Bio

State Representative John Kefalas (D-Larimer) represents House District 52.

Representative John Kefalas is serving his second term for House District 52 and is a member of the Appropriations Committee, the Health and Human Services Committee, and the Finance Committee.

Rep. Kefalas is very committed to being an open, honest and accessible citizen legislator. He also strongly believes in creating opportunities for meaningful civic engagement and deliberative democracy, which is why he has conducted numerous town hall meetings, issues forums and community conversations since being first elected to public office in 2006.

Rep. Kefalas focuses on health care, environmental protection and child support. In 2007 he passed HB-1026, which provides more affordable health insurance options to Colorado State University graduate students; HB-1131, which improves patient safety and quality for kidney dialysis patients; HB-1220, which makes it easier for government agencies to purchase environmentally friendly products; and HB-1349 that improves and streamlines child support enforcement.

In the 2008 legislative session, Rep. Kefalas once again advocated for college students, sponsoring SB-73, the College Textbook Affordability Act. He also led the charge for HB-1161, which establishes strong ground water protection and public health standards for in-situ leach uranium mining. He continued work to improve health care quality by passing HB-1075 that allows Ambulatory Surgery Centers to establish professional peer review committees.  And he carried bills to restore the state Earned Income Tax Credit and create the Colorado Housing Investment Fund.  He passed HB-1378 to allow local governments to conduct ranked voting elections and HB-1342 to continue improving our child support enforcement systems.

In the 2009 legislative session, Rep. Kefalas sponsored the Colorado Innovation Investment Tax Credit.  The bill, which had strong bi-partisan support, encourages angel investors to provide seed capital to start-up technology-based companies to advance innovation and create good jobs.  He also sponsored legislation that created the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force to craft a comprehensive strategy for cutting our state's poverty rate in half within a decade while fostering a strong and sustainable economy that works for everyone.  He worked hard on the Colorado Guaranteed Health Care Act to streamline our state's health care delivery and financing system. This measure came to within one vote of passing the House of Representatives.  The legislation focused on guaranteeing access to care while lowering overall costs and improving quality.

Rep. Kefalas is currently chairing the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force, an interim committee charged with developing and implementing a strategic and comprehensive plan to reduce child and family poverty in half by 2019. He also serves on Governor Ritter's Community and Interagency Council on Homelessness and is on the board of Embrace Colorado, a local organization that facilitates a regional quality of life visioning process. In the past, Rep. Kefalas has served on the boards of or worked with such groups as the Colorado Housing Investment Fund Coalition, Governor Owens' Task Force on Welfare Reform, Martinez Park Neighborhood Association, the Colorado Children's Campaign, the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, and the Colorado Progressive Coalition. In 2007, he also started the Common Good Legislative Caucus focused on building a fair and sustainable economy.

Rep. Kefalas has been involved in local, national and international peace, justice and environmental work for 30 years. He joined the Peace Corps in 1979 as an Agricultural Extensionist in El Salvador. He also visited Nicaragua with Witness for Peace, worked in Chiapas, Mexico and participated in a delegation to Israel/Palestine.
Rep. Kefalas is a 1978 graduate of CSU and has a Masters of Art in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He was a teacher in the Poudre School District, a migrant health outreach worker for Larimer County, an employment and training counselor for Larimer County and an advisor for Project Self-Sufficiency of Loveland-Fort Collins. He worked with Catholic Charities as a public policy advocate and community development coordinator for seven years.

Rep. Kefalas has been married for 28 years and has two sons and two granddaughters. His younger son, Tim, graduated from CSU in 2008. Harlan is a married father serving in the US Army. He served in Iraq from 2004-2005 and completed a 15-month deployment in Afghanistan in July 2008. Rep. Kefalas' wife, Beth, works as the Music and Worship Assistant at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Collins.