| Spencer Swalm | |
| Image Name: | Colorado-Rep-Spencer-Swalm.jpg |
| State House: | Colorado |
| State: | Colorado |
| District: | 37th |
| Term Start: | January 10, 2007 |
| Term End: | January 7, 2015 |
| Preceded: | Lauri Clapp |
| Succeeded: | Jack Tate |
| Spouse: | Marleen |
| Profession: | Insurance broker |
| Party: | Republican |
| Website: | http://www.spencerswalm.com/ |
Spencer Swalm is a former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. First elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Republican in 2006, Swalm represented House District 37, which encompasses the most of the city of Centennial, Colorado.[1] Term limited, he did not run for re-election in 2014, so his term ended in January 2015.[2]
Born in Colorado,[3] Swalm attended Colorado College before transferring to the University of Colorado at Boulder, graduating with a bachelor's degree in history[4] in 1975.[5] He then earned a J.D. from the University of Denver in 1979.[5]
After practicing law for over a decade,[5] specializing in estate planning,[4] Swalm entered the employee benefits and health insurance business in 1990 as a partner in Redstone Benefit Systems. He has served as the chair of the legislative committee of the Colorado State Association of Health Underwriters.[5]
In the early 1980s, Swalm began writing op-ed pieces opposing government transportation subsidies and joined the Independence Institute, a Colorado free-market think tank, eventually becoming a senior fellow.[4] He opposed the 2004 tax measure funding the FasTracks light rail expansion.[6] He has also served on the board of the Colorado Council on Economic Education. Politically, Swalm has been a member of the Colorado Republican Business Coalition, the Centennial Republican Forum, the Arapahoe County Republican Men's Club, and was treasurer for the Sixth Congressional District Republican Committee.[4]
Swalm is married; he and his wife, Marleen, have three children:[3] Byron, Lauren, and Jocelyn.[7] Swalm has taught Sunday school and served on the missions committee of his church, Grace Chapel, and has taken several missionary trips to the Amazon Basin in Bolivia.[5]
Swalm won election to Colorado's 37th House District in 2006. He faced Centennial Councilwoman Betty Ann Habig in the Republican primary, losing to her at the party assembly,[8] but defeating her in the party primary.[9] He then defeated Democrat Angela Engel with just over 51 percent of the vote.[1]
In the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Swalm sat on the House Health and Human Services Committee and the House Transportation and Energy Committee.[10] Swalm's father, Paul Swalm, had served on the Denver, Colorado city council and in the Colorado House of Representatives[4] in the 1970s, and Swalm was assigned the same seat in the house chamber as his father.[11]
That year, Swalm sponsored legislation that would require sex offenders to register their email addresses and other online identities with the state.[12] After being defeated in committee, the bill was resubmitted to apply only to sex offenders whose victims are children,[13] and was signed into law. He plans on submitting legislation to extend the program to all sex offenders in future sessions.[14]
Swalm also sponsored successful legislation designed to encourage Coloradans to purchase long term care insurance rather than relying on Medicaid, allowing Coloradans to participate in a federal long term care partnership program.[15]
Between legislative sessions, Swalm served on the interim Health Care Task Force[16] and on the Transportation Legislation Review Committee.[17]
For the 2008 legislative session, Swalm plans to sponsor a measure that would create a special pass to offset state park maintenance costs.[18] [19] As part of a set of Republican health care proposals, Swalm will sponsor legislation to create a low-cost state health insurance plan and to encourage tax breaks for individual health insurance.[20] He has also, working with Democratic Rep. Morgan Carroll, introduced legislation to extend a fund to provide financial assistance to military families.[21] [22] The bill was passed by the legislature and signed into the law by Gov. Bill Ritter.[23]
Swalm also introduced legislation to create the "Colorado Health Plan," a low-cost health insurance program to be run by the state,[24] but the proposal was killed in committee.[25] Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff has expressed interest in reviving the bill.[26] Swalm also reintroduced his bill to require sex offenders to register their email addresses, which was again killed in committee.[27]
Because of the closeness of Swalm's 2006 election in a traditionally Republican district, Democrats targeted Swalm's re-election bid in 2008. Swalm faces Diana Holland, a Democrat and Littleton School Board member,[28] and Constitution Party candidate Brian Olds in the November general election. Swalm's re-election bid was endorsed by the Denver Post.[29] He ultimately won with 51 percent of the popular vote, nearly 2000 votes ahead of Holland.[30]
For the 2009 legislative session, Swalm was named to seats on the House Finance Committee and the House Health and Human Services Committee.[31] Representative Swalm worked with centrist Democratic Representative Sara Gagliardi to promote a bipartisan measure lowering the age limit for blood donations to 16.[32]
Representative Swalm returned to the House Committee on Finance. He was also appointed as vice-chair of the newly renamed Economic & Business Development Committee.
In the 2012 General Election, Representative Swalm faced Democratic challenger Jan Spooner. Swalm was elected by a margin of 53% to 44% with third party candidates garnering the remainder of the vote.[33] [34]