| Stella Garza-Hicks | |
| State House: | Colorado |
| District: | 17th |
| Term Start: | January 10, 2007 |
| Term End: | January 7, 2009[1] |
| Predecessor: | Mark Cloer |
| Successor: | Dennis Apuan |
| Birth Place: | Kress, Texas, U.S. |
| Spouse: | Ray |
| Profession: | Cosmetologist, Salesperson |
| Party: | Republican |
Stella Garza-Hicks (born 1953) is a former Republican legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado.
A former cosmetologist and salesperson, Garza-Hicks became active in Republican Party activism in Colorado Springs, Colorado and rose to become a district chairperson and campaign manager for local candidates. A legislative aide to Rep. Mark Cloer, Garza-Hicks was appointed to Cloer's seat in the Colorado House of Representatives when he resigned unexpectedly in 2006.
As a legislator, Garza-Hicks represented House District 17, which included southern Colorado Springs and the Fort Carson military base.[2] She served one term in office, during which she look largely mainstream Republican positions and sponsored relatively little legislation. She did not stand for re-election in 2008 but remains involved in Colorado Republican Party politics.
Born in Kress, Texas,[3] Garza-Hicks dropped out of high school in the ninth grade to become a cosmetologist, moving to Colorado in the 1970s[4] with her first husband, a soldier stationed at Fort Carson. After divorcing her first husband, whom she describes as an alcoholic, Hicks remarried;[5] she has four children —Lisa, Frank, Jestifer, and Kelly[6] — through ex husband but they were later adopted by her current husband Ray Hicks, and worked as a vacuum cleaner salesperson before leaving work to become a homemaker.
Garza-Hicks became involved in politics after a conversation with former state representative Barbara Phillips. An active member of the El Paso County, Colorado Republican Party, Garza-Hicks belongs to the El Paso County Republican Women's Club, the Pikes Peak Republican Club, the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition, the National Rifle Association of America, and is a legislative member of the Civil Air Patrol. She has managed the political campaigns of Harrison District 2 School Board member Linda Pugh and Colorado State Representative Mark Cloer, in addition to serving as Cloer's legislative aide.
Garza-Hicks served as the Republican district chairperson for Colorado House District 17 for six years,[7] a seat to which Rep. Mark Cloer was re-elected in the Colorado House of Representatives in 2006. However, instead of serving out what would have been his fourth term in the state legislature, Cloer resigned only a few weeks after his re-election, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.[8] Nominated for the position by Cloer himself, Garza-Hicks was unanimously appointed to his seat by a Republican vacancy committee, and was sworn in on January 10, 2007, with the rest of the incoming legislative class.[9] Garza-Hicks, who speaks Spanish, was one of the few Hispanic women in the Colorado legislature.
| Bills Introduced in 2007 by Rep. Garza-Hicks (for which Rep. Garza-Hicks is the primary originating sponsor) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| BILL | TITLE | OUTCOME | |
| HB07-1365 | Concerning the inclusion of the Colorado Consortium for Earth and Space Science Education in the definition of a Public Employees' Retirement Association employer. | Signed by Gov. Ritter | |
During the 2007 legislative session, Garza-Hicks served on the House Services Committee and the House Local Government Committee.[10]
Garza-Hicks maintained a low profile for most of her first term in the legislature, first speaking in House floor debate two months into the legislative session.[11] After being criticized by news media for not being the primary sponsor of any legislation, she introduced a late bill to allow members of the Colorado Consortium for Earth and Space Science Education to receive state retirement benefits, as well as a nonbinding resolution honoring Colorado soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.[12] Both were passed by the legislature; the resolution honoring fallen soldiers was marked in the General Assembly by a ceremony, including the playing of taps in the legislative chambers.[13] Garza-Hicks also increased her co-sponsorship of legislation from co-sponsoring only one bill at the midpoint of the 2007 legislative session to co-sponsoring over 150 bills by the session's end.
For her voting record during the 2007 legislative session, Garza-Hicks earned a 64% rating from the fiscally conservative Colorado Union of Taxpayers,[14] a 60% rating from the environmentally-oriented Colorado Conservation Voters,[15] and a 42% rating from the American Civil Liberties Union;[16] each rating placed Garza-Hicks near the middle of the range of Republican legislators.
Following the regular session, Garza-Hicks was appointed by Attorney General John Suthers to the state Methamphetamine Task Force,[17] and served on the legislature's Police Officers' and Firefighters' Pension Reform Commission.[18]
In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Hicks sat on the House Health and Human Services Committee, and the House Local Government Committee.[19] She sponsored legislation to create a special license plate recognizing the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division,[20] the first military unit to be honored with a special plate in Colorado.[21] She was also a primary sponsor of the bipartisan resolution to recognize Military and Veterans Appreciation Day.[22] Another of Garza-Hicks' bills addressed expedited extension of police wiretaps for surveillance purposes. The measure initially passed both houses of the legislature with different limits on potential extensions.[23] After being reconciled to allow three month-long extensions of wiretaps, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter.[24]
Although interest group ratings from groups including the Colorado Union of Taxpayers,[25] Colorado Conservation Voters,[26] and the American Civil Liberties Union[27] again placed Garza-Hicks solidly within the main body of Republican lawmakers in Colorado, Garza-Hicks was one of only a few Republicans to publicly back a measure introduced by Speaker Andrew Romanoff to reform spending requirements in Colorado's state constitution by diverting excess revenues under TABOR to K-12 education.[28]
Garza-Hicks announced in October 2007 that she would not seek re-election in 2008, citing health issues within her own family, but she did not rule out a future run for public office.[29] Republicans Kit Roupe and Sheila Hicks (no relation to Garza-Hicks) declared their candidacies for the open seat,[30] but the general election was narrowly won by progressive activist and Democrat Dennis Apuan, who defeated Roupe to win the only Democratic takeover of a Republican-held seat in the 2008 legislative elections in Colorado.[31]
While a member of the legislature in 2007, Garza-Hicks was appointed to the War on Terror Fallen Heroes Memorial Commission, which was charged with selecting a design for a memorial to soldiers killed in U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was elected vice-chair at the commission's first meeting; however, after the chairman, former Rep. Rafael Gallegos, left the legislature, the group did not meet again, and Gallegos could not be located. In April 2009, Garza-Hicks expressed a desire that the panel continue its work, but, as vice-chair, stated that she did not have the authority to reconvene it.[32]
In December 2009, Garza-Hicks was announced as a member of county-level leadership for Jane Norton's campaign for the U.S. Senate seat held by Michael Bennet.[33]