[5][6] She has also worked as a public relations consultant,[7] and, at the time of her election to the legislature, was senior development director for the National Guard Association of Colorado.
[3] Nikkel has also served on the State Commission on Judicial Performance,[8] the Larimer County Youth Services Advisory Board[9] and has written a regular editorial column for the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
[10] Nikkel is a past member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and has served as Colorado state leader.
Nikkel was appointed to the vacant seat over Windsor resident Ray Walter by a vote of 8–2 of a Republican party vacancy committee on January 17.
Rep. Nikkel was also appointed to serve on the Joint Select Committee on Child Welfare as a result of children dying while in the care of the state and was charged with investigating these tragic deaths in a series of special hearings.
A Windsor Beacon editorial called her a "breath of fresh air" and cited her accomplishment as a freshman in the minority party as being "pretty impressive when you consider that Nikkel just began her State House career in January without being elected.
Nikkel's broad success and ability to build consensus as a freshman legislator in the minority party has been widely acclaimed.
[19] It would have made it a crime for counselors at youth detention facilities to ignore abuse allegations and for administrators to alter reports.
The bill was fought by the Colorado Department of Human Services which oversees youth corrections and was killed in committee.
[23] In addition, she became even more well known because of her vote to pass the civil unions bill out of Judiciary Committee so it could be heard by the entire House of Representatives.
This bill funds and will create Readiness Centers for the Colorado National Guard in Windsor, Grand Junction and Alamosa.
Commercial real estate brokers who have difficulty collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars of fees owed to them.
The bill gives the ability to file liens on properties after multiple attempts at recovery and mediation occur.
SB10-41 Technical Modifications to Statutory Provisions of Campaign Finance - The bill harmonizes legislation and cleans up language in a bill passed in 2009 and conforms the registration requirements for issue committees involved in recall elections to the requirements of other types of issue committees for campaign finance reporting purposes.
She ran unopposed for the position and helped lead the legislative agenda for the House Republican Majority.
In 2011 she sponsored legislation putting the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT) expenditures and revenues online.
While supporting civil unions, she acknowledged the importance of protecting the Colorado Constitutional Amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
[26] Nikkel's attempt to put Department of Higher Education information online failed, along with roughly 30 other measures, when a partisan impasse arose regarding the civil unions bill and the Republican Speaker, Frank McNulty, allowed all pending legislation to die so as to prevent debate on the bill.
It reversed legislation exacted in 1993 which gave district attorneys sole power and discretion to charge youth as adults.
Nikkel's bill took away that sole discretion and instead required that youth get a hearing so that "judicial review" and "due process" occurred.
HB12-1146 - Dropout Recovery Act - allowed the use of district monies that already exist to pay for a program to help high school dropouts between ages 17–21, or those at risk of dropping out, to enroll in a program at a local community college where they can get their diploma and concurrently enroll in college classes.
SB12-46 - Discipline in Public Schools - As a result of the findings of the task force from SB11-133 which included teachers, school administrators, law enforcement, restorative justice experts, counselors and legislators, this bill revamped the policies in Colorado where teachers were required to implement zero tolerance policies which over-criminalized Colorado youth.
It would have required institutions of higher learning to post information online regarding their expenditure and revenue data.
[33][34] In 2013, Nikkel was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.