[2] According to The Denver Post, Penry played a leadership role in opposing regulation for the oil and gas industry and a labor bill.

[12] In his first term, Penry sponsored and won passage for the "Colorado Water for the 21st Century Act", legislation designed to minimize water-resource fights.

[13] Penry's bill, signed into law in June 2005, created roundtables for each river basin to assess and address regional water needs.

[15] Penry also sponsored legislation to strengthen Colorado's education standards to better equip students to compete in a highly competitive global economic environment,[16] and he initiated and negotiated a bi-partisan bill to invest growing federal mineral lease revenues into Colorado's colleges and universities.

[17] 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.