aisle," said Newell.

A key industry that will be in the spotlight is film production. Newell hopes to bring back the business of movie making to Colorado, which has a vast landscape that is attractive to many production companies.

"One is in film production. We've lost over the last few years, competing with other states, we've lost some of the film production in this state. We're working on that to bring that back, to make sure we get those jobs back as well as the tourism dollars that go along with that part of it," said Newell. "We're working also on the Colorado Blueprint, retaining and then expanding the businesses that we do have."

Newell also talked about making some severe cuts in the state budget. She feels some areas will be targeted once again.

"It is another tough year. We are better off than some other states. We did as much as we could to protect education as we did last year, but we're still going to see some heavy lifting," said Newell.