 Penry also sponsored legislation to strengthen Colorado's education standards to better equip students to compete in a highly competitive global economic environment, and he initiated and negotiated a bi-partisan bill to invest growing federal mineral lease revenues into Colorado's colleges and universities.Penry was a principal supporter of 2008's Amendment 52, which would have directed mineral severance tax revenue away from water conservation projects to road building, but which failed at the polls.Penry has been at the center of numerous policy debates, including road and bridge funding initiatives, efforts to pass Jessica's Law and other tough penalties against sexual predators, the debate about natural gas drilling in Colorado, and a range of tax, fiscal and budget issues.