by Julie Pelegrin

Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on May 10, 2012, and has been updated with information pertaining to the upcoming special session commencing October 2, 2017.

The Governor recently issued an executive order calling the General Assembly into a legislative special session.  At this point, many legislators and other people may be wondering what, exactly, is a special session and how does it work?

The most obvious things that are different about a special legislative session are: 1) The General Assembly is in session even though the regular, 120-day legislative session has ended, and they can remain in session as long as they choose to do so; and 2) The General Assembly is limited to addressing only certain subjects while meeting in special session.

Governor’s Authority: Section 9 of Article IV of the constitution authorizes the Governor to convene the General Assembly “on extraordinary occasions” by a proclamation, known as “the call,” that specifies the purposes for which the General Assembly is to convene. The only business the General Assembly may transact during the special session is the business the Governor specifically identifies in the call. The Governor decides what is an extraordinary occasion and sets the agenda of issues that the General Assembly may consider. The Governor’s call also sets the date and time at which the special session must begin.

The Governor’s recent call directs the General Assembly to convene in special session at 10:00 a.m. on October 2, 2017. The only item identified by the Governor that the General Assembly may consider when they convene is clarification of statutory provisions enacted in Senate Bill 17-267 to “codify that retail marijuana sales are subject to sales taxes levied by certain special districts and other limited purpose governmental entities.”

Agenda Items: The Governor sets the agenda items, but the Colorado Supreme Court has held that he cannot prescribe the specific form of legislation; he cannot describe the agenda items so narrowly that the General Assembly is forced, in the words of the Court, “to do the bidding of the governor, or not act at all.” (640 P.2d 1151 (Colo. 1982)). The General Assembly decides whether to enact legislation to address the agenda items and, if enacted, how the legislation will address the agenda items.

It is the advice of the office that the question of whether a bill or resolution fits within the agenda items is a substantive, not a procedural, question and cannot be decided by a ruling of the chair of a committee or by a ruling of the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Similar to deciding whether a bill is constitutional, the Senate and the House of Representatives decide whether a bill fits within the agenda items when they vote on the bill or resolution.

Timing:  While the General Assembly must convene on the date and time specified in the call, the General Assembly need not pass, nor even consider, any legislation while in special session, and the General Assembly decides how long the session will last. The Governor may not set a date by which the General Assembly must adjourn.

General Assembly’s Authority: During a special session, the General Assembly retains its full plenary authority, other than being limited to considering only the agenda items. The General Assembly may convene and, after establishing the presence of a quorum, immediately adjourn. The General Assembly may consider but refuse to pass any legislation during a special session, or it may pass one or more bills that address one or more of the agenda items on the Governor’s call. The Governor has no authority to either force the General Assembly to stay in session or force the General Assembly to adjourn.

Rules and Procedure: Although the agenda is limited, a special session operates under the same constitutional requirements and legislative rules, other than the deadline schedule, that apply during a regular session. Each bill must have a single subject; each introduced bill must be assigned to a committee and receive consideration and a vote on the merits; and the vote on second reading and the vote on third reading must occur on different calendar days, so it still takes at least three days to pass a bill. All of the legislative rules with regard to committees and the operations of the Senate and the House that apply in a regular legislative session also apply in a special legislation session.

If you have additional questions about how the General Assembly operates during a special session, please consult the special session FAQ memo available on the Office of Legislative Legal Services website.

by Patti Dahlberg and Jennifer Gilroy

Bill requests are coming in thick and fast and the drafting season is well underway. Now is probably a good time to review a couple of things about bill sponsorship and to remind you of recent changes to the rules for joint prime bill sponsors.

Bill Sponsor Basics. The legislator who introduces a bill is the bill’s prime sponsor. Each bill must have at least one prime sponsor in each house. In both houses, the prime sponsor is the one who “carries” the bill, which means he or she explains the bill in committee and in debate on the house or senate floor and usually arranges for witnesses to testify in favor of the bill in committee. Sometimes, two legislators in one house will agree to act as joint prime sponsors, in which case they are both responsible for carrying the bill. A bill that has joint prime sponsors in one house may or may not have joint prime sponsors in the other house. We’ll have more information on joint prime sponsorship later.

A legislator can be the first house prime sponsor or joint prime sponsor for only five bills, unless he or she has special permission to carry more. But a legislator can agree to be the second house prime sponsor or joint prime sponsor for as many bills as he or she wants to carry.

The first house prime sponsor is responsible for asking a legislator in the second house to carry the bill in the second house. The first house sponsor may identify a second house prime sponsor before the bill is introduced, but he or she must do so before the bill can be heard on third reading in the first house. The second house prime sponsor must give his or her permission before staff will add his or her name to the bill. The prime sponsors’ names are listed on the bill in bold.

Other legislators may want to show support for a bill by having their names listed on the bill, but not take on the responsibility of actually carrying the bill. If a legislator agrees to put his or her name on a bill before it is introduced, the legislator is a “sponsor” of the bill. If a legislator wants to add his or her name to a bill after it is introduced – either when the bill passes on third reading or when the bill is readopted in the first or second house – the legislator is a “cosponsor” of the bill.

Changes to Joint Prime Sponsorship. With everything else going on during the final days of the 2016 legislative session, you may not have paid much attention to the fact that both chambers passed resolutions amending their respective rules on the joint prime sponsorship of bills.  Senate Resolution 16-004 passed May 3, 2016, and House Resolution 16-1008 passed May 6, 2016.  Leadership in both houses sponsored these nearly identical resolutions to address some of the issues presented by the ever-increasing number of bills with joint prime sponsorship.  Statistics bear out the trend, showing that the number of House bills with joint prime sponsorship have increased over the past 5 years from 31 in 2012 to 148 in 2016.  A full one-third of the House bills introduced in 2015 had a joint prime sponsor.  Similarly, the number of Senate bills with joint prime sponsorship increased from 17 in 2012 to 42 in 2016.

The resolutions addressed three pressing issues: 1) The timing for adding joint prime sponsors; 2) the bases for removing a joint prime sponsor; and 3) the ability to substitute a joint prime sponsor for one whose name has been removed from a bill.  The two resolutions made the following noteworthy changes to House Rule 27A and Senate Rule 24A impacting the joint prime sponsorship of bills:

➤The first house prime sponsor of a bill may now add a joint prime sponsor in the first house or in the second house either before the bill is introduced in the first house or after second reading of the bill, but before the bill passes on third reading, in either the first house or the second house.

➤While a bill is pending in the first house, the Speaker or the President, as the case may be, may grant a joint prime sponsor’s request to have his or her name removed from the bill for a reason other than resignation, serious illness or other incapacity, or death.

➤While a bill is pending in the first house but before third reading, the first house prime sponsor may now designate a substitute prime sponsor for the second house (and also a substitute joint prime sponsor in the second house if he or she chooses) when the Speaker or President, as the case may be, has granted the second house prime sponsor’s or joint prime sponsor’s request to have his or her name removed from the bill.

➤The prime sponsor in the first house must notify the Chief Clerk or the Secretary of the Senate, as appropriate depending on which house the bill starts in, of any changes in bill sponsorship so that the changes are reflected in the reengrossed version of the bill.

by Dan Cartin

If you attend a legislative committee meeting at the State Capitol, you will see this sign posted in the Senate and House committee room hallways:

Maintaining decorum and civility during the course of legislative committee meetings is the cornerstone of a productive hearing on the bills before that committee. Persons who come to testify on legislation and those who attend a committee hearing to peacefully observe and listen to the proceedings often travel long distances to the Capitol on the day of the hearing. Everyone attending can reasonably expect that the meeting will proceed in an environment of mutual respect among the legislators, witnesses, and audience that is free from disruptions. One commentator has observed that “[p]reventing disturbances at public meetings is essential to achieving the dual goals of fostering citizen participation and ensuring the efficient accomplishment of public business.” (“Civility in Government Meetings: Balancing First Amendment, Reputational Interests, and Efficiency.” 10 First Amend. L. Rev. 51 (2011)) The right to attend and participate in a committee meeting is necessarily balanced with the committee’s right to ensure that its proceedings are not disrupted.

But legislative committee meetings are occasionally disrupted by verbal outbursts, such as cheering, booing, shouting, or applauding, by persons attending the meeting. Signs, clothing, or distracting electronic or photographic equipment may have a similar, if less audible, disruptive effect on the ability of persons to freely testify on legislation. These distractions illustrate the need to balance the public’s right to freedom of speech and to petition the government with the right of the legislative branch and committee witnesses to engage in a process that ensures decorum and civility.

The Colorado constitution, state statutes, and legislative rules all authorize the General Assembly to preserve decorum generally and in legislative committee meetings specifically. Article V, section 12 of the constitution authorizes each house to adopt rules that address disorderly behavior and enforce obedience to its process.

State statute authorizes the Senate and House to adopt rules or joint rules or to authorize the Senate President or the Speaker to adopt regulations protecting the safety of legislators, staff, and the general public. The rules must be “consistent with public convenience, the public’s right of freedom of expression and to peaceably assemble and petition government, and the established democratic concepts of the openness of the legislative process.” This includes the ability to adopt rules:

• Regulating admission to legislative areas;
• Prohibiting signs, banners, placards, and similar display materials without authorization;
• Restricting the placement of television and photographic equipment;
• Authorizing the sergeants-at-arms to clear the committee rooms and the chamber galleries if there is a disturbance that disrupts legislative proceedings or endangers legislators, staff, or the public; and
• Addressing any other matters that may be appropriate for the orderly conduct of the General Assembly’s affairs and protection of the health, safety, and welfare of all the participants in the legislative process.

Senate Rules 22A and 31 and House Rules 23 and 25 address decorum in the chambers and committee rooms. House committee chairpersons are specifically authorized to have a sergeant-at-arms remove persons who impede, disrupt, or hinder a meeting or endanger the meeting’s participants. The Senate does not have a similar rule, but Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure, section 805, suggests that Senate committee chairpersons also have this authority. Fortunately, removing a person or persons from a committee hearing for disruptive behavior occurs very rarely.

Before 2013, the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate each developed policies for the use of committee rooms. Each policy prohibits signs, placards, and banners, as well as clothing with words, pins, or buttons that express support or opposition to issues before a legislative committee. During the 2013 legislative session, Senate and House leadership directed staff to post the “Welcome to the Colorado General Assembly” signs in the hallways outside of the Senate and House committee rooms.

Legislative staff have also created a “Guide to Public Hearings” to supplement the signs. It’s available under “General Legislative Information” on the General Assembly’s website.

So, welcome to the Colorado General Assembly! Hopefully, the information in this article will help ensure that, whether you are coming to the Capitol to testify on a bill or just watch a committee meeting, your experience will be respectful, civil, and free from disruption.

by Julie Pelegrin

With the opening of the Second Regular Session of the 70th General Assembly, now might be a good time to spend a few minutes thinking about civility and why it’s important. The Colorado General Assembly actually doesn’t have a problem with civility; the debates under the Gold Dome are, in most instances, very civil and relationships are generally cordial. But the General Assembly is facing many important issues this year and there is significant disagreement on how to address most of them. And it’s an election year. So reviewing what we know about the importance of civility and what civility means is time well spent.

First – what is civility? The Institute for Civility in Government says:

Civil Politics describes their view of civility as:

Second – why is civility important? Recently, an organization called FairVote teamed with the Bipartisan Policy Center to look at state legislatures in which one of the chambers was evenly split between Republicans and Democrats and how the chambers made power-sharing work. In their report – Best Practices for Collaborative Policymaking – they looked at the Oklahoma Senate (2007-08), the Oregon House (2011-12), and the Washington House (1999-2001). While tied, each chamber adopted what is called a “co” agreement – pairs of members from each party held the leadership and committee chair positions.

Interestingly, legislators from Oklahoma and Oregon described their time under the “co” agreements as being very productive and cooperative. Legislators in both states remembered these years as times of great bipartisan agreement and civility.

In Washington, however, the legislators remembered their years of power-sharing as a time of gridlock during which few significant bills were passed and partisanship was especially rampant.

Why the difference?

The report concludes that one reason is a difference in how the legislative rules in each state distributed the power to control the agenda. In both Oklahoma and Oregon, the rules ensured that both parties were able to get their legislation on the committee calendar and on the House second reading calendar without being blocked by the other party. In Washington, however, committee co-chairs had to agree to calendar legislation for committee hearings, and each co-Speaker could block consideration of the other party’s legislation on second reading. Each party used this power in retaliation for actions by the other party, leading both parties to feel shut out of the process.

But, in talking with legislators from all three states, the researchers concluded that the relationships among legislators – and especially among the leadership in both parties – were more important to achieving a successful legislative session than the rules. The report quotes political scientist Thom Little, commenting on power-sharing arrangements: “Trust between the leadership of the parties is by far the most important factor. No matter what the rules are, if the two leaders don’t trust each other, it will be a disaster.”

And in Oklahoma and Oregon, where the power-sharing agreements were successful, the researchers found that the co-chairs of committees and the rest of the legislators in the House followed the example of trust and mutual respect set by the co-Speakers. Further, the co-Speakers specifically emphasized civility and cooperation from the beginning of the session.

Even though Colorado’s General Assembly isn’t operating under a power-sharing agreement within a single house, control of the chambers is split between the parties: Republicans hold the majority in the Senate and Democrats hold the majority in the House. This means that relationships of trust, mutual respect, and civility between the leadership in the two chambers and among all of the legislators are the key to a successful legislative session for the entire General Assembly.

In May of 2011, the NCSL Executive Committee adopted a Civility Accord. It sets out six principles of civility:

• Respect the right of all Americans to hold different opinions.
• Avoid rhetoric intended to humiliate, de-legitimatize or question the patriotism of those whose opinions are different from ours.
• Strive to understand differing perspectives.
• Choose words carefully.
• Speak truthfully without accusation and avoid distortion.
• Speak out against violence, prejudice, and incivility in all their forms, whenever and wherever they occur.

And the Accord closes with:

Good words to keep in mind as the legislative session progresses.

by Darren Thornberry and Patti Dahlberg

To sponsor, or not to sponsor – WHEN is the question. But there’s no time to sully soliloquies when bill deadlines are upon us and zipping by. Perhaps new and returning legislators, capitol staff, and the public may all find a primer on sponsoring bills to be useful.

If you like it, then you better put your name on it.
First things first: Legislators who intend to sponsor a bill, whether as a prime, joint prime, or co-sponsor, have to let the drafter know! Our tenacious drafters will do just about everything short of sending a raven to verify the wishes of a potential bill sponsor, so here’s to e-mails checked, cell phones on, and plans plainly stated.

We hope you’re not surprised to learn that the 2016 Legislative Session convenes next Wednesday, January 13. Legislators must have begun working on their bill requests and their bills’ order of introduction long before the mighty bang of the gavel starts the session.

In fact, by the first day of session legislators already should have:

• ▢  Their first three (of the five allowed by rule) bill requests in the system and drafted.
• ▢  Decided which of their bills will be their “prefile” or first bill introduced, and have turned it in for introduction. (Deadline is Friday, January 8 – yikes.)
• ▢  Decided which two of their bills will meet the other early introduction deadline and have them drafted and ready or close to ready for introduction. (Introduction deadlines are Friday, January 15, for Senate bills and Tuesday, January 19, for House bills.)

SPONSORSHIP FAQ: No need to sweat the rules about five-bill limits and joint prime sponsorship. Follow these checklists to sponsorship bliss!

Five-bill limit.

• ▢  The joint rules limit legislators to five bills, excluding any committee or sunset bills. [Joint Rule 24 (b) (1) (A)]
• ▢  House members can be a prime or joint prime sponsor on as many Senate bills as they desire because second house bills do not count against the five-bill limit. [Joint Rule 24 (b) (1) (C)]
• ▢  Senate members can be a prime or joint prime sponsor on as many House bills as they desire because second house bills do not count against their five-bill limit. [Joint Rule 24 (b) (1) (C)]
• ▢  Legislators who want to request more than the five bills allowed by rule must obtain permission to do so from their house’s Leadership. [Joint Rule 24 (b) (1) (A)]

Joint Prime Sponsorship.

• ▢  Joint prime sponsorship means two legislators in the same house decide to jointly and equally sponsor a bill through that house’s legislative process.
• ▢  Joint prime sponsorship counts against both legislators’ five-bill limit in the first house. A legislator cannot be added as a joint prime sponsor in the first house if that legislator has already submitted five bill requests, unless that legislator first obtains permission from Leadership.
• ▢  Joint prime sponsorship in the second house does not count against the five-bill limit for either legislator.
• ▢  Legislators must decide to jointly prime sponsor a bill before the bill is introduced in the applicable house.
• ▢  Both joint prime sponsors must verify their desire to be joint prime sponsors with the bill’s drafter or with the OLLS front office staff.
• ▢  Joint prime sponsorship is indicated on the bill by the word “and” (in bold) between the first two names listed as sponsors.
• ▢  The rules for joint prime sponsorship are similar for the House (House Rule 27A) and the Senate (Senate Rule 24A).

One Last Thing: The regular bill request deadline is Tuesday, January 19. Best to have a good idea now of what your regular bill requests will be!

by Patti Dahlberg

The 2016 legislative session is only about two and a half months away, and that means the bill drafting season is quickly heating up. This seems like a good time to address a few items regarding bills and bill requests that may have gotten a little “lost in translation” here and there over the years. . .

The legislator who submits the first bill request on a subject gets first ‘dibs’ on bill requests in that subject area and can prevent other legislators from submitting a similar bill request.
Fiction. The Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) records each bill request into a bill tracking system as a legislator submits it and then assigns the request to a drafter according to the subject of the request. The OLLS attempts to assign seemingly similar bill requests to the same drafter. This helps in identifying potentially duplicate bill requests, which in turn helps the office avoid duplicating bill drafting efforts by different drafters. If potential bill duplicates are identified, the OLLS will also try to notify the affected sponsors so that sponsors can decide whether they wish to introduce duplicate bills. But the office will not refuse a bill request on the grounds that it may be the same as another legislator’s request.

Because of confidentiality concerns, the sponsors of the duplicate bill requests will need to agree to allow the drafter to share some information about their bill requests during this notification process. See Ask OLLS column “What happens if I make the same bill request as another legislator?”, posted on September 22, 2011, for more information on duplicate bill requests.

When a legislator puts in a bill request, he or she is also “pulling a bill title” or otherwise deciding on the bill’s final title.
Fiction. The OLLS considers the information it receives at the time of the bill request to be a starting point for the bill request. This information enables the Office to describe the subject of the bill request in order to enter it into the bill tracking database, assign a tracking number, and assign a drafter. Practicality dictates that the bill request will be referred to in some manner during the drafting process, but it is important for all to understand that whatever a bill is referred to during drafting is not the bill’s title. A bill’s title is the official, legal title of the bill, which must be a single subject. The drafter and bill sponsor will make the bill title decision later in the drafting process to ensure that the title accurately reflects the contents of the introduced bill. See Ask OLLS column “Why is the title of a bill so important?”, posted October 13, 2011, for more details.

Being a joint prime sponsor on a bill will only count as half a bill request.
Fiction. Joint prime (or co-prime) sponsorship occurs when two legislators in the same house decide to jointly and equally sponsor a bill as it moves through the legislative process in that house. On the bill itself, joint prime sponsorship is indicated by the word “and” between the first two names listed on the bill. The rules concerning joint prime sponsorship are similar in the House (House Rule 27A) and Senate (Senate Rule 24A) and both state:

(3) For purposes of any limitations on the number of bills that a member may request or introduce, bills with joint prime sponsors shall be counted as being requested and sponsored by both the prime sponsor and the joint prime sponsor. If either the prime sponsor or the joint prime sponsor has already requested or introduced the total number of bills authorized within any bill limitation, such sponsor shall obtain permission from the delayed bill committee to exceed such limits prior to requesting or introducing such a bill. (Emphasis added)

In other words, the joint prime sponsored bill counts as one of each legislator’s five bill requests. For additional information regarding joint prime sponsorship, see “To Prime or to Joint Prime”, posted December 22, 2011.

Are there any facts regarding bill requests?

As a matter of fact, yes!

• The first bill request deadline is December 1. The second bill request deadline is the seventh day of session — Tuesday, January 19, for the 2016 Session.
• Joint Rule 24(b)(1)(A) limits legislators to five bill requests each session. These five bill requests are in addition to any appropriation, committee-approved, or sunset bill requests that a legislator may choose to carry. A legislator can also ask permission from the House or Senate Committee on Delayed Bills to submit additional bill requests or to waive a bill request deadline.
• Because Joint Rule 24(b)(1)(A) allows a legislator to submit only two bill requests after the December deadline, legislators are encouraged to submit more than three bill requests before that deadline. Submitting more than three requests by Dec. 1 may allow the legislator the flexibility to replace a bill request if he or she later withdraws a request. If a legislator submits fewer than three bill requests by the December deadline, he or she forfeits those requests.
• To request the five bills allowed by rule, a legislator must meet the bill request deadlines listed in Joint Rule 23(a)(1). Basically, three requests by the December deadline and two requests in by the January deadline.

For additional information on making and keeping bill requests, see “Bill Requests – Making and keeping the five allowed by rule”, posted September 1, 2011. Please disregard any references in the 9/1/11 article to specific session dates.

By Kathy Zambrano

As the General Assembly moves toward the end of the regular legislative session, you may hear the terms “10-day bill” and “30-day bill” bouncing around the capitol hallways. What’s the meaning of these terms? And why does the General Assembly care?

Section 11 of article IV of the state constitution specifies that every bill passed by the General Assembly must be presented to the Governor before it can become law. If the Governor approves of the bill, he or she signs it and returns it to the legislative house of origin with a letter detailing the date on and time at which he or she signed it. If the Governor vetoes a bill, it is returned to the house of origin along with an explanation of the Governor’s objections, which are then printed in the journal of the House of Representatives or the Senate, whichever is the house of origin.

If there are 10 days or more left in the legislative session when the Governor receives the bill, the Governor must act within 10 days after receiving the bill or it becomes law without the Governor’s signature. If there are fewer than 10 days left in the session or the General Assembly has already adjourned when the Governor receives the bill, the Governor has 30 days after the date of adjournment in which to approve the bill, allow the bill to become law, or veto the bill and file it with the Secretary of State.

If the General Assembly is still in session when the Governor vetoes a bill, the bill is calendared for “consideration of Governor’s veto” in the house of origin. Two-thirds of the members in both the House of Representatives and the Senate must vote affirmatively in order to override the veto.

So, a 10-day bill is a bill that the Governor must act on before the end of the legislative session. And, if the Governor vetoes a 10-day bill, the General Assembly may override the veto. With a 30-day bill, the Governor can wait until after the session is over to act on the bill. If the Governor decides to veto a 30-day bill, the General Assembly cannot override the veto.

To comply with the constitution, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Governor’s office enter into a formal memorandum of understanding regarding the details for delivering and returning bills, computing the ten-day and thirty-day periods for action by the Governor, and calculating the date when bills become law without the Governor’s signature.

Delivery and return of bills. The House, the Senate, and the Governor’s office agree to maintain regular weekday business hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During these hours, staff must be available to accept any documents, bills, or other communications from the Governor or the House or Senate. The parties agree to provide advance notice of any unusual circumstances relating to the delivery or return of bills. The delivery or return of bills is typically made within the regular business hours of the office unless other special arrangements are agreed to in advance.

When the Governor signs or vetoes a bill or allows a bill to become law without his or her signature, the Governor’s office delivers a letter from the Governor to the house of origin as soon as possible on the same day the bill is signed or vetoed or allowed to become law or, if the bill is signed or vetoed after business hours, the Governor’s office will deliver the letter the next morning that the house of origin is in session.

Computing 10-day and 30-day periods. In counting the 10-day period for action on a bill, the day that delivery is actually made is not counted. For example, if a bill is delivered to the Governor on a Monday, the first day of the 10-day clock for the Governor’s action is Tuesday. Since Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are considered legislative days, they are counted in calculating the 10-day period.

However, if the 10th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the day on which the bill must be returned to the General Assembly is extended to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. For example, if the House or Senate delivered a bill on Wednesday, February 11, 2015, the 10th day would fall on Saturday, February 21, 2015. The Governor need not return the bill on Saturday or Sunday because the 10th day would be extended to Monday, February 23, 2015. If the Governor did not sign or veto the bill, it would become law at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, February 24, 2015. Similarly, if the House or Senate delivers a bill on a Wednesday and the 10th day is extended from Saturday to a Monday, but the Monday is also a holiday, the return date will be further extended to Tuesday.

This seems pretty straight forward, but if the General Assembly or the house to which a bill is to be returned is in session and conducting business on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, and the 10th day falls on that day (for example, President’s Day), then the Governor must return the bill on that day. For example, if the Senate delivers a bill on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, the 10th day is Saturday, March 14, 2015. If the House was adjourned for the weekend but the Senate was in session and conducting business on Saturday, March 14, 2015, the Senate bill must be returned by that date. If a bill is delivered on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, the 10th day is Saturday, February 14, 2015. The 10th day would therefore extend to Monday, February 16, 2015. While February 16, 2015, is a holiday (Presidents’ Day), if the General Assembly or the house to which a bill is to be returned is in session on the Monday holiday, then the Governor must return the bill by that date.

If the Governor does not sign or veto a bill but allows it to become law without his or her signature, it becomes law at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the end of the 10-day period. For example, a bill delivered to the Governor on Monday, February 2, 2015, would have to be acted on and returned to the house of introduction by the 10th day following delivery, Thursday, February 12, 2015. If no action is taken, it would become law without the Governor’s signature on the 11th day following delivery, Friday, February 13, 2015, at 12:01 a.m. A bill delivered to the Governor on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, would become law without the Governor’s signature on Saturday, February 14, 2015, at 12:01 a.m.

If the General Assembly prevents the return of a bill during the 10-day period by adjourning sine die, the Governor has an additional 30 consecutive days after adjournment within which he or she may sign or veto a bill and file it with his or her objections with the office of the Secretary of State. The Governor must also act within this 30-day period on all bills enacted during the session and delivered after adjournment. If the Governor neither signs nor vetoes a bill but files it with the Secretary of State within the 30-day period, then it becomes law without the Governor’s signature. The 30-day period begins to run on the day following the day that the General Assembly adjourns sine die. The same rules apply in counting the 30-day period as apply in counting the 10-day period. For example, if the House or Senate delivers a bill to the Governor on Monday, April 27, 2015, the Governor may elect to take no action before adjournment and have an additional 30 days to act. The 10th day is Thursday, May 7, 2015. If no action is taken before the expiration of the 30-day period on Friday, June 5, 2015, the bill will become law on Saturday, June 6, 2015, at 12:01 a.m.

Important dates to know in April:

• For purposes of the 2015 Legislative Session, the 10-day clock expires April 24, 2015, assuming that neither house of the General Assembly works the weekend of April 25 and 26.
• All bills delivered to the Governor beginning Monday, April 27, 2015, are considered 30-day bills since the General Assembly must adjourn sine die, Wednesday, May 6, and the 10-day clock will expire Thursday, May 7.

(Reprinted with updates for the 2015 Session)

The process for requesting an interim study committee changed last year. Pursuant to section 2-3-303.3, C.R.S., a legislator can no longer create an interim committee by passing a bill or resolution. Instead, a legislator who thinks a group of his or her colleagues should study a particular issue during the interim must submit a formal letter to the Legislative Council for consideration and prioritization.

Requesting the creation of an interim study committee is a fairly simple process. A legislator starts by contacting either the Office of Legislative Legal Services or the Legislative Council Staff office to ask for a letter to formally request the creation of the interim study committee. Legislators will also soon have the ability to initiate the request through the iLegislate iPad application. The only information the legislator needs to provide when asking for the letter is the general topic that the interim committee will study. Both offices will assign staff to work with the legislator to develop the necessary details for the request and to prepare and finalize the letter. The legislator can also identify lobbyists or others who are authorized to work with staff in crafting the language of the letter.

The final letter must specify key details concerning the interim committee, such as:

• The scope of the policy issues the committee will examine;
• The number of legislators on the committee;
• How many times the committee will meet;
• Whether a task force is needed to assist the committee; and
• An estimate of the number of bills the interim committee may request to address the issues it studies.

The legislator who submits the letter request may ask other legislators who are in favor of creating the interim study committee to sign on as “supporters” of the request, similar to signing on as cosponsors of a bill or resolution. Unlike bills and resolutions, a letter requesting the creation of an interim study committee cannot have joint prime sponsors.

Once the letter is ready, the legislator must submit it to the Legislative Council for consideration by the Executive Committee. For the 2015 session, the deadline for submitting the letter is Friday, April 10, 2015. To help ensure adequate time to prepare the final letter for submission to the Executive Committee, a legislator must submit his or her request for a letter to the Office of Legislative Legal Services or the Legislative Council Staff office no later than Tuesday, April 7, 2015. The Legislative Leadership has stated no exceptions will be granted on this request deadline.

The Legislative Council will meet no later than Friday, April 24th this year to review and prioritize all of the interim study requests. Before that meeting, the Director of Research of the Legislative Council will review the 2015-16 legislative budget and report to the Executive Committee of the Legislative Council the number of interim committee meetings that are funded for the 2015 legislative interim. The Legislative Council will consider this information in deciding how many interim studies to prioritize. The President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minority Leaders of the Senate and the House will appoint the legislative members of the prioritized interim committees.

Using this process, most interim committees will be created by the end of the legislative session. However, after the General Assembly adjourns sine die, a legislator may submit to the Executive Committee a written request for an interim study committee. If the Executive Committee finds that the issue is the result of new or changed circumstances and the issue warrants study, the Executive Committee may create an additional interim committee or add the issue to the agenda of an existing interim committee.

For questions, please contact the Office of Legislative Legal Services at (303) 866-2045 or the Legislative Council Staff office at (303) 866-3521. A template of the letter used to request an interim study committee can be found here.

by Patti Dahlberg and Julie Pelegrin

In following legislation from introduction to the Governor’s desk, it’s important to know which version you’re working with. Once introduced, a bill may be amended at several stages of the process, and if you aren’t working with the most current version, you will be lost. Also, by paying attention to the stamps that accumulate on a bill as it moves through the legislative process, you will know when and where the bill’s been amended and how far it still has to go before becoming law.

The “version” of a bill indicates where it is in the legislative process.  To become law, each bill must be passed, with exactly the same wording, by both chambers. The version of a bill (as indicated on the upper right side on the first page) changes as the bill progresses through each official stage: introduction, passage on second reading, and third reading final passage in the first house or “house of origin”; and introduction, second reading, and third reading final passage in the second house. Amendments that the House adopts are indicated using shaded text and amendments that the Senate adopts are indicated by double-underlined text.

The stamps (see examples to the right), starting in the lower left margin of the bill, are boxed tidbits of information indicating whether a chamber adopted amendments, at which stage of the process, and on what date. When the bill version names are replaced at each stage of the process, the stamps remain leaving a trail of history on the bill.

Bill versions reflect the stages of the legislative process:
(1) Introduced (or Printed) bill. This is the bill as introduced, before any amendments are made to it. This version of the bill is read into the record and assigned to a committee of reference for consideration in the house of origin.

(2) Preamended bill. This is an unofficial version of a bill that is released when a committee of reference amends the bill before referring it to another committee or to the committee of the whole. The preamended version shows how the bill reads with the adopted committee amendments. This amended bill version is “unofficial” because it has not yet been “officially” adopted by the full house of origin.

When a committee refers a bill to the Committee of the Whole the bill moves to the second reading stage of the legislative process. During second reading, the house of origin may adopt, amend, or reject the amendments made by the committee of reference. And the house of origin may adopt additional amendments before it finally passes or kills the bill.

(3) Engrossed bill. After the house of origin adopts the bill on second reading, the committee of reference report, as it passed on second reading, and any other amendments that passed on second reading are enrolled into the introduced version of the bill, and the new version is known as the “engrossed bill.” Note: If the house of origin does not amend the introduced version of a bill, the introduced version of the bill becomes the engrossed bill – same bill, but different version stamp.

(4) Reengrossed bill. Once the house of origin passes the bill on third and final reading, the bill goes through enrolling again if necessary to include any additional amendments adopted on third reading. After third reading, the bill becomes the “reengrossed bill” and it includes all of the amendments that the house of origin adopts. The reengrossed version of the bill is transmitted to the second house for introduction and committee assignment. The committee of reference in the second house works with the reengrossed version of the bill.

(5) Preamended bill. As in the first house, if the committee of reference in the second house adopts amendments to the reengrossed bill, the staff creates a preamended bill, which is an unofficial version of the bill.

At second reading, the second house considers all bills referred to it by the committees of reference; adopts, amends, or rejects the committee amendments; considers and possibly adopts additional amendments; and finally passes, or kills, each bill.

(6) Revised bill. After the second house adopts the bill on second reading, all of the amendments adopted on second reading are enrolled into the reengrossed version of the bill, and the new version is known as the “revised bill.” Note: If the second house does not amend the reengrossed version of the bill, the reengrossed version becomes the revised version of the bill.

(7) Rerevised bill. Once the second house passes the bill on third and final reading, the bill goes through enrolling again if necessary to include any additional amendments that the second house adopted on third reading. After third reading, the bill becomes the “rerevised bill,” and it includes all of the amendments that the second house adopts.

If the second house does not amend the bill, the bill is scheduled for enrollment and transmitted to the Governor for action. If the rerevised bill (final version in the second house) is different from the reengrossed bill (final version in the house of origin), it goes back to the house of origin. The house of origin must decide whether to concur in the second house’s amendments and readopt the bill, or reject the second house’s amendments and request a conference committee of the two houses to resolve the differences, or reject the second house’s amendments and adhere to its own reengrossed version of the bill. Once the two houses resolve the differences between them and adopt the same bill, the bill is scheduled for enrollment and transmitted to the Governor for action. If the houses cannot resolve their differences, the bill dies.

(8) Enrolled bill and Final Act. The final version of the bill as adopted by both houses is known as the “enrolled bill.” Both the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate sign this version and it is transmitted to the Governor for action. The “final act” is the version that becomes law, either with or without the signature of Governor, unless the Governor vetoes it.