2006 election In 2006, Gagliardi aided by campaign manager
Allen Weisheit, faced incumbent Republican Representative
Bill Crane, in a rematch of the 2002 legislative elections, in which Gagliardi had received 46% of the vote against Crane and Libertarian Gregg Miller. Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 8 bills in the House and 3 in the Senate during her first session. She developed email and print newsletters, similar to those offered by members of Congress, for distribution to her constituents each month during her time with the House of Representatives.
2008 legislative session In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly, Gagliardi returned to the committee assignments from the previous session, sitting on the House Health and Human Services and the House Local Government Committee. Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 7 bills in the House and she sponsored 5 from the Senate, in addition to numerous co-sponsorships. Gagliardi and Representative
Mark Ferrandino proposed the "American Dream Protection Act of 2008," which would have allowed judges to delay home
foreclosures by 90 days, in response to the ongoing
subprime mortgage crisis which was affecting Colorado and the United States more generally. This measure, once adopted, provided about $200,000 annually to the program which works to prevent birth defects and developmental disabilities, and supports those who suffer from these disabilities. Gagliardi sponsored two measures to allow
Medicaid reimbursements for services provided by
advanced practice nurses in Colorado; both were passed into law and signed by Governor Ritter in March 2008. She also sponsored a successful bill to revise
property tax collection procedures in conjunction with
tax increment financing to give local governments more budgeting flexibility through the down economy. In July, following the legislative session, Gagliardi announced a proposal to lower the age limit for
blood donations to 16 throughout the state.
2008 election Gagliardi sought a second term in the legislature in the 2008 statewide elections, facing Republican John Bodnar whose bid to unseat Labuda was endorsed by the
Denver Post; the
Arvada Press endorsed Gagliardi. Gagliardi was again joined by campaign manager
Allen Weisheit, and as in previous elections, she was competing for a seat with voter registration numbers favoring Republicans; again her race was expected to be strongly contested. Gagliardi prevailed with just over 50 percent of the popular vote, some 1600 votes ahead of Bodnar;
American Constitution Party candidate Amanda Campbell took 4 percent of the vote.
2009 legislative session For the 2009 legislative session, Gagliardi was named to a seat on the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee and as vice-chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Following her re-election, Gagliardi was also nominated for the post of House Majority Caucus Chair, but the post ultimately went to Representative
Karen Middleton. Representative Gagliardi was the prime sponsor of 5 bills in the House of Representatives and 7 bills in the Colorado State Senate, in addition to co-sponsoring many other bills and resolutions. In addition to working on lower-profile issues during the 2009 session, Gagliardi sponsored a bipartisan measure to lower the age limit for
blood donations to 16. The measure was crafted through collaboration between Gagliardi, Bonfils Blood Center, and Connor Randall, a high school student from Arvada and two-time heart transplant recipient. The three stakeholders recognized that blood donations could be increased by as much as 35% if the donation age were lowered with parental consent. Gagliardi, being vice chair of Health and Human Services and a nurse, introduced the bill and co-prime sponsored the measure together with
Republican Representative Spencer Swalm to showcase the bipartisan nature of the bill. Representative Swalm, a frequent donor to Bonfils and advocate for organ and tissue donation helped lobby the measure among the Republican caucus. Gagliardi leaned on her experience as a nurse in a series of letters to the editor and opinion pieces advocating for the change and encouraging Coloradans to donate blood. The bill passed and was subsequently signed into law on March 19, 2009. Gagliardi also carried a bipartisan measure with Republican Senator
Don Marostica which created the Colorado Credit Reserve Program. The program leveraged $2.5 million of state funds to provide between $50 – $55 million in loans for small businesses in the state of Colorado. The bill required a large fiscal investment up-front, but will cost the state very little, even in a worst-case situation. The bill was particularly necessary during the early stages of the recession, as credit markets were inaccessible to many businesses, yet the bill's impact has continued. As of October 2010, the measure had opened credit to 167 businesses, allowed for the creation of 1,100 jobs, and become a source of net income for the state of Colorado.
2010 legislative session In January 2010, Gagliardi was named vice-chair of the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee, replacing Rep.
Ed Casso. Gagliardi was the only Sophomore legislator in the Colorado House to hold two vice-chair positions at the same time. For the 2010 legislative session, Gagliardi was the prime sponsor for 8 bills originating in the House of Representatives and 12 additional measures originating the Senate, thus making it her most legislatively-productive session. In addition to her committee positions through 2010, Gagliardi had also worked between 2009 and 2010 on a number of interim committees, the most important of which being the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction Task Force, headed by Representative
John Kefalas. Gagliardi's own experiences as a struggling single parent in the 1980s helped to drive her interest in the committee's work. Tasked with cutting the state's poverty rate in half in a decade, the committee's recommendations focused on providing social services that end cycles of poverty and providing broad economic opportunities to all who live in the state. She also hosted meetings with the
Jefferson County School Board, job fairs, and an informational meeting on starting a new business, as well as twice-monthly informal "constituent coffee" meetings at coffee shops in Arvada. Working on the state's budget consumed much of the 2010 legislative session for most members. Colorado's projected budget shortfalls for the 2010-2011 fiscal year were substantial and obvious cuts had been made in years prior. All functions of state government had undergone cuts in previous sessions, but the ongoing reductions in state spending also threatened to defund numerous departments and functions of government. Gagliardi agreed with many additional cuts in the state's budget, but argued extensively against further reductions in spending for education, infrastructure, and "
social safety net" programs. To prevent these cuts, she voted with many fellow Democrats to close tax loopholes and end certain business tax exemptions which altogether totaled more than $110,000,000 annually. Her support for these measures made her the target of attack ads and coordinated letters to the editor condemning her position as a violation of
TABOR and a tax hike during a recession. Most of Gagliardi's measures were unrelated to the budget, however. Gagliardi sponsored an overhaul of the state's food stamp system, now known as
SNAP with centrist Jefferson County Republican
Ken Summers. The measure, House Bill 1022, underwent extensive revisions due to its contentious nature. As introduced, it would have expanded food stamp eligibility, removed an asset test, extended the certification period for food assistance, and created an outreach plan to pair private volunteer groups with the government in order to promote awareness of SNAP and to help counties deal with increased caseloads. Though the original bill proved monstrously expensive given the state's dire economic forecast, subsequent amendments brought costs under control while still preserving the core of the measure. After a lengthy period in negotiation, the measure was passed 52-10 in the House, and 22-12 in the Senate. Once signed into law, 1022 became the new backbone of Colorado's food assistance program. Gagliardi also sponsored the Colorado Health Services Corps Act of 2010 which provides loan repayment assistance to medical professionals who agree to work in poor or underserved areas of the state. Among her other bills during the 2010 session, Gagliardi also sponsored a "sensible government" bill to help minors in the foster care system register for drivers education, a measure to allow doctors to override health insurance companies when choosing oncology medicines, and a measure to register
surgical technologists following the
Rose Medical Center Hepatitis C Incident of 2009.
2010 election Arvada, which contained more registered Republicans than Democrats, was one area heavily targeted by Colorado Republicans hoping to make gains during the midterm 2010 legislative elections. Gagliardi was joined by campaign managers
Allen Weisheit and
Elliot Goldbaum and treasurer Dave Fischer as well as a sizable group of volunteers from Arvada. Both Gagliardi and Republican challenger
Libby Szabo engaged in extensive fundraising and spent similar amounts on their campaigns. Gagliardi's campaign relied heavily on face-to-face interaction, as it had in previous elections. By the end of October 2010, Gagliardi had visited 14,725 constituents at their homes, over 5,000 of which in 2010 alone. Though Gagliardi received many local endorsements, Szabo's endorsement by national Republican figures raised the race's publicity substantially. On October 15,
The Denver Post endorsed Szabo's bid for Colorado's 27th House District. Later the same day the
Arvada Press released their endorsements, and while they praised Gagliardi heavily for her constituent outreach, they endorsed Szabo's bid for "radical changes." Gagliardi's campaign continued to run on her record of legislative accomplishments, despite being hammered by attack ads from her opponent, all while
527 groups poured money into the district trying change the electoral outcome. On Tuesday, November 2, 2010, Szabo defeated Gagliardi in a three-way race after emerging with 51% of all votes cast in Colorado's 27th House District. ==Life after politics==