Velma Donahue was going through the worst week of her life. Her husband Cody, a Colorado State Patrol trooper, was killed in a crash along I-25. The day before his funeral, she took her daughter to the doctor and was told she didn’t have health insurance. 

According to current Colorado law, insurance benefits for families of a state employee who is killed on the job expire on the first day of the next month. For Velma, that was six days after her husband died. 

“Let me bury my husband before I have to go through forms and forms and forms of information, and explaining why I need insurance again, and telling them, 'Yes I’m a new widow,'” she told Denver7. 

That’s why she is the spokesperson for a new bill introduced at the state Capitol that would extend the insurance benefits for families of state workers who are killed on the job. This includes Colorado State Patrol, the state Department of Corrections, CDOT, and more. The bill is Senate Bill 148.