Colorado Legislative Strategies Updates - February 4th, 2022

​COLORADO LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES NEWSLETTER
 
February 4, 2022

​​The Colorado General Assembly has now completed 24 legislative days, a full 20 percent of the 120-day legislative session. While the legislature is nowhere near completing 20 percent of all the work they will do this session, the Capitol really started to roar back to life this week with a lot of legislative action. 
 
However, it wasn’t all work all week under the Golden Dome. The Capitol and all other government offices were closed on Wednesday due to a snowstorm the night before and throughout the day. Snowfall totals across the Front Range varied wildly, from just a few inches to more than 20 inches. Most areas were blanked with between five and 14 inches of snow along with single-digit frigid temperatures. 

The snow day wasn’t the biggest news of the week, though. The biggest news came on Thursday when Senate President Leroy Garcia announced he will be resigning on February 23 to join the Biden Administration. Specifically, Garcia, who is a military veteran, will serve as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs within the Department of Defense. 
 
This news means there will be two vacancies to fill. One vacancy will be to fill the remainder of President Garcia’s term, which will be less than a year as this seat was already up for election in 2022. Senate District 3 currently includes Pueblo, Pueblo West, and northwest Pueblo County (the district expands to the entirety of Pueblo County for the 2022 election). A vacancy committee within the local Democratic Party will choose Colorado’s next state Senator from Pueblo. House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar is the chair of that vacancy committee and is not expected to seek the vacancy appointment. Let the jockeying among Pueblo Democrats begin! 
 
The more immediate consequential vacancy to fill will be the next Senate President. The top job in the Senate holds a lot of power - sole discretion to appoint committee chairs and vice-chairs, complete power to assign bills to certain committees upon introduction, and a lot of influence over what can be introduced as a late bill. In addition to vast informal power concerning the caucus’ agenda and negotiations with the other chamber and executive branch. In short, it’s a job pretty much every Senator would want. 
 
The jockeying amongst all 19 of the remaining Senate Democrats has already begun. Let’s take a look at the contenders.
 
The Early Favorites
 
Steve Fenberg (Boulder) - The current number two in the Senate and Majority Leader has signaled for a long time that he prefers Majority Leader over going for President, but after news of Garcia’s departure he did say that he plans to throw his hat in the ring for the post. If Fenberg is truly in for President then it will be difficult for any other Democrat to scrape enough votes together to beat him. Fenberg as President would open up the Majority Leader post and another race for a top leadership spot. At this point, what Fenberg wants to do will be the first domino to fall. 
 
Dominick Moreno (Commerce City) - Longtime Joint Budget Committee member and well respected senior member of the caucus is most likely next in line if he chooses. If Fenberg wishes to stay as Majority Leader then Moreno could be a consensus pick among the caucus to ascend to President. In that circumstance there could be a lot of pressure on Moreno to step up even though he’s always indicated he likes his perch on the powerful JBC. Additionally, even if Fenberg goes to President there could be a desire for Moreno to come over as the Majority Leader. If either of those scenarios play out then it will open a coveted spot on the Joint Budget Committee.
 
Julie Gonzales (Denver) - The current Caucus Chair and close ally of President Garcia has long been rumored as desiring to move up in leadership. Always smart and strategic, Senator Gonzales might not let this opportunity slip by. However, with less seniority than Fenberg or Moreno, Gonzales could need one of them to not run in order to secure the President or Majority Leader Post. Potentially, Gonzales could also be interested in moving over to the JBC if that is the position that opens up. 
 
The Others in Leadership
 
Kerry Donovan (Vail) - The current President Pro Tem has seniority on her side. Senator Donovan is actually term-limited in 2022 so she would only be able to stay in the President role for less than a year. Donovan ran against Garcia for the top spot in 2019 and has already indicated she will seek the job again. 
 
Rhonda Fields (Aurora) - The current Assistant Majority Leader, the number three position in leadership, is another possibility. She has yet to indicate she is interested in moving up in leadership. Part of the same class of legislators as Fenberg and Moreno, Fields will be term-limited in 2024. Always a fighter and with a senior spot in leadership already, Senator Fields could be interesting to watch if she throws her hat in the ring. 
 
Jeff Bridges (Greenwood Village) - The current Majority Whip is the least senior member of leadership and will not be term-limited until 2028. Due to the way his vacancy appointment to the Senate played out, Senator Bridges has actually been in the Senate since 2019 and banked a couple extra years that will not count against his term-limit. (It only counts against the member fulfilling the remaining term if it’s longer than 50 percent of the total term length.) Bridges had a telling quote to the Denver post, “Every Democrat in the Senate is thinking about where they might end up. I’m a Democrat in the Senate.”
 
The Other Possibilities 
 
Joann Ginal (Ft. Collins) and Rachel Zenzinger (Arvada) are the final more senior members of the caucus that will be term-limited in 2024. Ginal is unlikely to seek a leadership post and Zenzinger has already indicated she’s not interested. 
 
Robert Rodriguez (Denver), Jessie Danielson (Wheat Ridge), and Faith Winter (Thornton) are the next class of seniority who haven’t been discussed yet. Rodriguez hasn’t given indication either way yet, Danielson is out on maternity leave and will be unlikely to run. But Faith Winter has already indicated she would be interested in moving into leadership. 
 
Chris Hansen (Denver), Janet Buckner (Aurora), and James Coleman (Denver) are all well respected members who will not be term-limited until 2028. Hansen is unlikely to leave the JBC and is rumored to be looking at a run for Denver Mayor instead of moving into Senate leadership. Buckner has yet to indicate either way what her intention will be. But Coleman has indicated he is interested in vying for leadership. 
 
Finally, there is Sonya Jaquez Lewis (Lewisville) and Chris Kolker (Centennial) who are some of the newest members of the Senate and are unlikely to go for leadership at this time. There is also Tammy Story (Conifer) who is not running for the Senate and will instead run for a House seat. Pete Lee (Colorado Springs) is also not running for the Senate again. And Brittany Pettersen (Lakewood) will be too busy running for Congress to run for leadership. 
 
Nineteen personalities who probably all think they would be the best next Senate President or other leadership role. It will be fun to watch all the internal caucus politics play out!
 
However, this week wasn’t completely about the Colorado Senate version of Succession. Committees held hearings on several bills this week and here are some of the highlights. 
 
On Tuesday, Senate Bill 53 dealing with  hospital visitations brought forth a lot of emotional testimony about loved ones who have died during the pandemic. The heart wrenching testimony stretched on for hours and the bill was ultimately laid over for action on another day. This is often a strategy employed by a committee chair to let the emotion of the testimony settle so clearer minds can later vote.
 
Also on Tuesday, the Senate killed two Republican bills on health care transparency. Senate Bill 61 sought to require the Office of Saving People Money on Health Care (yes, that’s a real part of the executive branch) to report to the legislature during annual SMART Act hearings. Senate Bill 38 sought to allow hospitals to add a line-item to patient bills that identified how much went to the hospital provider fee. Both bills were Republican messaging bills without a Democratic sponsor and did not have a chance of passing. 
 
On Thursday, Senate Bill 31 about banning the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx was put down after intense pushback from opposition groups. The bill previously lost three of the four original sponsors, a bad sign to be sure. The only sponsor left noted that she hasn’t heard so much on a bill in her legislative career, and it wasn’t good things she was hearing. The bill ultimately went down after several hours of opposition testimony.
 
Finally, this week wasn’t all about killing bills. We said last week that Governor Polis was likely to sign the first bill of the session soon and that happened this week. On Monday, Governor Polis signed House Bill 1027 into law, which will give small businesses more time to comply with a major change to where their sales are taxed. The Governor signed the bill just one day before the exemption was set to expire. Deadlines always spur action. 
 
Next week will see committee hearings continue to work through bills, more bills will start making it to the floor for second and third reading, and there is still a glut of bills that are yet to be introduced. Plus all the political jockeying!