Colorado Legislative Strategies Updates 3.25.22

COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER
 
March 25, 2022
 
The General Assembly has now made it through 73 legislative days, which is over 60 percent of the way through the whole legislative session. With just over six weeks left, the frenzy is picking up inside (and outside) the Capitol. 

​Let’s start with news from outside the Capitol that could have a big impact on the legislature next year. Last Saturday, political parties held county-level assemblies across the state for nominating candidates for the primary election in June. As a brief reminder, there are two ways to get your name on the primary ballot. One is to collect enough valid signatures (1000 for state legislative candidates) from voters of the same party that live in your district. The other is to go through the party caucus/assembly process and get at least 30 percent of the vote. Candidates can choose which route they want to pursue and some candidates do both to be safe, but there is an interesting wrinkle that if you go through the party and get less than 10 percent then you are barred from the ballot even if you meet the signature threshold. 
 
Going to one of these county assemblies is open to anyone but it’s not necessarily accessible. First, you can’t be part of the largest voting bloc in the state, which are unaffiliated voters. Second, you must have gone to your local precinct caucus earlier this month. Then you have to become a delegate to the county assembly. And finally, you have to give up hours and hours on a Saturday to get through everything. So you have to keep in mind that the voters here are some of the most faithful party activists.
 
Some of the results from those small groups of voters sent shockwaves this week. First, House Republican leader Hugh McKean was trounced by a former staffer to the previous leader Patrick Neville. McKean engineered a more-moderate takeover of House Republican leadership two years ago, and has consistently faced a revolt from the more-conservative members of the caucus. Running far to the right of McKean, Austin Hein won the county assembly by over 70 points. McKean, although, did have his petition signatures declared sufficient and will face Hein in the June primary. 
 
On the Senate side, Paul Lundeen surprisingly lost to a far-right political newcomer, but he did manage to at least get more than the 30 percent needed to make the primary ballot. Lundeen is not the current leader of the caucus but he has been leading the Senate Republicans political efforts and is widely considered to be the next leader after Chris Holbert. Despite all of the work from Lundeen to help elect Republicans, the voters at the assembly chose someone else by a 10 point margin. 
 
The biggest surprise happened to Mary Bradfield, a first-term Republican from southern Colorado Springs. Bradfield received support from 29.3 percent of the assembly, falling just short of the 30 percent needed to make the primary ballot, and also did not submit petition signatures so she has no path to returning to the legislature next year. The person who beat her was previously running for El Paso Sheriff and had to withdraw from that race due to previous felony convictions. Yet despite that fact, Karl Dent is now very likely to win in November in the heavily Republican district. 
 
In El Paso County, the House Republican delegation will actually be completely new next year. In addition to Mary Bradfield losing at county assembly and not coming back, Dave Williams is running for Congress and will not be back, and Teri Carver is term-limited and is not coming back. The remainder chose not to run again, including Assistant Minority Leader Tim Geitner, Andres Pico, and Shane Sandridge. On the Democratic side in the county, Tony Exum is running for the Senate and Marc Snyder is potentially the only Representative for the county that will be returning to the House next year but faces a tough race in the general election. 
 
However, candidate news from outside the Capitol wasn’t the only news this week. The Joint Budget Committee finished their work on the state budget and officially closed out the Long Bill. That bill along with all of the other bills, called orbitals that make statutory changes in conjunction with the budget, will be introduced in the House on Monday.  
 
The budget will move through the House next week, the Senate the following week, and then will go back to the JBC for the conference committee. Legislators often use amendments to the budget for messaging and it’s ultimately up to the JBC to decide whether any of the amendments that passed will actually be added to the budget. The state budget must be balanced so any amendments that get added cause changes elsewhere in the budget as well. If an amendment passes in both chambers then it usually has a better chance of making it into the final state budget. 
 
Additionally, the long running saga that has been House Bill 1279 about codifying abortion rights is finally coming to a close. After 13 hours of debate on Tuesday and another two hours on Wednesday before the final vote, the Senate finally passed the bill and it is now on its way to Governor Polis to be signed into law. The bill passed both chambers on a party-line vote and the Governor is expected to sign it soon. 
 
The Senate also passed another bill on a party-line vote and sent it to the Governor. House Bill 1086 will prohibit firearms from being openly carried within 100 feet of polling places and drop boxes. Moreover, the Senate passed another election bill this week that will now go over to the House. Senate Bill 153 about increasing internal election security measures passed out of the Senate on a near party-line vote with one Republican (Kevin Priola) joining the Democrats in passing the bill. If you’ve been following the Tina Peters debacle then you understand the context for this bill. Peters actually made an appearance at the Capitol this week to lobby against the bill. Expect a long debate when it gets to the House floor.
 
Less controversial, the Senate also passed Senate Bill 139 about making Juneteenth a state holiday. The bill now goes to the House after a 32-1 vote, with Jerry Sonnenberg voting no, even though he voted yes in committee. Juneteenth, also called Freedom Day and Emancipation Day, celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.
 
However, the biggest news of the week was probably the announcement of a new bill that will tackle the fentanyl crisis. Democrats have been taking heat for a recent law change where penalties for possession of all drugs, including fentanyl, were reduced to a misdemeanor. This week the bill was leaked to the press and actual introduction is expected soon. Most controversially, the bill will change penalties for distribution of fentanyl, but will not affect simple possession of the dangerous drug. 
 
The bill will also include $20 million that will go towards saving lives with opioid reversal medication. The state previously set up the Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund in the Department of Public Health and the Environment where the state can purchase Narcan, which is the nasal spray version of Naloxone, so that it can be distributed to local governments, law enforcement agencies, and harm reduction centers. 
 
The fentanyl bill has been much anticipated like several other big bills for this session. And like those other bills, the fentanyl bill still is not technically introduced even though there was a press conference and details were released this week. Other big bills that could still be coming include collective bargaining, fees for recycling, fees for substance abuse treatment, oil and gas disclosures, banning PFAS chemicals, and much more. Buckle your seatbelt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride to sine die adjournment. 
 
Finally, some good news to end your week. After disgusting instances of health care workers being doxxed for just doing their job and trying to keep patients safe, Governor Polis signed into law House Bill 1041 to create privacy protections for health care workers, among other classifications of employees. 
 
Additionally, this week saw the defeat of House Bill 1277 that would have allowed Credit Unions to take public deposits away from Colorado banks that use that money to reinvest in local communities through loans to low income individuals, small business loans, and agriculture loans. Banks also contribute to the state through paying income taxes. After much lobbying led by CLS the bill was voted down in House Business Affairs.
 
Despite what you might think about some of the stuff that happens at the Capitol, sometimes good bills pass and bad bills get defeated under the Gold Dome. 
 
Have a good weekend.