Colorado Legislative Strategies Updates 4.6.23

COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER
 
April 6, 2023

​Introduction
 
Grab your peanuts and Cracker Jack because it’s time to root, root, root for the home team. Today is the Colorado Rockies home opener – a time of hope and optimism for all baseball fans, well most baseball fans. You probably have a better shot on a bet that Republicans will take over power under the Gold Dome next election than you have betting the Rockies to win the World Series, although neither is a solid bet at the moment. 
 
While opening day for the Rockies is an unofficial holiday in Denver, there are also several other holidays to mention. Passover started yesterday, Good Friday is tomorrow, and Easter is on Sunday. The prospect of working on these holidays had a big impact on what happened this week. More on all that when we get into what happened with House budget week. 
 
The fact that you’re getting this newsletter on Thursday gives away that there was a deal reached between Republicans and Democrats to not grind all business to a halt. Because of this deal, the House will be able to join the Senate in having Good Friday off tomorrow. 
 
After the long weekend off, the legislature will return on Monday for the home-stretch of the legislative session – just one month left. Like a runner rounding third base, we have come a long way and are getting close but there’s still a tough final sprint until we are safe. 
 
Now before you start your holiday weekend, here’s a rundown of the big news from the Capitol this week and a deeper dive into the House budget week and the deal that secured this weekend being a much needed break. 

​This Week
 
The Easter Bunny might not have visited the Capitol this week, but First Lady Jill Biden did. On Monday, the First Lady kicked off the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America” tour in Denver. The tour makes stops in several different states the administration has made investments in, particularly in infrastructure and jobs. In Colorado, the First Lady and Governor Polis highlighted Colorado’s investments in job training and education, largely funded through federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act. 
 
On Tuesday, Denver and Colorado Springs held their municipal elections. Because neither city had a mayoral candidate with at least 50 percent of the vote count, both cities are headed to run-off elections for their respective mayors. 
 
In Colorado Springs, vote counting concluded on Wednesday evening. Yemi Mobolade, formerly a programs manager with the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, and Wayne Williams, who is currently a member on Colorado Springs City Council, will face off in May’s run-off election to determine who will be Colorado Springs’ next mayor.  
 
In Denver, former State Senator Mike Johnston came out as the top candidate with about 24 percent of the total votes counted. Kelly Brough came in second with about 20 percent of total votes counted, although her lead over third place Lisa Calderon has been narrowing. A large share of the vote came in over the last day of voting and ballots are still being counted, but it looks like Johnston and Brough will face each other in the June run-off election to become Denver’s next mayor.
 
On Wednesday, Senate Bill 192, which would extend the current statewide standard for how pesticides are regulated, passed unanimously out of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources committee. The bill is based on recommendations from the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), but there is debate over whether local governments should be able to regulate pesticides instead of the state. Agricultural groups are in favor of keeping state preemption in place because the state has the capacity to best manage pesticide use, but environmentalist groups argue that it’s a local government issue. 
 
Also on Wednesday, Senate Bill 172, or the Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (POWR) Act, passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee on a party line vote of 3-2. This is a bill that’s come up more than once over the last few years, and makes changes to what defines harassment in the workplace. Currently, behavior must be “severe or pervasive” to constitute harassment, but the bill would replace that standard with a much broader and more generalized standard for legal action. The bill was amended in committee after negotiations with the business community to narrow the standard laid out in the original bill and soften language around businesses claiming an affirmative defense. 
 
The Governor’s land use bills were also heard in committee this week. On Wednesday, House Bill 1255, which would restrict local governments from setting growth caps, passed out of the House Transportation, Housing, and Local Government committee on a party line vote of 9-2. The bill was amended to further clarify local governments may set a growth cap for no more than one year following a natural disaster or emergency. 
 
On Thursday, Senate Bill 213, which would preempt local governments from using zoning codes, was heard in the Senate Local Government and Housing committee. Because of the pushback bill sponsors have received from local governments, especially mountain communities, the bill will be laid over for action. The bill will come up at a later date for action on amendments, which are still being worked on.
 
Also on Thursday, the  House Energy & Environment Committee discussed House Bill 1272, which makes various changes to state income tax credits, sales and use taxes and the specific ownership tax. Most of these changes are being done to further incentivize the transition to a carbon-free economy. The bill also makes significant changes to how much severance taxes are collected, with the increased revenue being used to pay for the above mentioned tax changes. It is not going unnoticed that the programs being promoted to move away from oil & gas are being financed by oil & gas. Expect this conversation to continue to be interesting as we move into the waning days of the session
 
Lastly, this week all three abortion bills passed both chambers and are on their way to the Governor to be signed into law. Additionally, two of the four gun bills also passed both chambers and are on their way to the Governor, while the remaining two are waiting on final approvals before being sent to the governor. The long saga of long “debates” on those bills is nearly over. 
 
House Budget Week
 
The House got their turn with the state budget this week. House Republicans (at least a portion of them) came into the week indicating that they would have the 622 page Long Bill read at length, a procedural move that could have taken hours and hours to complete. 
 
All-day negotiations between party leaders on Tuesday resulted in a tentative deal to avert reading the bill at length. The deal included Democrats agreeing to pass seven high-priority Republican budget amendments. In exchange for that, Democrats agreed to this three day weekend and no additional Sunday workdays for the rest of the session. Saturdays, however, are still very much in play in the home-stretch of the session. 
 
Minority Leader Lynch, in selling the deal to his caucus, noted they were negotiating with people who have no reason to negotiate. Lynch added, “we’ve pushed them as far as we can push them… They’re done negotiating with us and we need to walk out of here with what we can.” With that, the Republicans accepted the deal and the budget passed in relatively quick fashion. 
 
Turning to the budget itself, the House added two dozen amendments that increase spending by at least $105 million in general fund spending. The House added 16 of the 17 amendments that passed in the Senate. Notably, the amendment on funding for changing school mascots was expanded to all schools, not just one school. The only Senate amendment that the House did not adopt as well was a payment of missed interest for PERA from a few years ago. 
 
The Joint Budget Committee (JBC), the body that originally crafted the budget, serves as the conference committee to reconcile the two different versions of the budget that passed in each chamber. The JBC is not required to include  any of the amendments that passed in the final version of the budget, but if an amendment makes it on in both chambers it usually has a decent chance of getting into the final budget. It remains to be seen whether all of the amendments that were granted to the Republicans to avoid reading the bill at length will be included. 
 
The JBC is planning on holding the conference committee on the budget next Wednesday. After the JBC decides on the final version of the budget both chambers will have a final vote again. 
 
Next Week
 
Next Monday will mark the one month countdown until the end of session. Now that the budget is behind us, next week will be a big week for housing and healthcare bills as they make their way over to their second chamber. 
 
Have a long good weekend ⚾🐰