An informational and educational resource for the Colorado General Assembly by the Office of Legislative Legal Services.
by Julie Pelegrin
Although the 2012 regular legislative session has ended, it appears the work of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly may not be quite done. With the recent announcement of the Governor’s intention to call the General Assembly into a special session, many legislators and other people may be wondering what, exactly, is a special session and how does it work? (more…)
by Patti Dahlberg, Matt Dawkins, and Julie Pelegrin
We’re in the last few days of the 2012 regular legislative session and things seem to be moving faster. Actually, that’s not just your imagination. Due to some automatic suspensions in the legislative rules, things can and do move faster toward the end of session so that the General Assembly can get the work done before the clock strikes midnight on the one-hundred-twentieth legislative day — May 9. (more…)
by Julie Pelegrin
The second house has amended your bill and returned it to the first house. Now, you have a decision to make. Do you concur with the second house amendments and readopt the bill? Do you reject the second house amendments and request formation of a conference committee? Or, do you reject the second house amendments and adhere to the version you passed in the first house? The fate of your bill may hang on your decision. (more…)
by Rebecca Hausmann
If you’re anything like me, you might find type 1, type 2, and type 3 transfers a little confusing. First of all, what are they for? What’s the difference between the three types of transfers? And just why, exactly, are they called “transfers”, even when a new agency is created? (more…)
by: Peggy Lewis and Matt Dawkins
Imagine it’s six months from now, the leaves are just starting to turn, there’s a hint of fall in the air, and you get a call from a constituent who wants to know, “What was the intent of the legislature in passing that bill?” That’s actually a much more difficult question to answer than it might seem at first blush. (more…)
by Nate Carr
You’re feeling great! The bill you’ve been working on for months has just cleared third reading on the floor. A few amendments were added before it passed, but that’s okay. Leadership dismisses everyone for the day, and you leave the chambers. The next morning you return to your desk to find a letter from the Publications Coordinator and the Revisor of Statutes titled “Revisor’s Comment”. Both work in the Office of Legislative Legal Services. You open the letter to discover that they are alerting you to a conflict that your bill has with one or more other bills circulating through the process. You may experience a touch of anxiety, but don’t worry, the OLLS staff is ready and willing to work with you to resolve the conflict. (more…)
by Ashley Zimmerman
His face appears on a stained glass window in the dome of the Colorado capitol. He arrived in Colorado in the summer of 1861, delivered mail on snowshoes throughout the mountain range, and delivered nearly daily sermons in gold rush towns. In 1885, the Colorado Senate welcomed him as the first Senate Chaplain. His name was John L. Dyer. (more…)
by Jennifer G. Gilroy, Revisor of Statutes
Colorado’s laws will continue to be published in the familiar red books, but soon you will also be able to download the Colorado Revised Statutes in a digital format compatible with your electronic reader, tablet, or other handheld electronic device. This past September, the General Assembly’s ten-member Committee on Legal Services carefully considered each aspect of the four bids it received as a result of a request for proposals to publish Colorado’s law issued earlier in the summer. The competitive bid process, required by state law and the Colorado constitution, must occur at least once every ten years, and the last time the publications contract was put to bid was in 2001. Consider how significantly the world of publishing has changed in the last decade. (more…)
by: Matt Dawkins and Patti Dahlberg
Tributes may be a useful tool that a legislator can use in reaching out to constituents. Colorado legislators are not limited in the number of tributes they may request to recognize or commend an individual or organization. The content of a tribute is unique to each request and can be designed to fit the needs of each request — it can be short and created fairly quickly or it can be longer and contain specific information provided by the legislator. (more…)
After you approve your bill draft for introduction, the OLLS will deliver it to the front desk of the House or the Senate or the OLLS will deliver it to the sergeants who will give the bill to you. Please do not contact the OLLS to add sponsors after your bill has been delivered to the front desk or to you.
Sponsors
If the sergeants deliver the bill to you, you will receive a copy of your bill stapled to a heavier sheet of green paper (if you’re a representative) or buff paper (if you’re a senator). This is called a “bill back”. Also attached to the bill back are a sheet of paper with the name of each senator and one with the name of each representative. If you would like a representative or senator to sign on as a sponsor for your bill, ask that person to sign the attached paper next to his or her name. When you turn the bill back in to the front desk, the staff will include each person who has signed as a sponsor of your bill before the bill is sent to the printer, and the sponsor names will appear on the introduced version of the bill. Neither the House nor the Senate can add sponsors after your bill is sent to the printer.
Prime sponsors
If you want to designate your second-house prime sponsor after your bill is delivered upstairs, you must sign a form that formally designates the second-house prime sponsor before your bill passes on third reading. The form is available from the Chief Clerk of the House, for representatives, or the Secretary of the Senate, for senators. If you sign the form and turn it in to the front desk with your bill back or before your bill goes to the printer, the front desk staff will add the second-house prime sponsor immediately, and his or her name will appear on the introduced version of your bill.
After your bill is printed and introduced, anyone who wants to sign on as a co-sponsor will have an opportunity to do so on third reading.