Emily Sirota represents House District 9 in the Colorado Legislature as a social worker and proud progressive Democrat with years of experience working in government and in the southeast Denver community. Before her election to the Colorado House of Representatives, Emily helped run an early learning center in Denver. She received her B.A. in Political Science at Indiana University and received her Master of Social Work from the University of Denver. Emily has previously worked for the Colorado Progressive Coalition and helped organize support for paid sick days. In 2011, she ran for the Denver school board to protect public education. Emily also served as a policy aide to a Democratic U.S. Senator, a Democratic congressman, and a Democratic governor. In those roles, she worked on health care and budget policy and helped oversee a program to expand health care benefits for workers and small businesses.
HB20-1336 passed both the House and Senate unanimously, creating a statewide requirement to teach the lessons of the Holocaust and genocide to Colorado public school students.
By confronting our past and educating future generations,
we can impart the value of human rights for all people.
HB20-1053 enacts sweeping reform to early childhood programs in Colorado. This new law will enhance workforce development in early childhood, establish a mental health consultation program for early childhood learning across the state of Colorado, one which will reap benefits for our youngest Coloradans and our educators for decades to come.
As the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on Colorado's state budget --- and by extension, the state's schools, roads, and public services --- every additional dollar we can find will help our state weather this crisis. HB20-1420 helps fund Colorado K-12 education and gives relief to working families by cutting special interest tax breaks and allocating over $96 million toward public education and toward expanding Colorado's Earned Income Tax Credit.
Emily has a long record of advocacy for public education. She champions initiatives to make education more affordable and equitable, and that focus resources on our neighborhood schools.
Emily also supports the goal of free tuition for in-state students at public colleges and universities, as well as increased funding for the Colorado K-12 education system. Emily also introduced HB19-1249, a bill to ensure that schools contracting with professional services are following safe contracting rules, and that barring contractors with a history of unfair labor practices.
Emily is a champion of campaign finance reform -- she rejects corporate PAC money and has testified at the Colorado capitol for stronger campaign finance laws. Her first bill to pass as an elected Representative was HB19-1007, Contribution Limits for County Offices - which places reasonable limits on county elections which previously had no limits at all.
The other major success of the 2019 session was Emily's sponsoring of the National Popular Vote Compact (SB19-042) - an interstate agreement to award electoral college votes for the Presidency to the winner of the national popular vote. Emily will continue to push for a stronger, more vibrant democracy, and fight against the corrupting influence of money in our elections.
As the consequences of climate change continue to affect Colorado's weather, air quality, public health, and economic growth, Representative Sirota understands why we need to take action to preserve our environment and our Colorado way of life.
So far, she is sponsoring HB19-1188 to give legislators the tools they need to evaluate greenhouse gas pollution for all bills that pass through the legislature. Emily is also a strong believer in local control, and she will fight for new laws that will empower local Colorado communities to more stringently regulate oil and gas development within their midst.
Emily is a strong supporter of creating a single-payer Medicare-for-All system in Colorado. That's why she passed HB19-1176 - the Heath Care Cost Savings Act of 2019, which commissioned a task force to determine how much Colorado pays for care and how much Colorado could save by transitioning to health care for all systems. The taskforce produced a report that showed a universal, single payer system can cover more people for less money than our current system.
In 2022, Emily passed legislation to lower prescription drug prices in Colorado and to prevent insurance companies from interfering in the doctor - patient relationship for step therapy.
​Emily serves as Vice Chair of the House Public & Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee and serves on the Health & Insurance Committee.
As a legislator, Emily will fight for new laws that ban gun sales to people on the no-fly list as well as to violent felons -- including people convicted on domestic violence charges.
She will also fight for laws that mandate universal background checks and prohibit bump stocks and large capacity ammunition magazines. And she will work to stop efforts by the NRA and Colorado Republicans to rollback our existing gun safety laws.
Emily fought for new laws giving workers paid sick and family leave and to crack down on wage theft. She also supports legislation that is designed to strengthen the collective bargaining rights of public and private sector workers, and that will prevent persecution against workers who form unions.
Because of her pro-worker agenda, Emily has been endorsed by the Colorado AFL-CIO, the Communications Workers of America, SEIU Local 105, and Colorado WINS.
HB22-1295 formed a new state Department of Early Childhood and established the Colorado Universal Preschool Program, which will provide at least 10 hours of free preschool per week to any Colorado family who wants it for their 4-year-old.
HB22-1370 set new requirements with health insurance companies for step therapy, prescription drug rebates and midyear cost increases to protect consumers and ensure you are benefiting from the cost-savings, not big insurance.
HB20-1336 requires Holocaust & Genocide education as a requirement for high school graduation. Local districts will implement their own curriculum and courses, in line with state standards established by the state board of education.