COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER

Introduction

The General Assembly likes to ease into the legislative session. The first week was short (session starts on a Wednesday) but at least they got to work introducing bills and dropped 125 bills on the first day. The second week was a full week (the only one so far) but the House only introduced seven more bills and the Senate only eight. The third week (this week) was again short because of MLK Day on Monday and surprisingly we only got eight more bills introduced in the House. The Senate did introduce 30 more bills and held the first committee hearing of the session on a controversial bill, but even that didn’t take more than a handful of hours. 

The avalanche of bills and late nights are coming but in honor of the last short week for a little while here’s a [relatively] short newsletter to get you caught up on all the big news from the Capitol this week. 

News To Know From This Week

Labor Peace
The week started with the first committee hearing of the session on a controversial bill. On Tuesday, the Senate Business, Labor, and Technology committee heard several hours of testimony on Senate Bill 5 about changes to the Labor Peace Act. Unsurprisingly, the committee passed the bill on a party-line vote and the bill is now pending in Appropriations. 

This bill is likely on a collision course with the Governor sooner rather than later. Governor Polis has made it clear he doesn’t like the bill as introduced and a veto is probably the only thing that can stop this bill. The math is the math at the Capitol – the bill needs 18 votes to pass the Senate and was introduced with 15 co-sponsors, which jumps to 16 now that Iman Jodeh has moved from the House to the Senate. Another senator is surely for this bill but her name wasn’t listed as a co-sponsor because she’s facing some ethics issues (more on that next), which means just one out of the remaining six Democrats is needed to pass the bill. 

In the House it’s even more stark. The bill needs 33 votes to pass and was introduced with 33 co-sponsors. Watch out for what happens when this bill hits the Governor’s desk. 

Read more: Colorado lawmakers advance bill eliminating election requirement to impose union dues on non-union members

Ethics Committee
Senate leadership announced this week that an ethics committee would convene to review a workplace misconduct complaint that was filed against Senator Jaquez Lewis. The complaint alleges that Jaquez Lewis paid her aides to do landscaping and house work for her, using campaign funds, amongst other issues. Jaquez Lewis has previously been accused of issues with not paying former staff. Because of this, she was barred from having state paid staff and committee assignments for this year’s legislative session. 

The Senate Ethics Committee met on Friday to go through procedures and Senator Jaquez Lewis has 10 days to file a response to the complaint. Watch out for more news on this. 

Read more: Colorado Senate forms ethics committee to investigate complaint that senator mistreated aides

Vacancy Appointment
On Wednesday night, Jamie Jackson was appointed by a vacancy committee to serve as the state representative for House District 41. Jackson will be filling Senator Iman Jodeh’s former House seat, as Jodeh was appointed to her new Senate seat earlier this month. Notably, Jackson’s appointment brings the number of female legislators at the state Capitol up to 52, which is the most ever in state history. The vacancy committee consisted of only 19 members, 10 of which voted for Jackson on the first ballot. 

Read more: Jamie Jackson wins Colorado House District 41 seat after vacancy election 

The Trump Factor
Also on Wednesday, Democrat lawmakers held a press conference to condemn President Trump’s plans to enforce immigration operations. This is consistent with the tone most Democrats have echoed since the November election to preserve Colorado as a safe state for immigrants, as the Trump Administration takes office. Watch out for Democrats to bring several bills and/or resolutions in response to federal action from President Trump. 

Read more: Colorado lawmakers rally against Trump’s mass deportation plans at Capitol

Wolves on the Prowl
Earlier this week, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) announced that 20 wolves were released in Eagle and Pitkin counties. This comes after a tense SMART Act hearing last week in which CPW officials were grilled by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle with questions related to the controversial rollout of gray wolf reintroduction. CPW has received $581,000 in claims from damaged or killed livestock as a result of the first round of wolves released, which is significantly more than the state allocated for compensation funding.

Read more: Colorado Parks and Wildlife releases 20 wolves in Eagle and Pitkin counties

Another Day Another Designation
This week Democrats advanced Senate Joint Resolution 004, which designates January 22 in Colorado as “Reproductive Rights and Justice Day”. This coincides with the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade being decided by the United States Supreme Court. Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

Every day is the day of something. In fact, today (January 24) is the international day of education, national compliment day, and national peanut butter day, among others. 

Read more: Senate Democrats designate Jan. 22 as Reproductive Rights and Justice Day

What’s Going On With The Budget

There is not much new to report on the budget process from this week. The Joint Budget Committee continues to work through supplementals. However, controversy around potential budget cuts continues to build. Recently, the Governor and his department decided they want to try to cut off coverage for anti-obesity medications for state employees in an attempt to save money. This move is drawing criticism from the state employee union and even certain Colorado lawmakers who also stand to potentially lose coverage for needed medication. 

Read more: Colorado plans to limit coverage of weight-loss drugs like Wegovy for state employees to save $17M

Next Week

Next week, we expect to see House and Senate committees of reference get back into full swing. Several controversial bills are scheduled for their first committee hearing including: House Bill 1074, which repeals Colorado’s cage-free egg requirements; Senate Bill 003, which bans semi-automatic firearms with detachable magazines; House Bill 1004, a repeat from last year which would prohibit landlords from coordinating prices; and Senate Bill 045, another repeat which requires an analysis of a single payer healthcare system. 

Conclusion

Have a good weekend. And despite any political differences that arise at the Capitol, hopefully everyone in Colorado can be united in rooting against the Chiefs on Sunday!