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POLICY UPDATES AND EDUCATIONAL ARTICLES TO HELP ORGANIZATIONS THRIVE
 Introduction
It’s The Final Countdown! The end of this week brings us to the 108th day of the 2025 session. And inexplicably both chambers are not planning on working this weekend. That means when everyone gets back to the Capitol on Monday there will only be 10 days left. So the final countdown is now truly upon us. Hopefully you clicked that link and are getting pumped up because those final 10 days will be the equivalent of the Rocky 4 training montage in the snow and the fight against Ivan Drago. Just 10 days to get a whole lot of work done… Expect some very long nights, working all next weekend, and of course a knockout at the end. But remember, in this strained analogy we are Rocky Balboa not Apollo Creed. Now that you’re pumped up for the final big fight, here’s some news to know from the Capitol this week. Final Budget Chaos and Correction On Monday, the final version of the budget passed both chambers… but the House wasn’t ready for the budget fun to end just yet. On Wednesday, the House killed an orbital bill, Senate Bill 268, which put the budget out of balance by $30 million – much to the dismay of the JBC. Senate Bill 268 took $30 million from the marijuana tax cash fund in order to balance the budget, but progressive members from the House argued for restoring that funding by killing the orbital bill to prevent the cancellation of the transfer included in the bill. This put a $30 million dollar hole in the already balanced budget, and JBC members quickly pushed for procedural action to reconsider the bill, which required a two-thirds vote from the House. JBC members explained to their fellow House colleagues that if the bill wasn’t reconsidered, it would erase the legislative set aside that had been left for bills this year to make up for it, and threatened to not convene House and Senate Appropriations committees until the issue was resolved. After a long afternoon of budget turmoil, a motion to reconsider the bill was granted after receiving just over the required votes for two-thirds approval. On the final vote, 11 Democrats who had originally voted against the bill switched to yes votes, and the bill passed on a vote of 39-25. Read more – Colorado House puts state's balanced budget in limbo after surprise vote creates $30 million hole Vetoes & Potential Overrides Last week, we mentioned a potential veto override on Senate Bill 77, which deals with the Colorado Open Records Act and was vetoed by Governor Polis. While the possibility of a veto override for Senate Bill 77 is still on the table, votes are still being counted whether this is a viable option and it’s unclear whether two-thirds of both chambers would vote to override Governor Polis when it comes to the Open Records Act. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 86 seems to be on a different path, at least for now. The bill requires social media companies operating in Colorado to remove accounts that are flagged to be engaging in illegal activity, which sponsors have indicated is intended to protect users who are minors. Although Gov. Polis vetoed this bill yesterday, the bill’s sponsors quickly turned out 29 votes to override the veto this morning – well over the two-thirds requirement. With that, Senate Bill 86 will head over the House for consideration of a veto override, also with the two-thirds requirement. The House is expected to take this up on Monday. Read more – Colorado Senate overrides Jared Polis’ veto of bill regulating social media in extremely rare rebuke of governor Another Fight For Two-Thirds On Thursday, the Senate rejected a proposal to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot, which also requires a vote of two-thirds, for the second year in a row. Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 would have placed a question on the November ballot to ask voters to allow lawmakers to pass legislation that would enable victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil claims against past abusers and enabling institutions. This was also proposed last year, but again, required a two-thirds vote from the Senate. With 23 Democrats and 12 Republicans on the Senate side, the resolution’s sponsors fell short by one vote of the two-thirds threshold last year, and again this year. The resolution failed on a party-line vote of 23-12. The proposal comes from a Colorado Supreme Court decision in 2023, which overturned a 2021 law which created a three-year window for people to take legal action against abusers over decades-old abuse and led to a significant increase in lawsuits. Read more – Colorado Senate rejects childhood sex abuse amendment — again. Advocates hope to put it on ballot anyway. Company Threatening To Leave The State Over A Bill On Wednesday, Uber announced that it will pull operations from Colorado if House Bill 1291, a bill aimed at safety for rideshare users, is passed and becomes law. The bill was brought by Representative Jenny Willford, who came forward earlier this year sharing her story of being sexually assaulted while using a rideshare service. Opposition to the bill has expressed several concerns including liability issues related to drivers offering food and drink to passengers, as well as requirements around reimbursement by companies to drivers who purchase recording equipment to document their rides. Following Uber’s announcement, the governor’s office issued a statement expressing a commitment to safety while using rideshare services, while also indicating concern over whether implementing the bill would be realistic for rideshare companies. The statement encouraged all parties to work toward a solution “that works for everyone”. The bill received bipartisan support on third reading in the House, and is now pending floor debate in the Senate. Read more – Uber says it will exit Colorado if bill aimed at boosting rideshare safety becomes law Committee Video Finally, the news you’ve been waiting for… we could get video coverage of committee hearings! Read more – Colorado lawmakers consider live-streaming legislative committee hearings for first time Next Week Next week starts the 10 day final countdown to the end of the session. It’s likely to be 10 straight days with some very long nights. Believe it or not, bills are still getting introduced. That even includes a much anticipated bill on the massive topic of artificial intelligence. Watch out for potential veto overrides, long debates over controversial bills like the immigration bill now in the House, and what will happen on other controversial bills like labor peace. And watch for what bills move out of appropriations and through all of the legislative steps at the very end of session. We are getting to the moment in session often called the red wedding – a reference to a lot of bills dying at once. But that Game of Thrones reference is getting dated now. So we’ll leave you with an even older one… Introduction
A lot of people are celebrating right now. Lobbyists and legislators alike are celebrating the General Assembly not being in session today. Christians are celebrating Good Friday and Easter this weekend. Jews are celebrating Passover, which also ends this weekend. NBA and NHL fans are celebrating the playoffs starting this weekend. Stoners are celebrating 420 on Sunday. Skiers are celebrating a fresh blast of April snow. And everyone in Colorado is celebrating the legislative session crossing the 100 day mark. Today is day 101 for the 2025 session and when everyone descends on the Capitol again on Monday there will only be two and a half weeks left until sine die! Lest this newsletter take away from your time celebrating this weekend; here’s an update on what to watch out for in the final weeks of session, an update on more 2026 announcements, and the first veto (and potential override) of the session. What To Watch For In Final Weeks There’s light at the end of the tunnel and we’re just weeks out from Sine Die. Even though the end of session is in sight, the General Assembly still has quite a few big bills on their to-do list. Although most of these have already been introduced, there’s still at least one big bill awaiting introduction – a bill to address concerns raised by stakeholders about Senate Bill 205, a sweeping bill dealing with artificial intelligence that was passed last year. When Governor Polis signed Senate Bill 205 last year, he signed it on the condition that conversations would remain ongoing and that fixes to the bill would be made through legislation this year. What exactly will be included has been shrouded in mystery, though. The much anticipated bill should finally be released next week. Senate Bill 71 and Senate Bill 124, both bills dealing with the federal 340B drug pricing program, are also among the outstanding big issues on the General Assembly’s to-do list. This has been one of the most lobbied issues of this year’s legislative session, and will continue to be one to watch when the bills come up in the House. Senate Bill 5, a contentious labor bill that Governor Polis has encouraged compromise on, is inching closer and closer to Polis’ desk for signature – without a compromise yet. This bill has been an ongoing fight between labor unions and the business community throughout the session, as it would remove a key requirement for unions to be able to negotiate with employers. Although Governor Polis has reiterated that he hopes both sides can reach a compromise, there has yet to be a compromise agreed upon by both sides. The bill is currently awaiting its second and third reading in the House, and would be sent to Polis from there upon passage. House Joint Resolution 1023 is also awaiting debate on the House floor, which is also likely to be a topic of hours long discussion. The resolution would direct the General Assembly to file a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of Colorado’s Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights (TABOR). In recent years, Democrats have voiced issues with TABOR but this has more recently been a topic of conversation due to the state’s budget deficit. Another controversial bill that’s expected to be highly debated is Senate Bill 276, which would shield illegal immigrants from various federal policies that could impact them. Typically, the Senate takes substantially less time than the House takes to debate a bill. This week, the Senate debated Senate Bill 276 for nearly nine hours, so House members might need to pack their sleeping bags when it’s their turn to debate the bill. More 2026 Announcements JBC Chairman Jeff Bridges Announces Run for State Treasurer On Tuesday, Senator Jeff Bridges announced his run for state treasurer in 2026. So far, three other Democrats have announced campaigns for state treasurer as well, including state Representative Brianna Titone. Bridges’ announcement came with several endorsements, including endorsements from Senate President James Coleman, as well as previous and current fellow JBC members that served on the committee with Bridges. Read more – Colorado Democratic Sen. Jeff Bridges announces bid for state treasurer in 2026 Potential Rematch in the 8th Congressional District Also on Tuesday, former U.S. Representative Yadira Caraveo announced another run for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. Caraveo won the seat in 2022 when the district had been newly drawn, but was unseated by Republican Congressman Gabe Evans in 2024. This time around, Caraveo may have to win the Democratic primary before a rematch with Evans is in order for 2026. In January, current state Representative Manny Rutinel, who is much more progressive than Caraveo, also announced his run for the 8th Congressional District and reported just over $1 million in fundraising for this year’s first quarter. If Rutinel doesn’t bow out ahead of the primary, Caraveo would have to beat him (and any other candidates in the Democratic primary) to challenge Evans in November. Given Rutinel’s fundraising, it’s unlikely he’d drop out of the primary at this point but it’s still too early to tell. This seat will be a huge priority for Democrats trying to take back the House at the federal level. Since its first election in 2022, this congressional district has easily been one of the most expensive and competitive seats in the country. Read more – Former Rep. Yadira Caraveo launches bid to win back Colorado’s 8th District seat Third Time’s a Charm for Greg Lopez? Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser aren’t the only ones who have officially announced gubernatorial bids for 2026. This week, Republican Greg Lopez also announced plans to run for governor… for the third election cycle in a row. In 2018 and 2022, Lopez ran for the Republican nomination for governor but didn’t make it through the primary. Last year, Lopez briefly served in Congress to finish out the rest of former U.S. Representative Ken Buck’s term. Read more – Republican Greg Lopez is running for a third straight time to be Colorado’s governor First Veto of 2025 On Thursday, Governor Polis issued the first veto of the 2025 legislative session. The bill he vetoed dealt with public records laws so it isn’t necessarily that exciting of a veto but it does set up something rare – a potential attempt by legislators to override the Governor’s veto. It takes two-thirds of each chamber to override a Governor’s veto. That kind of bipartisan rebuke of a Governor doesn’t happen often. The last successful veto override was in 2007, and the last one before that was in 1988. Senate Bill 77 passed with veto proof majorities but the Governor is likely to lobby hard against the override. And the whole skirmish is over a bipartisan bill that just modified time frames and procedures for responding to open records act requests. Essentially, the bill sought to give small local governments a little more time to respond to requests that weren’t from the media, and did not shield anything from public view. Polis did in fact sign a bill earlier in the session that blocked the public from being able to view the records of what public colleges pay student athletes, and when he signed that bill he delivered a warning that he would carefully review future legislation that limited access to public records. Apparently as with racing, in legislating it also pays to finish first. Read more – Gov. Jared Polis, in first veto of year, rejects bill changing public records law — setting up potential override vote Next Week Needless to say, the General Assembly is full speed ahead with just weeks to go. The Joint Budget Committee completed all of the conference committees on the budget and next week all of the bills will be re-passed in both chambers. As bills are quickly making their way through the legislative process, next week will likely be a big week for floor work and long debates on some of the more controversial bills. Have a good weekend. It’s probably the last “good” weekend until the end of the session. Introduction
The end of this week means we are now through 14 weeks and 94 legislative days this session. More importantly (for some at least), the end of this week also means it’s Masters weekend. The House must be golf fans because after coming in for legislative work this past weekend they are not planning on doing that again this weekend. And taking off this weekend is even more fitting for the House because they share their color green with the Masters tournament. In case you didn’t know, the House chamber is covered in green and the Senate chamber is covered in red – matching the colors used in the House of Commons and the House of Lords in England. And in addition to the color of the carpet and wall panels, the Sergeants At Arms are also clad in their chamber’s color. That means that when the House Sergeants aren’t providing security, enforcing decorum, or kicking you out of a committee room, they could easily pass for Masters tournament champions in their green jackets. Moreover, you might not know that the House also has a tradition of passing down a green jacket between members, although this jacket that has gone between different members of Irish descent since 1974 is more of a pea-green than a classic Masters-green like the Sergeants. This year, Speaker McCluskie bestowed the mystical green jacket to Representative Weinberg. Legend holds that the jacket is sacred and contains the true luck of the Irish, and as such it is not allowed to be used for partisan advantage or leave the Capitol grounds. Additionally, the pockets of the jacket used to hold notes from all former wearers but it eventually became so much that a notebook containing the notes now accompanies the green jacket. We’ll let you be the judge of which green jacket club is more exclusive. Now here’s the news to know from the Capitol this week. House Budget Week This week, the House took its turn working through the budget, debating Senate Bill 206, also called the Long Bill. There were over 70 amendments offered throughout the debate, but only 13 amendments ultimately passed. Several of the amendments adopted in the House were similar to amendments also adopted in the Senate, such as restoring funding to the National Cybersecurity Center in Colorado Springs, increasing provider rates for occupational, physical, and speech therapies, and restoring funding for a capital construction project for the Colorado School of the Deaf and the Blind. However, some amendments added in the Senate didn’t make it onto the House’s version of the Long Bill. This includes an amendment that would have restored funding for obstetric services at the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center in La Junta, which is planning to close its obstetric services this month. As expected, Republicans brought up several amendments to target their priority issues in the Long Bill such as immigration services and recently passed gun laws, but none passed. In total, the House debated the budget for a little more than 12 hours each day for second and third reading. Many were expecting the debate to last longer on both days, but caucus leadership had agreed ahead of time that if everyone was on their best behavior and didn’t request the 700 page Long Bill to be read at length, they could all stay home this weekend and watch the Masters instead of coming into work. Read more – House gives preliminary OK to $44 billion budget More Bill Signings And Veto Threats On Monday, Governor Polis signed Senate Bill 14, which implements Constitutional Amendment J from the 2024 election to repeal Colorado’s constitutional ban on same sex marriage. This overturns a previous constitutional amendment that was approved by voters in 2006, however that amendment was already technically null and void following the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015. Read more – Gov. Jared Polis signs bill repealing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Colorado On Thursday, Governor Polis signed Senate Bill 3, which is one of the most restrictive gun control measures to ever be passed in Colorado. As introduced, the bill would have banned the sale, distribution, or manufacture of guns that take a detachable magazine. Because Polis’ office indicated early on that the bill needed to be watered down in order to be signed, the bill was amended throughout the legislative process to remove the ban and instead require an extensive background check and completion of a safety course in order to purchase certain guns. Read more – Sweeping semiautomatic gun restriction signed into law by Colorado governor Also on Thursday, Governor Polis signed Senate Bill 33, which limits the number of grocery stores that are allowed to sell hard liquor, which received overwhelming support in both the House and Senate. However, Governor Polis echoed concerns from opposition to the bill in his signing statement, and expressed the need to find compromise between small, independent liquor stores, and big grocery store chains. Read more – Colorado governor signs bill halting expansion of hard liquor sales in grocery and big-box stores Although Senate Bill 5 must make it through the House before being sent to the governor, labor unions and other supporters of the bill have continued to apply pressure on Governor Polis to sign the controversial union-backed bill when it reaches his desk. But this week, it was time to bring out the big guns – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. Earlier this week, an email to supporters from Sanders’ office encouraged Coloradans to contact Governor Polis and urge him to sign the bill, however, Polis has expressed several times that he'd like to see a compromise between labor unions and the business community. As a reminder, this bill would eliminate a requirement for a two election process in order for labor unions to negotiate with employers, by eliminating the second election in the current process. Read more – Bernie Sanders urges Coloradans to push Gov. Jared Polis to sign labor union bill Also earlier this week, Governor Polis signed House Bill 1005, which allows for $34 million in tax credits for film festivals that move to Colorado. This bill was a big priority for the Polis Administration for incentive purposes, as Boulder recently competed with Cincinnati and Salt Lake City to be home to the Sundance Film Festival. This was a movie-like ending for one of Polis’ priority bills, as it was announced a few weeks ago that Sundance would officially be coming to Boulder, Colorado. Read more – Colorado governor signs bill to support film festivals, including Sundance in Boulder Finally, Governor Polis also issued a veiled veto threat this week on a bill seeking to limit municipal court sentences that are longer than allowed in state courts. A previous bill (that Polis signed) lowered the possible sentence for several low level crimes but it only applied to state courts and not municipal courts. Now someone can face a vastly different sentence depending on where a law enforcement officer decides to send the ticket. Municipalities, not keen on anything infringing their local control and wanting to be able to sufficiently address public safety in their communities, have pushed back hard on House Bill 1147. Read more – Polis threatens to veto bill addressing sentencing disparities between Colorado’s state and municipal courts Big Bills Getting Their First Committee Hearing TABOR Lawsuit Resolution On Monday, House Joint Resolution 1023 cleared its first committee. The resolution directs the General Assembly to sue the state over the constitutionality of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). After hours of testimony, the resolution passed out of the House Finance committee on a vote of 7-6, with Democrat Representative Marshall joining Republicans in voting no on the resolution. Read more – Colorado Democrats’ bid to launch TABOR lawsuit clears first committee Several Bills on Vacancies Also on Monday, two bipartisan bills passed out of the House State, Civic, Military and Veteran Affairs committee to reform Colorado’s vacancy-filling process. The committee rejected a competing bill, which would reform the vacancy process through a constitutional amendment, which must be approved by voters. As a reminder, nearly a quarter of the legislature has been appointed to their seats via vacancy committee process, and the process has been the subject of criticism in recent years. Read more – Colorado lawmakers back new elections requirements for officials appointed to vacant seats School Finance Act Monday was a long day. On Monday afternoon, House Bill 1320 passed out of committee unanimously. The bipartisan bill is brought by House and Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle, and offers a solution to the uncertainty surrounding K-12 funding. However, some lawmakers have expressed doubt that the solution outlined in the bill is unsustainable, including Senator Kolker who is rumored to have his own draft proposal to address the issue. Read more – Education funding plan moves forward while some lawmakers doubt sustainability Is It 2026 Already? Lastly, in case you didn’t see the news there were some big announcements for the 2026 election this week. The biggest came today when U.S. Senator Michael Bennet officially announced he is running for Governor. Bennet joins Attorney General Phil Weiser in the Democratic Party primary. Read more – Sen. Michael Bennet is officially running for governor Bennet jumping in the Governor’s race scrambled the field of candidates looking at running. Joe Neguse and Ken Salazar floated the idea of running for Governor but that is less likely with Bennet now in the race. Additionally, Secretary of State Jena Griswold was initially looking at a run for Governor but in recent weeks had pivoted to a different race in anticipation of Bennet’s decision to run for Governor. And so the week kicked off with Griswold announcing that she will be running for the Democratic Party nomination for Attorney General. She joins Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty and former Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran in the primary so far. Read more – Jena Griswold is running to be Colorado’s next attorney general Watch out for even more potential announcements of current legislators seeking other offices as we get passed the budget and get towards the end of the session. Next Week Next week is very likely to be a short week at the Capitol. Good Friday is not an official holiday but the General Assembly traditionally does not work on that day. And it would be highly unusual to take off the Masters weekend but come in over Easter weekend. The Senate has already announced they will not be in on Good Friday. The House, on the other hand, likes to hold out the prospect of having to come in to keep members in line and will not officially announce their plans until later in the week. Some big things to watch out for next week include continued action from the Joint Budget Committee. They will meet as a conference committee on the Long Bill and orbital bills early next week and will also take up roughly 20 additional JBC bills that did not come out with the Long Bill orbital package. A bill could still be coming on the regulation AI and the Colorado Energy Office is still working on potential legislation to push emission reduction targets sooner. Plus several big committee hearings, floor debates, and an avalanche of bills that will start coming out of the appropriations committees. Have a good weekend. Introduction
The baseball season and the legislative session are both long slogs. And if you’re a fan of the Colorado Rockies or healthy budgets then they aren’t necessarily enjoyable these days. While the baseball season officially kicked off last week (or even earlier if you count some super early games in Tokyo), the Colorado Rockies home opener is today and truly kicks off their long, miserable, road to a baseball’s sine die. (In case you aren’t aware, the Colorado Rockies are one of the worst teams in baseball and are coming off six straight losing seasons, the last two of which each had over 100 losses. And this season they are already near the very bottom of the league.) The baseball season is technically longer than the legislative session – 162 games over roughly 185 days vs only 120 days, but baseball games aren’t subject to filibusters and teams don’t have to play on unscheduled days with little notice. Which brings us to today and this weekend. Today is the 87th day of session and Monday will officially mark three-quarters of the way to sine die on May 7. But before we get there it appears the House will break the glass on coming in for legislative work over the weekend. The House is facing some long filibusters on several controversial bills and clearly would like to move through as much of that as they can before the budget, and more filibusters, take over the House next week. So to that end, the House is expected to work on Sunday. But you can’t wait until Sunday for the Capitol news this week and we can look into our crystal ball for how the “debate” goes tonight and on Sunday – the minority says a lot of stuff, ultimately none of it changes many votes, and in the end the majority passes what they want. Now here’s the big news from the Capitol to know from this week. Senate Budget Week This week, the Long Bill was introduced in the Senate with over 700 pages of text and over 60 orbital bills to move alongside it. As a reminder, orbital bills are bills that move through the legislative process with the Long Bill, to make statutory changes that would be needed to match the Long Bill. On Wednesday morning, Republicans and Democrats held their respective caucus meetings to determine priorities for amending the state budget. These priorities directed the debate over budget amendments on Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday. By the end of debate, the Senate offered 61 amendments, and although very few passed, the adjustments made totaled about $7.4 million additional general fund dollars. Some of the more controversial amendments offered and lost included: eliminating a “second salary” for Lieutenant Governor Primavera, putting more money toward the Office of Saving People Money on Health Care; additional inspectors for oil and gas operations through the Energy and Carbon Management Commission; and an attempt to eliminate funding for the Prescription Drug Affordability Board housed in the Division of Insurance. The Long Bill is now headed to the House where all Senate amendments will be stripped off, and we’ll likely see more debate, filibustering, and amendments, especially given the TABOR situation that has started to unfold this week… but more on that in a second. After the Long Bill finishes in the House, it will head back to the Joint Budget Committee where the House and Senate versions of the budget will be compared, and the JBC will take the final steps to close out the budget for next fiscal year. Read more – Colorado lawmakers debate $43.9 billion state budget, make few adjustments TABOR Wars Return The budget situation becomes even more complicated when the state’s TABOR cap is factored into the equation. In 1992, Colorado voters passed TABOR into law, which is short for the “Taxpayers Bill of Rights,” which essentially limits what the state can spend based on inflation and population, and voters have to approve any new state taxes that are going to be imposed on taxpayers. As the budget deficit has intensified this year, many Democrats have blamed the TABOR cap for worsening the state’s budget issues. As needed spending is outpacing consumer inflation, the state becomes even more limited as to what can be spent. On the other hand, Republicans argue that the state’s budget problems are a result of overspending and poor management of taxpayer dollars. So far, a few bills reforming TABOR have already begun the legislative process: Senate Bill 173 which reclassifies state revenue so it wouldn’t count toward the TABOR cap; and House Bill 1296, which reclassifies several business related tax credits. However, some of the bigger proposals have not been introduced yet, including an elimination of the state’s flat income tax and replacing it with a tiered system. That proposal in particular would require two-thirds approval of the General Assembly before going to a vote of the people. That being said, it’s important to note that TABOR is very popular with Colorado voters, as we saw with the downfall of Proposition HH on the ballot in 2023. Lastly, House Joint Resolution 1023 was introduced this week to challenge the constitutionality of TABOR. The resolution would need approval from a simple majority in both the House and Senate, and would direct the Committee on Legal Services to file a lawsuit against the state to determine whether TABOR is constitutional. Although Democrats have expressed frustrations with the TABOR cap in the past, this proposal is seemingly more serious given the budget deficit. However, Republicans have vowed to fight hard to protect TABOR, meaning very long floor debates and other possible calendar implications as a result. Read more – Colorado Democrats call for “a reckoning” on TABOR and taxes, as GOP vows to “fight very hard” Recent Bill Signings and Bills Not Yet Signed Now that we’re in the home stretch for this year’s legislative session, bills are starting to make their way to the Governor Polis for signature, and there will be some difficult political decisions to make. Keep in mind, Colorado doesn’t have a “pocket-veto” option. Meaning, even if there’s no signature on a bill, that bill would go into effect. The only way a bill gets vetoed is if the governor actually vetoes it. For the first 109 days of session, the governor has ten days to veto a bill before it becomes law. Of the more controversial bills signed so far, House Bill 1041 which deals with name, image, and likeness policy and allows for student compensation to be kept confidential, was signed earlier this week by Governor Polis with concerns over “a trend away from transparency”. House Bill 1040, which adds nuclear energy to the definition of a clean energy resource, was also recently signed by Polis, much to the dismay of environmental groups who argue nuclear energy is a risk to public health. Of the more controversial bills not signed so far, Senate Bill 33, which would roll back liquor sales in grocery stores, made its way to the Governor’s desk this week but has not yet been signed. Those in opposition to the bill have continued to pressure a veto from Polis, especially because its provisions reverse voter approved laws. Also sent to the Governor’s desk this week was Senate Bill 3, which originally banned the sale, manufacture, or distribution of guns that take a detachable magazine, but was amended heavily to instead place additional requirements on obtaining a gun, also has yet to be signed. Opposition to the measure delivered a petition of 40,000 signatures to Governor Polis this week, urging a veto of the bill. Another Lawmaker Accused By An Aide Lastly, news broke this week that Representative Regina English, who recently made some waves on the House floor with a lengthy and impassioned filibuster against members of her own party over the topic of student seclusion, was quietly investigated last year over accusations of harassment by a former aide. The probe into English’s behavior determined she didn’t violate legislative policy but still expressed concerns about allegations that fell outside of existing guidelines. In response, the Speaker of the House said that the legislature’s workplace harassment and expectation policies might need closer examination. This workplace harassment committee process is different from the ethics committee process that Senators Winter (who avoided any formal punishment) and Jaquez Lewis (who resigned on the eve of her full hearing in the ethics committee) recently faced. The House currently does not have a more broad ethics committee like the Senate. Read more – Colorado House member faced investigation over ignored harassment complaint, aide mistreatment Next Week Next Monday marks three-quarters of the session and after Wednesday there will be less than a month to go. (But who’s keeping count?!) The House will take its turn with budget week, and it will likely take much longer than the several hours the Senate spent on the budget. Plus committees will continue working through bills, including the School Finance Act (House Bill 1320), a new bill on vacancy appointments (House Bill 1315), and the resolution to require the General Assembly to challenge the constitutionality of TABOR (House Joint Resolution 1023) – and that’s all just on Monday! So get your rest, enjoy the weekend, and above all else be thankful you aren’t a member of the Colorado House of Representatives or Colorado Rockies. |