Lesley Smith is an at-large University of Colorado regent. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1980 with a degree in aquatic biology and later earned a doctorate at the University of Maryland. She was the first woman aquanaut in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s underwater research lab, where she lived underwater and conducted research on coral reefs, according to her website.
She came to Boulder in 1989 for a fellowship with CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES). From 2005 to 2013, she served on the Boulder Valley School District’s Board of Education. She also served as a volunteer on the city’s Water Resources Advisory Committee following the 2013 floods.
Her major endorsers include Congressman Joe Neguse, House Speaker Julie McCluskie, Majority Leader Monica Duran, Senate President Steve Fenberg and Mayor Aaron Brockett.
Her opponent in the Democratic primary is Max Woodfin.
Why are you running for the state legislature?
I had intended to run for re-election as CU Regent. I love CU and have a 35-year association with the university as a scientist and regent. However, I started contemplating running for HD-49 in fall 2022 because the southwest was in a crippling drought, the Colorado River was at record low flows, and there wasn’t certainty that the water levels were high enough to produce electricity. My research focused on water, and I served on the city’s Water Resources Advisory Board (WRAB) after the great flood of 2013. I began speaking with legislators, community leaders and friends about running because of my scientific background and I was met with great enthusiasm. I jumped into the race over a year ago and have spent considerable time learning about the issues facing HD-49 to formulate my platform.
What distinguishes you from your primary opponent?
I have a long record of public service to my community. I served eight years on the Boulder Valley School District school board, five years on the WRAB, and I’m in my sixth year as CU Regent at-Large. Through nearly 20 years of service, I have developed a deep understanding of governance, which is the development and oversight of policies, similar to what the legislature does. I have a 40-plus career as a scientist, specifically focusing on water and greenhouse gas emissions from wetland systems. I can lend my expertise in both public education and water issues to the State House. Plus, as a scientist, I take a data-based approach to problem solving, gather data from myriad sources and carefully weigh the pros and cons while keeping my constituents’ concerns in mind in my decision-making process. HD-49 is quite large (western Boulder and Larimer counties, and Clear Creek and Gilpin counties), and I have over 100 endorsements from former and current elected officials from across HD-49 and the state.
The issue of homelessness played a central role in Boulder’s municipal election in 2023. Yet, homelessness is influenced by factors outside a city’s control, such as the high cost of living and lack of mental health treatment capacity. What would you do at the state level to address homelessness in cities like Boulder?
Boulder has a home rule charter, meaning the city has more control over matters of local significance. Consequently, there’s a tricky balance between local and state control on these significant issues. The state must do something to address the appalling lack of funding for mental health care — we rank near the bottom of the barrel compared to the rest of the U.S. In Boulder County and across the state, inmates with mental illness, many of whom are homeless, are languishing in jails because there’s a backlog of mental competency evaluations due to bed shortages at the state hospitals. The state must expand the number of beds at the state mental hospitals for competency evaluations and to treat those with critical mental illness. I would like to see earnest discussions of building a tiered mental health treatment facility similar to the one Larimer County recently built, but this would be at the county level. I am pleased that the legislature broke up SB23-213 into smaller chunks last session. I like where they landed on building denser housing along major transportation routes, as I believe this is a good model for building housing that can be environmentally friendly. I would like to see improved public transportation options along these routes to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home. As pointed out in the question, homelessness is a complex issue and requires a multi-pronged approach to solve. The state can only do so much to solve this issue. Housing, along with a continuum of mental health care and addiction recovery services access, is the only way our unhoused neighbors will successfully transition to being housed. The city and county play a key role in solving this issue as well.
In the 2023 city election, Boulder elected its mayor using a form of ranked-choice voting. Proponents of this voting method want to extend it to elect candidates for the Boulder City Council. They argue that to do this, state lawmakers must mandate the Colorado Secretary of State to establish new regulations enabling the city and county to conduct elections using a multi-winner form of ranked-choice voting. Would you support such legislation? Why or why not?
As a former school board member, I know that this state is a strong local control state. I think local municipalities should be able to make their own decision on how they want their local elections to run. I would strongly support this legislation. The one caveat I have is that the citizens of Boulder must be allowed to vote on whether or not they want to use ranked-choice voting for the election of all city council members. We had a ballot measure in 2020 to decide if we wanted to use this method to elect our current mayor. The measure passed with 78% support; I assume there would be a similar outcome if we had another ballot measure pertaining to all city council member elections.
Earlier this year, lawmakers passed the “just cause” eviction bill, marking a significant legal change in renters’ rights. Some lawmakers want to further these protections by repealing a Colorado law that prohibits cities like Boulder from capping rent increases, a measure they believe would improve housing affordability. What are your thoughts on repealing this law?
I have long wondered why the legislature has not passed a law that allows municipalities to decide whether they want to have rent control. Again, this is a local control issue. Not every city will want rent control, but the choice should be local, not controlled by the state. I am originally from Los Angeles, and both Santa Monica and Venice Beach have had rent control for decades as one way to increase the affordable housing stock. Both these cities are thriving, and I have had several friends who lived in these communities because of caps on rent. Like ranked-choice voting for city council members, Boulder should have a chance to decide whether we want rent control or not.
Last session, lawmakers introduced a bill that would have required state regulators to stop issuing new oil and gas drilling permits by 2030, in line with global commitments to zero out fossil fuel emissions responsible for global warming by midcentury. Gov. Jared Polis and many Democratic legislators were skeptical of the bill, and it was ultimately voted down in committee. What are your thoughts on restricting oil and gas drilling in Colorado for climate and public health reasons?
We must transition to a 100% clean energy economy as soon as we can to stop the devastating effects of climate change. However, I’m keenly aware that we don’t want to shock the state’s economy, and we must protect workers and communities that rely on the fossil fuel industry. Change is hard, and we must develop robust plans for this transition to help settle the angst it’s creating for some. I would like to see a multi-pronged plan that includes the following:
1.) Strictly clamp down now on methane emissions from fossil fuel activities and orphan wells.
2.) Bring new clean energy technologies online. I am excited Governor Polis recently approved large grants to explore the use of geothermal energy to add to our solar and wind power portfolio. The more clean energy sources we have in our toolbox, the easier the transition will be.
3.) Exponentially expand the infrastructure that supports the transportation of clean energy and make it more resilient to climate change by undergrounding power lines. SB24-218, Modernize Energy Distribution Systems, will help with this.
4.) Retool workers to provide them the skills that will allow them to continue having well-paying jobs. Some trades, like the pipefitters, should be able to transition their work from extracting and transporting oil and gas to transporting energy created by geothermal and green hydrogen technologies. The state is moving rapidly toward a clean energy economy. I would be open to stop issuing all oil and gas permits as soon as feasible, perhaps in the next 10 years.