Colorado Legislative Strategies Updates 2.17.23

COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER
February 17, 2023

​​Introduction
 
Love was clearly not in the air at the Capitol for Valentine’s Day because this week included multiple long committee hearings that stretched late into the night. From rent control to employee scheduling, hundreds and hundreds of witnesses testified in support and opposition. Committee hearings that started at 1:30p.m. stretched all the way past 10:00p.m. to accommodate all of the witness testimony. So loved ones beware, there are many more long hearings to go.

This Week
 
Today marks the 40th legislative day of the session, and that means we are now one-third of the way through the entire legislative session! From here on out, it’s around the world in 80 days under the Gold Dome. 
 
Here’s a look at where we are by the numbers at this point in session. So far, there have been 372 total bills introduced, 210 in the House and 162 in the Senate. There are usually around 650 bills introduced per session so there is still a lot left to come. Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride to the end. 
 
Now to some of the news at the Capitol this week:
 
Capital Development Prioritization 
 
The Capital Development Committee (CDC) met on Tuesday morning to approve their prioritization list. This is a big, but not final, step in the long prioritization process. The CDC is the committee that reviews funding requests for capital projects from all state agencies and public institutions of higher education, and makes funding recommendations to the Joint Budget Committee. After initial project submission, evaluation through the Commission of Higher Education and the Office of State Planning and Budgeting, many site visits from committee members, multiple days of hearings, and plenty of lobbying of the committee members, the CDC approved their prioritized list of funding recommendations. 
 
Ultimately, the next revenue forecast in March will determine exactly how much money will be available to fund the list of recommended projects. The CDC recommended funding for 74 projects that total over $373 million for fiscal year 2023-24 and more than $323 million in continuation costs for the three subsequent years. Those might seem like really high numbers, but to put it in perspective, the amount of money for all the projects not recommended for funding this year is nearly $950 million! 
 
To see the full list and accompanying letter to the JBC, click here.
 
Rent Control 
 
Wednesday night, House Bill 1115, a bill to allow local government rent control, passed out of the House Transportation, Local Government, and Housing committee on an 8-5 vote. Representative Alex Valdez, who was subbing on the committee that day, was the only Democrat to vote against the bill along with all the Republicans. The hearing lasted nearly nine hours with testimony from both sides of the issue.
 
Similar to previous sessions, the Polis Administration has indicated that the Governor is less than enthusiastic about rent control. So, the sponsors have started to refer to the bill as rent stabilization instead of rent control. Regardless of what we call it, the bill would repeal the ban on local control of rent prices. The administration has expressed that repealing the current ban would have unintended consequences, and that there are more effective ways to increase affordable housing. Watch for more fireworks on this bill as Governor Polis and more-moderate Democrats clash with the newly emboldened progressive wing of the caucus. 
 
Supplementals
 
The supplemental budget process cleared the legislature this week. After passing through the Senate last week, the package of two dozen bills passed the house this week. All the bills now go to Governor Polis for his signature.
 
Once again, it was the Department of Correction supplemental that caused the most controversy. The issue centers around funding for new prison beds. Even though that can be a necessary function of government, progressives just don’t like it. In the Senate there were just two votes from the left against the bill; but in the House, the coalition of progressives came within four votes of killing the bill. 
 
Employee Scheduling 
 
Thursday night, House Bill 1118, a bill regulating scheduling practices for employers, was heard in the House Business Affairs and Labor committee. The bill as introduced would require certain employers to follow guidelines related to how often an employee works, when an employee works, and how long employees must rest in between shifts. The hearing lasted until 10:00p.m. and the committee mostly heard from opposition during testimony, including several chambers of commerce and business groups. Some of Colorado’s most iconic small businesses such as Casa Bonita, Los Dos Potrillos, and Beau Jo’s Pizza also expressed their strong opposition to the bill during testimony. 
 
Arguably one of the most restrictive employment bills in the country, the bill was quickly laid over for action by the sponsors. It’s likely the sponsors didn’t have enough votes to get the bill through its first committee hearing. An amendment from the sponsors completely rewriting the bill had been floated by the sponsors prior to the hearing and there will likely be new amendments put forward to try to keep the bill alive and moving.
 
Special Committee on Utility Bills
 
Following a lot of attention in the news, Senate President Fenberg and Speaker McCluskie announced that a joint committee will meet to investigate the rising cost of utility rates in Colorado and identify solutions. Governor Polis had a similar message in his press conference last week, which directed the PUC to find ways to lower the cost of energy. The committee will be made up of legislators from both sides of the aisle and both chambers. The committee will meet at least three times and hear testimony from experts in the energy industry.
 
Abortion Bills Trio
 
The House Health and Insurance committee will be starting their long weekend with three Republican sponsored abortion bills up for their first (and only) committee hearings on Friday afternoon. Two of the three bills are sponsored by Representative Scott Bottoms, a freshman legislator from El Paso. One of the three bills is sponsored by Representative Stephanie Luck from Chaffee County, who is in her second term in the House. Bottoms and Luck represent the furthest right portion of the Republican party.
 
House Bill 1119 would abolish abortion in Colorado and authorize the state government to disregard federal court decisions that might conflict with the bill. House Bill 1150would require physicians to provide information on abortion pill reversal to pregnant women seeking abortions. Lastly, House Bill 1097 would require an abortion provider to administer a painkiller to an unborn child prior to an abortion, if the unborn child is 20 weeks gestational age or older.
 
Next Week
 
The Capitol will be closed on Monday in observance of Presidents’ Day and pick back up on Tuesday for another busy week. Several important bills to help patients obtain timely treatment and medication will be heard next week.

Have a nice long weekend.