An informational and educational resource for the Colorado General Assembly by the Office of Legislative Legal Services.
by Jery Payne
Imagine you are judging a court case. The Wildlife Commission held a hearing to award a grant for an endangered species. Both the Whooping Crane Association and the Black-Footed Ferret Foundation applied. The commission gave the grant to the ferret folks, but it didn’t have a legally required quorum. The crane crew sues to make the ferret folks repay the grant. (more…)
by Kate Meyer
Bill drafting is the most visible function that the Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) performs, yet the actual process of getting a bill from idea to introduction is a lot more complicated than many people realize. How does the drafting process work (i.e., why does it take so long)? (more…)
by Jery Payne
The 14th amendment to the United States constitution forbids states from denying “to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” That seems simple enough. Right? (more…)
by Kathy Zambrano
You’re flipping through the 2013 C.R.S. book looking for that amended section that was key to getting a bill passed last session, and there it is, in black and ecru, but you also find stuff following the section. What is that stuff and why is it there? (more…)
by Jennifer Gilroy, Revisor of Statutes
It seems that most people who are involved in the legislative process in any way whatsoever have heard about the revisor’s bill — a bill viewed as a legislative means of “fixing” problems in the statutes or in legislation. But very few people really seem to have a clear understanding of what the annual revisor’s bill can and, more importantly, cannot include. To some, it seems to be a mystical piece of legislation over which a solitary individual (the Revisor of Statutes) randomly (or so it seems) grants (or not) inclusion of a provision they need “fixed”. To others it’s simply a boring, technical bill that shows up on the calendar late in the legislative session and is only important to legislative drafters. Well, it’s really both of these things and neither of these things…at the same time. The following are a few facts about the often misunderstood revisor’s bill. (more…)
by OLLS Staff
The 2013 legislative interim has kept several interim committees busy considering myriad issues ranging from wildfires to the legal representation of juveniles to the treatment of mentally ill offenders to transportation to water to early childhood education. Colorado LegiSource will be summarizing the activities and bills of each committee that is recommending bills. The Legislative Council will meet November 14, 2013, to approve the interim committee bills that will be introduced during the 2014 legislative session.
This week’s article discusses four of the eight committees that are recommending bills. In two weeks, Colorado LegiSource will summarize the bill output of the other four committees. (more…)
By Esther van Mourik
Did you know that the General Assembly is now SMARTer? It is! Last session the General Assembly passed House Bill 13-1299, which repealed and reenacted the “State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act”. (more…)
by Ashley Zimmerman
It’s a common sight in the capitol every year or so – school kids gleefully working with legislators to learn how a bill becomes a law and to make their own impact on the state by presenting a bill to designate a state symbol. This tradition goes back more than 100 years, to when the white and lavender Columbine flower became the state flower of Colorado. (more…)
by Julie Pelegrin
Fifth in a series focusing on the organization of state government. Click here for DORA – Part 1, Secretary of State – Part 2, Education – Part 3, and Revenue – Part 4.
In accordance with their mission, the Colorado Department of Higher Education (Department) and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, known as CCHE, work with more than 450 Colorado public and private institutions of higher education in the state to provide access to high-quality, affordable education for all Colorado residents that is student-centered, quality-driven, and performance-based. To fully accomplish this mission, the Department not only works with the higher education institutions (enrolling more than 430,000 students), but also works with middle and high schools, students and their families, and, unexpectedly, the state historical society. (more…)
by Chuck Brackney
Fourth in a series focusing on the organization of state government. Click here for DORA – Part 1, Secretary of State – Part 2, and Education – Part 3.
The Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) is among those agencies that have responsibilities for a wide-ranging number of programs. While it’s not surprising that they are in charge of collecting taxes, they also have several less-obvious areas of expertise, from motor vehicles and driver’s licenses to liquor regulation and the state lottery. DOR also has the authority to regulate medical marijuana and will take over a similar task for retail marijuana when its sale and use becomes legal in 2014. (more…)