Tuition Bill Clears Appropriations Committee

The controversial bill that would allow some children who unlawfully emigrated to the United States with their parents to pay in-state tuition at Colorado universities and colleges cleared a key procedural hurdle this morning.

SB 170 was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee and will now go to the floor.

The measure had been expected to run into trouble before the ten-member panel, as one of the six Democrats among the committee members said she would oppose it. But Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, was absent from the committee's meeting today and so the bill was cleared on a 5-4 vote. Democrat Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, joined the Republicans on the panel in opposition.