Today's guest is Senator Stephen Fenberg, a Democrat who serves as state Senator in the 18th District in Colorado where he's served since 2017. He also serves as the Senate Majority Leader.

A few years after graduating from CU, Senator Fenberg founded New Era Colorado, a nonprofit organization dedicated engaging, educating, and training young people in the political process. The organization has registered hundreds of thousands of young people to vote in Colorado and successfully passed several pieces of legislation related to election reform, student debt, and climate.

He has also served on the Board of Directors for ProgressNow, One Colorado Political Committee, and INVST Community Studies as well as the Boulder Housing Working Group and the city of Boulder Capital Improvement Taskforce. Senator Fenberg now serves as an Advisory Board member for the dZi Foundation, an international nonprofit providing development work in remote areas of Nepal.

Senator Fenberg is part-owner of the Bread Bar, a cocktail bar in the historic town of Silver Plume. Bread Bar resides at the site of a historic bakery from the 1800's.

In today’s episode, we cover:

Senator Fenberg’s history prior to holding office
New Era Colorado, a nonprofit organization founded by Senator Fenberg, dedicated to engaging, educating, and training young people in the political process
His decision to run for office and why
His early work in office to gain Democratic majority
His assessment of the state of the Federal government, and the role of the states
How he thinks about the climate problem
His assessment of Republicans and the climate change problem
Importance of going after coal plants
One benefit of regulated monopoly utility
How to not just get policy done, but durable policy
What the oil and gas industry wants
Senator Fenberg’s advice to those that want to help
His advice for the future incoming President in 2021
How Senator Fenberg is thinking about his future

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Senator Fenberg: https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/stephen-fenberg
New Era Colorado: https://neweracolorado.org/
Joe Neguse: https://neguse.house.gov/
Leslie Herod: https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/leslie-herod
Lisa Kaufmann: https://www.denverpost.com/2018/11/09/jared-polis-chief-staff-lisa-kaufmann/
Xcel Energy: https://www.xcelenergy.com/
Senate bill 181: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/environment_energy_resources/publications/trends/2019-2020/november-december-2019/senate-bill/

Enjoy the show!

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Ep 71: Stephen Fenberg, State Senator for Colorado's 18th District

Inevitable