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State Representative Ed Casso, a Commerce City Democrat, laments that as each year passes the memories of those who fell during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks seem to fade. As he tells The Los Angeles Times, “every year there’s a little less feeling.”
So last week, Casso introduced a bill that would make 9/11 a state holiday, a trend this year among lawmakers around the nation. The idea is more controversial than it sounds.
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Even New York, which suffered the worst casualties, has balked at creating a state holiday because of the costs associated with giving so many workers another paid day off. The estimated price tag in Colorado would be $3 million at a time when the state is grappling with steep budget cuts.
One idea to salvage the plan, floated elsewhere in the nation, is to swap Columbus Day as a holiday for 9/11. For an idea of how the holiday might play out, look to Peabody, Massachusetts, where folks are clamoring over a holiday for police and budget problems (via The Boston Globe).