38 Facts About Sara Gagliardi

Sara Elizabeth Gagliardi was born on March 9,1958 and was a legislator in the US state of Colorado.

Sara Gagliardi represented House District 27, which encompasses most of Arvada, Colorado, until her defeat in the 2010 election by Republican Libby Szabo.

Sara Gagliardi moved to Colorado with her boys and worked for the Children's Hospital in Denver.

Sara Gagliardi has been involved with education policy and has worked as a Cub Scout leader, a volunteer in the city, and as the chair of the Arvada Northwest Business and Professional Women's Committee.

Sara Gagliardi's joined the Service Employees International Union Local 105 during her professional career with Kaiser, as SEIU represented 5,000 similar workers in that industry.

Later in her time with Kaiser, Sara Gagliardi worked as a union steward for Local 105, monitoring and enforcing the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between the company and the workers.

Sara Gagliardi entered politics working with Colorado State Senator Martha Ezzard in petitioning for the extradition of convicted murderer Daniel Arevalo.

Sara Gagliardi volunteered with Gail Schoettler's gubernatorial campaign in 1998 and as senate district coordinator for Colorado State Senator Sue Windels in 2000, before running for the State House herself unsuccessfully in 2002.

Sara Gagliardi has worked on Denver and Arvada city council races, and campaigned for protecting or expanding education funding through Colorado's Amendment 23, and later Referenda C and D Gagliardi was elected in 2006 and served four regular sessions, spanning the 66th and 67 General Assembly of the State of Colorado, from her swearing-in date in 2007 until her successor's in 2011.

Sara Gagliardi has continued her employment as a nurse during her time at the statehouse.

Kaiser allowed Sara Gagliardi to take a five-month unpaid leave of absence each year to discharge her legislative duties with the understanding that she would return after the session.

Sara Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 8 bills in the House and 3 in the Senate during her first session.

Sara Gagliardi offered an amendment to the state budget to provide additional funding for veterans homes in Colorado, and was one of the few Democrats to vote against a plan pushed by Gov.

Sara Gagliardi was a co-sponsor of Senate bills to provide legal immunity to school staff who intervene to stop disruptive behavior, and an unsuccessful measure to revise rules regarding the expiration of frequent flier miles.

Sara Gagliardi sponsored a few health care measures which overlapped her personal experience, but most of her remaining bills were sunset reviews and statutory cleanup bills, as is common for incoming legislators who are learning legislative procedure.

Sara Gagliardi developed email and print newsletters, similar to those offered by members of Congress, for distribution to her constituents each month during her time with the House of Representatives.

Sara Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 7 bills in the House and she sponsored 5 from the Senate, in addition to numerous co-sponsorships.

Sara Gagliardi was joined in 2008 by chief of staff Ian Silverii, a Democrat with experience in politics and education policy.

Sara Gagliardi sponsored two measures to allow Medicaid reimbursements for services provided by advanced practice nurses in Colorado; both were passed into law and signed by Governor Ritter in March 2008.

Sara Gagliardi sponsored a successful bill to revise property tax collection procedures in conjunction with tax increment financing to give local governments more budgeting flexibility through the down economy.

Sara Gagliardi sought a second term in the legislature in the 2008 statewide elections, facing Republican John Bodnar whose bid to unseat Labuda was endorsed by the Denver Post; the Arvada Press endorsed Sara Gagliardi.

Sara Gagliardi was again joined by campaign manager Allen Weisheit, and as in previous elections, she was competing for a seat with voter registration numbers favoring Republicans; again her race was expected to be strongly contested.

Sara Gagliardi prevailed with just over 50 percent of the popular vote, some 1600 votes ahead of Bodnar; American Constitution Party candidate Amanda Campbell took 4 percent of the vote.

Representative Sara Gagliardi was the prime sponsor of 5 bills in the House of Representatives and 7 bills in the Colorado State Senate, in addition to co-sponsoring many other bills and resolutions.

Sara Gagliardi carried House Bill 1331 in 2009 which created tax credits for the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles in the state of Colorado.

Sara Gagliardi, being vice chair of Health and Human Services and a nurse, introduced the bill and co-prime sponsored the measure together with Republican Representative Spencer Swalm to showcase the bipartisan nature of the bill.

Sara Gagliardi leaned on her experience as a nurse in a series of letters to the editor and opinion pieces advocating for the change and encouraging Coloradans to donate blood.

Sara Gagliardi carried a bipartisan measure with Republican Senator Don Marostica which created the Colorado Credit Reserve Program.

In January 2010, Sara Gagliardi was named vice-chair of the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, replacing Rep.

Sara Gagliardi was the only Sophomore legislator in the Colorado House to hold two vice-chair positions at the same time.

Sara Gagliardi was joined in 2010 by chief of staff Kevin JD Wilson, a political independent who had served on her staff since 2008.

Sara Gagliardi hosted meetings with the Jefferson County School Board, job fairs, and an informational meeting on starting a new business, as well as twice-monthly informal "constituent coffee" meetings at coffee shops in Arvada.

Sara Gagliardi agreed with many additional cuts in the state's budget, but argued extensively against further reductions in spending for education, infrastructure, and "social safety net" programs.

Sara Gagliardi sponsored an overhaul of the state's food stamp system, now known as SNAP with centrist Jefferson County Republican Ken Summers.

Sara Gagliardi sponsored the Colorado Health Services Corps Act of 2010 which provides loan repayment assistance to medical professionals who agree to work in poor or underserved areas of the state.

Sara Gagliardi was joined by campaign managers Allen Weisheit and Elliot Goldbaum and treasurer Dave Fischer as well as a sizable group of volunteers from Arvada.

Sara Gagliardi's campaign relied heavily on face-to-face interaction, as it had in previous elections.

Sara Gagliardi has remained involved in Colorado politics, writing opinion pieces on public health and paid sick days, as well as periodically working with state legislators.