Chris Romer (born 1959) is a former American politician from the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. Elected to the
Colorado State Senate
The Colorado Senate is the upper house of the Colorado General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Colorado. It is composed of 35 members elected from single-member districts, with each district having a population of about 123,0 ...
as a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
in 2006, he represented
Senate District 32, which encompasses south
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
As of 2022, Romer is the
CEO of Project Canary, an independent certification organization that measures, tracks, and delivers
ESG ESG may refer to :
Groups
* Election Support Group, an internationally sponsored organization analyzing and supporting the electoral process in Pakistan
* ES Guelma, an Algerian football club based in Guelma
* Escuela Superior de Guerra (Argenti ...
data across the energy value chain.
On November 30, 2010, Romer announced his candidacy for
Mayor of Denver
This is a list of mayors of Denver, the capital and largest city of the state of Colorado. Mayors of Denver can serve three four-year terms.https://www.westword.com/news/denver-term-limit-mayor-colorado-voters-15109617
List
References
{{ ...
.
He then resigned from the state senate, and, after qualifying for the runoff election, lost the race to
Michael Hancock.
Biography
Born in Denver, the son of former Colorado governor
Roy Romer
Roy Rudolf Romer (born October 31, 1928) is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Colorado from 1987 to 1999, and subsequently as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2000 to 2006.
Family and e ...
,
Romer graduated from
Graland
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
Country Day School and Denver's
East High School and then attended
Stanford University, earning a bachelor's degree in
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
.
Romer has helped to build several public-private mission-driven B-Corp companies, including
Guild Education and Project Canary. Project Canary is a B-Corp with a mission to help the oil and gas industry reduce methane leaks and reduce its climate impact. Previously he worked as a financial consultant focusing on biomass energy plants and transit development projects such as Denver Union Station. Romer has worked as a
public finance
Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achiev ...
banker with
JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...
,
working on public projects including the
Denver International Airport,
Children's Hospital
A children's hospital is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In certain special cases, they may also treat adults. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th ...
, the
Denver Center for the Performing Arts
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, acting classes for the communi ...
,
National Jewish Medical and Research Center and
FasTracks.
In late 2008, Romer left his position at JPMorgan Chase to work with the Knowledge is Power Program, a Denver network of
charter schools.
He was named the group's president in December 2008.
[
]
At the age of 28, Romer founded the Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation,
a non-profit providing mentoring and scholarships to at-risk children; he has also served as its president.
He has chaired the
Colorado Children's Campaign
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
and served on the boards of the
Denver School of Science and Technology
DSST Public Schools (DSST), formerly known as the Denver School of Science and Technology, is a public charter STEM network comprising 16 schools on eight campuses in Denver and Aurora, Colorado, United States, in partnership with Denver Public S ...
, the
Metropolitan State College of Denver
Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver or Metro State) is a public university in Denver, Colorado. MSU Denver is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver, in d ...
Foundation, and Open World Learning, as well as Denver's New America Schools,
where he spent two years as a volunteer superintendent.
He was also a founder and president of
Great Education Colorado
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
which advocates for improved funding of Colorado schools and promotes education reform; in 2006, the group proposed an increase in
severance tax
Severance taxes are taxes imposed on the removal of natural resources within a taxing jurisdiction. Severance taxes are most commonly imposed in oil producing states within the United States. Resources that typically incur severance taxes when e ...
es provide funding for
public schools, but the measure was never placed on the statewide ballot.
[ ] Romer was also a leader behind Colorado's
Amendment 23, a ballot measure approved by voters in 2000 which guarantees state funding levels for Colorado public schools,
and a member of the
Colorado Supreme Court
The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices.
Powers and duties
Appellate jurisdiction
Discretionary appeals
The Court ...
Nominating Commission.
In 2019, Romer founded
Project Canary a public benefit corporation working to change the course of climate change by cutting methane emissions and providing engineering-based certifications and high-fidelity continuous monitoring.
Legislative career
2006 election
Romer faced two other candidates for the Democratic Party nomination for the state senate — community activist Jennifer Mello and Rep.
Fran Coleman. Romer emphasized his financial and budgetary expertise in the contest,
ultimately prevailing over both opponents in the historically Democratic district.
In the general election, Romer won election to represent the 32nd Senate District, defeating
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Dave Lewis with 70 percent of the popular vote.
In December 2006, outgoing Rep.
Dan Grossman resigned from the legislature slightly before the end of his term because of newly enacted ethics laws. Instead of appointing Romer to the remainder of Grossman's term, Gov.
Bill Owens appointed
Donna R. Johnson, Grossman's long-time legislative aide, to the remaining month of the Senate term. Romer supported her brief appointment as a state senator and was sworn in himself on January 10, 2007.
One of Romer's daughters is
Rachel Romer Carlson, the founder and CEO of
Guild Education.
2007 legislative session
In the 2007 session of the General Assembly, Romer served on the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and was vice-chairman of the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee.
During the session, Romer was also named the chair of a select Senate committee on renewable energy.
During the 2007 legislative session, Romer introduced a proposal to sell operations of the
Colorado Lottery
The Colorado Lottery is run by the state government of Colorado. It is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association(MUSL).
The Colorado Lottery began on January 24, 1983, initially selling only scratch tickets. Its first drawing took place on ...
to a private firm in order to raise funds for public schools.
The proposal would have been referred to Colorado voters in a statewide ballot measure, and would have used the proceeds from the sale to endow a trust fund to support college scholarships, public schools, state parks, and veteran's services.
After facing criticism on legal grounds, and from Governor
Bill Ritter, who had offered a competing proposal for school funding, Romer pulled the measure from consideration.
Romer also introduced a measure to require that Colorado high school students demonstrate English competency as a requirement for graduation. Garnering support largely from Republicans, the measure passed the state senate,
but was voted down in a house committee due to concern over mandating requirements upon local school districts.
Romer also joined Republicans in supporting a measure to enact statewide science and math standards,
and introduced a measure that created a pilot
dual enrollment In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university cours ...
program for Colorado students.
Although Romer made a number of proposals to amend the state budget, only one — a requirement that private prison operators provide information on cost breakdowns — was adopted.
Following the regular session, Romer served on the legislature's interim committee on allocation of
severance tax
Severance taxes are taxes imposed on the removal of natural resources within a taxing jurisdiction. Severance taxes are most commonly imposed in oil producing states within the United States. Resources that typically incur severance taxes when e ...
and federal mineral lease revenues.
2008 legislative session
In the 2008 session of the General Assembly, Romer served on the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee, and was vice-chair of both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee.
During the 2008 session, Romer floated a proposal to charge a toll
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...
users traveling to mountain ski resorts during weekend
rush hours as a way of reducing congestion; the proposal garnered a strong negative reaction and competing suggestions from members of the public. In response to the feedback, Romer proposed a mechanism for citizen participation in a collaborative online bill-drafting process, declaring "I want to have the first
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
bill, where the citizens write the bill."
Romer proceeded to create a website using
Google Groups
Google Groups is a service from Google that provides discussion groups for people sharing common interests. The Groups service also provides a gateway to Usenet newsgroups via a shared user interface.
Google Groups became operational in Febru ...
Fix I-70 Now , Google Groups
/ref> to solicit public comment and proposals; he later introduced a bill based in part of suggestions received online. The proposal would charge tolls to low-occupancy vehicles during peak hours, and create reversible HOV
A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, i ...
lanes. The bill was denounced by legislators representing the I-70 mountain corridor, and was defeated in a house committee. Romer then offered his support to a competing proposal to charge $5 tolls along I-70, which ultimately died for lack of support.
Romer also planned on sponsoring legislation to educate consumers on scam
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers hav ...
s, to create statewide high school graduation standards, to allow homeowners to collect rainwater for irrigation, and to eliminate CSAP
The Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) was an assessment required by the No Child Left Behind Act administered by the Unit of Student Assessment in the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). The CSAP was designed to measure how well stud ...
testing for high school students.[ ] Romer was also the senate sponsor of a proposal to increase severance tax
Severance taxes are taxes imposed on the removal of natural resources within a taxing jurisdiction. Severance taxes are most commonly imposed in oil producing states within the United States. Resources that typically incur severance taxes when e ...
es to provide additional funding for higher education, and sponsored a successful bill creating the Colorado Clean Energy Finance Program to provide below-market rate loans to homeowners for energy efficiency
Energy efficiency may refer to:
* Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process
** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed
** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...
projects.
In the contested 2008 Democratic presidential primaries
From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Democratic Party chose their nominee for president in the 2008 United States presidential election. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was selected as the nominee, becoming the first African Ame ...
, Romer supported Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
.
2009 legislative session
For the 2009 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Romer was named to seats on the Senate Transportation Committee and the Senate Education Committee, where he served as vice-chair.
After several deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...
in his district, Romer pressed for quick consideration of a bill to require carbon monoxide detector
A carbon monoxide detector or CO detector is a device that detects the presence of the carbon monoxide (CO) gas to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. In the late 1990s Underwriters Laboratories changed the definition of a single station CO de ...
s in new homes at the start of the 2009 session; Romer was the bill's Senate co-sponsor. Romer also floated a proposal to alter the inflation formula used to allocate money to education under Colorado's Amendment 23, in order to increase the legislature's flexibility in allocating funds.
Romer introduced legislation changing taxi cab regulations, attempting to increase competition by shifting burden of proof onto parties opposing new cabs. The bill had bi-partisan support.
As part of a comprehensive education package, Romer sponsored Senate Bill 256 which overhauls the state’s education system by rewarding student and teacher performance. Romer remarked, “I think you will hear about this around the country. This is a good move for Colorado and is a big, big deal”.
A bill introduced by Romer to allow in-state tuition to immigrant children, after being amended to become effective upon passage of the federal DREAM Act, failed in the Senate.
2010 legislative session
In the 2010 session of the General Assembly, Romer served on the Senate Business, Labor and Technology committee, the Senate Health and Human Services committee, and the Senate Local Government & Energy committee.
During the 2010 session, Romer introduced legislation that would provide tax credits to businesses who re-hire laid-off workers. According to the bill’s note, 7,300 workers would be rehired sooner because of the incentives provided.
Romer introduced Senate Bill 109, the first regulatory medical marijuana bill in the country, stating “I think this is the beginning of the end of the Wild West”. After some heated controversy, Romer helped negotiate a compromise in the legislature, and the Bill was signed into law on June 7, 2010.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romer, Chris
Living people
Democratic Party Colorado state senators
Politicians from Denver
Stanford University alumni
1959 births
21st-century American politicians
Candidates in the 2011 United States elections