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

My Climate Journey

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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