Colorado Legislative Strategies Updates 4.1.23

COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER
 
April 1, 2023

​Introduction
 
Happy Saturday. The House once again worked over the weekend; last weekend it was because of long debates over gun bills and this weekend it was because of long debates over abortion bills. It’s all causing tensions to start to boil over under the Gold Dome. 
 
And today all hell broke loose. The Republicans were so upset that they couldn't stop any of these bills with their long “debates” and they decided to all leave so there wouldn’t be a quorum to conduct legislative business. The problem was that there only needs to be a majority for quorum and the Republicans represent less than one-third of the chamber. So the Democrats planned to just proceed and pass the bills without any Republicans there, but ultimately they ordered the Sergeants at Arms to forcibly bring the Republicans back. And so the Sergeants went after the absent members with the same vigor as stopping people with coffee from going into the committee rooms. Once all the members were back, everything was smoothed over by leaders in both parties coming together to host a pizza and ice cream party for everyone. After that, regular business was able to resume and the majority passed their bills. 
 
It’s ironic that this gigantic, unprecedented, historic (and obviously fake) news happened on Saturday, April 1… Happy April Fool’s Day, by the way. 
 
The reality this week wasn’t quite that exciting, but it did involve long debates and the majority ultimately passing their bills. More on that with guns and abortion, and other big news from this week. Plus we’ll dive into the state budget as introduced and amendments in the Senate, and lastly we’ll touch on the Denver Mayor race that has a big vote coming up in just a few days. 

​This Week
 
We crossed over the two-thirds milestone this week. Today is day 83 of 120 and there are now just over five weeks left until the end of session. The time-crunch is fast approaching and Democratic leaders in the House continued the push this week to clear out as many big and controversial bills before the budget. So that meant hours and hours of “debate” and reading bills at length, among other things that happened this week. 
 
We are finally nearing the end of line for several gun bills. After the marathon debate on those bills last weekend, the House wrapped up their final vote on Monday. The bills are now pending a concurrence and final vote in the Senate before being sent to the Governor. 
 
But, the gun saga doesn’t quite end there. There is another bill that has been introduced that  would prohibit the sale and manufacturing of assault weapons, and make some guns illegal to possess. The bill is still waiting on its first committee hearing in the House after getting pulled from the House Judiciary committee’s calendar earlier this week. A ban on assault weapons isn’t nearly as popular with Governor Polis as the other gun bills and it’s rumored the bill likely won’t pass. 
 
Additionally, a yet to be introduced bill will prohibit “ghost guns”, which are guns that don’t have serial numbers, are untraceable and can be bought online and assembled at home. This too is expected to face an uphill battle to passage, but gun control advocates believe the public debate is one worth bringing up.
 
Getting away from guns, on Tuesday Senate Bill 171 was heard in committee. This bill would have required large event venues to designate at least 4% of their seating capacity as “substance free seating”. If the bill had been put into law, venues would risk their liquor licenses if they didn’t comply with designating sections for sober seating. The bill was ultimately killed on a 5-2 vote with only Senator Priola, the bill sponsor, and Senator Winter voting in favor.
 
On Thursday, two bipartisan bills were heard in committee that would help mitigate some of the consequences of Proposition 114, a narrowly passed ballot measure from 2020 that seeks to reintroduce gray wolves in Colorado by 2023. 
 
The first of the two, Senate Bill 255, would provide $350,000 in general fund dollars to compensate ranchers if their livestock is killed or injured by gray wolves. The bill passed out of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources committee unanimously to Appropriations. 
 
The second of the two, Senate Bill 256, was a little more controversial. Currently, gray wolves are classified as an endangered species, which means ranchers wouldn’t be able to defend their livestock if attacked by a gray wolf. This bill would require the state to obtain a 10(j) rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before reintroduction, which would classify the wolves as an experimental population (as opposed to an endangered species) and would provide additional tools to ranchers who are trying to protect their livestock. 
 
The Governor’s Department of Natural Resources testified in opposition to the bill, saying the bill would delay reintroduction even though the 10(j) route is “preferable”.
 
Proponents of the bill are concerned that Colorado will move forward with reintroduction without having a 10(j) designation. Senator Roberts, one of the bill sponsors, asked the Department of Natural Resources several times whether Colorado would move forward with reintroduction without a 10(j) ruling, but the answers from the department were very unclear. The bill passed out of committee on a vote of 5-2, with Senators Marchman and Priola voting against the bill. 
 
Lastly, this week was also dominated by the House moving the package of abortion bills. The three bills were up in committee on Tuesday and had a combined 17 hours of long testimony. The House then settled in on Thursday for three days of debate filibustering. Once again, the Speaker of the House invoked Rule 14 to limit debate on Thursday to 8 hours and Friday to 6 hours each for two bills. The House then came in on Saturday for a final vote on the three bills.
 
While not as dramatic as the action in the fake April Fool’s Day intro, all of this is pushing the minority to use their full allotment of debate time and also request all of the bills be read at length – a right which cannot be taken away. Rumors abound that they will have the Long Bill, the entire state budget, read at length next week, both on second and third readings. And it’s called the Long Bill for a reason! 
 
Senate Budget Week
 
On Monday this week the Senate introduced the $38.5 billion dollar budget for next fiscal year. The budget package consists of Senate Bill 214, the Long Bill, and 32 other bills that are called “budget orbital bills”. The Long Bill cannot make policy changes so any funding changes that need a corresponding change in law are introduced as orbitals with the budget. 
 
This budget is almost 9 percent larger, or about $1.2 billion, than last year’s budget. But a large portion of that increase is going to the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) to handle the expiration of the federal match tied to COVID-19. Most of the other additional money keeps current state programs operating at the same level. 
 
When it comes to education, the budget was able to increase per pupil funding while actually making the total state appropriation less than it was last year. That’s due in part to a decrease in student enrollment and also more funding coming from local property taxes so the state doesn’t have to backfill as much. Any paydown of the budget stabilization factor, the long-term debt owed that is currently about $321 million, will be handled in the School Finance Act which comes after the Long Bill passes.
 
On Wednesday, the Senate took up debate on the Long Bill and by that evening had added $85.5 million in spending. Fifty amendments were drafted and 17 were ultimately passed. The House will take up the budget from its introduced form and add their own amendments. The JBC then acts as the conference committee and puts forward the final budget that may or may not include all of the amendments that were passed. 
 
The JBC members traditionally argue against adding any amendments. One of the more noteworthy moments from the debate came when JBC member Barbara Kirkmeyer was the deciding vote in favor of an amendment on funding for a school in Yuma to replace Indian mascot imagery. A 2021 law said a grant program would cover those costs but no school has received any funding. 
 
Other big ticket budget amendments included $35 million for the community crime victims grant program, $30.6 million to PERA to cover missed interest from a few years ago, and $14 million for a behavioral health professional grant program and school counselor corps grant program. 
 
Watch out for what amendments are added in the House next week (assuming they finally get through it all) and what amendments ultimately make it into the final version of the budget.
 
Denver Mayor’s Race
 
Finally, next Tuesday is a big day for the 16 candidates running to be Denver’s next mayor, including two current legislators. It’s highly unlikely that a candidate will get more than 50 percent of the vote, so we will be learning the two finalists that will face each other in a run-off.
 
The frontrunners include Kelly Brough, who previously worked under Mayor John Hickenlooper and ran the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; Mike Johnston, a former state senator who lost to Jared Polis in the 2018 Governor primary; Debbie Ortega, a current (and long-time) Denver City Council member; Chris Hansen, a current state senator; and Leslie Herod, a current state representative. Plus nearly a dozen other candidates!
 
As of a few days ago, a disappointing 9 percent of registered voters have returned a ballot. Although Kelly Brough and Mike Johnston are leading the pack in fundraising, recent polling tells us it could still be anyone’s race. Now, Denver voters – GO VOTE!
 
Next Week
 
Next week will be another big week. The House will be trying to get through the budget, the Governor’s controversial land bills will have their first committee hearings, the Senate will take up a controversial bill changing how oil & gas mineral rights can be developed, and much more.
 
Have a good weekend.