Category: Legislative Process

  • The Resolution Might Be Televised: General Assembly Contemplates Remote Testimony

    by Kate Meyer

    Colorado, the nation’s eighth-largest state by land area, is justifiably renowned for its iconic landscapes, topographic variety, and diverse climate. However, with legislative sessions spanning treacherous winter and unpredictable springtime months, these quintessentially Coloradan features often conspire to impede the ability of the state’s citizens to travel to Denver to testify on legislation. Additionally, time, money, and accessibility concerns can deter residents of more distant locales. As a result, residents hailing from the more far-flung areas of the state can be underrepresented at legislative hearings. To address this inequity, there may soon be an alternative to the requirement to appear in-person in order to give testimony.

    Last session, the General Assembly passed House Bill 14-1303, which enables and directs the Executive Committee of the Legislative Council to promulgate policies that facilitate the receipt of public testimony from remote locations around Colorado. The bill is the General Assembly’s latest effort to adapt modern technology to the legislative process, but don’t expect to see citizens using FaceTime to testify on every bill when the legislature convenes this January. Like many of its forays into the new era of communication, the legislature will implement this bill cautiously and, likely, incrementally.

    What does HB14-1303 do? The bill directs the Executive Committee to “consider, recommend, and establish policies allowing legislative committees to take remote testimony from one or more centralized remote sites located around the state.” If the Executive Committee ultimately approves the use of remote testimony, at least one of those remote sites must be located on the Western Slope. And the Executive Committee is authorized specifically to contract with state institutions of higher education, which are typically well-known and well-equipped, that are willing to serve as those centralized remote sites. Further, the use of video conferencing can be implemented in phases.

    What doesn’t HB14-1303 do? Although HB14-1303 will allow some remote testimony, logistical circumstances, fiscal realities, and technological uncertainties require that the scope of the bill be somewhat limited. Therefore, HB14-1303 also put a number of crucial limitations on the way in which remote testimony will be accepted. Specifically, the bill does not:

    • Require every committee to take remote testimony, on every bill, at every hearing;
    • Erode the General Assembly’s ability to establish and enforce rules of procedure and decorum;
    • Allow citizens to provide remote testimony from any location they wish (say, their kitchen tables or Waikiki Beach); or
    • Require two-way video-conferencing capabilities.

    Other states allowing remote testimony. Two states currently permit remote public testimony. Like Colorado, these states’ capital cities are located in areas that often present geographic and meteorological challenges for many citizens.

    • Alaska’s Legislative Affairs Agency has set up 23 remote Legislative Information Offices throughout the state, which, in addition to providing general legislative information, allow members of the public to participate in committee hearings taking place in Juneau.
    • In 1991, the Nevada legislature appropriated moneys to set up a video conferencing link between committee rooms in the legislature and a room at the Cashman Field Convention Center in Las Vegas, the state’s most populous city.

    What are the next steps? Legislative Council Staff (LCS) is now in the process of evaluating potential vendors for the technology that will be involved with remote testimony. Three committee rooms are being adapted to allow for remote testimony, and LCS is developing related policies for the Executive Committee to consider.

    On September 5, 2014, the interim Water Resources Review Committee participated in a “trial run” of remote testimony. The committee met in the state Capitol, and received testimony from Hanna Holms at Mesa State University’s Water Center in Grand Junction. This “real-world” experience will undoubtedly inform the policies being developed.

    The General Assembly will be checking in on committees’ use of remote testimony through the next two sessions. HB14-1303 requires the director of research at LCS, before August 1, 2016, to submit to the members of the General Assembly a report detailing the extent to which remote testimony has been utilized, the costs associated with offering remote testimony, and any technical or other issues that arose in connection with remote testimony.

  • You’ve Got Mail!

    By Jery Payne

    Imagine you’re a senator in the Colorado General Assembly. You’re sitting at your desk and feeling good. Session is winding down, and you’re done with that monster bill you’ve been working on. All you have left is a short cleanup bill. (more…)

  • Requesting an Interim Committee? All You Need is a Letter

    By Matthew Dawkins

    Starting in 2014, the process for requesting an interim study committee has changed. With the recent amendment of section 2-3-303.3, C.R.S., a legislator can no longer create an interim committee by passing a bill or resolution. Now, 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. (more…)

  • So you think you’re so SMART?

    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…)

  • A Few Speeches But No Parades: What to Expect on the First Day of the 2013 Legislative Session

    by Julie Pelegrin

    The opening day of the First Regular Session of the Sixty-ninth General Assembly is just around the corner: Wednesday, January 9, 2013. For many legislators and legislative watchers, the hoopla and falderal will be old hat, but for those who are new to the process, here’s a quick overview of what to expect and some explanation of why they do what they do. (more…)

  • Bill Sponsor Basics: A Quick Pre-session Review

    by Julie Pelegrin

    With the 2013 legislative session starting in less than two weeks, we thought it might be time to review some of the ins and outs of bill sponsoring with a few frequently asked bill-sponsor questions: (more…)

  • When Two Bills Collide: What to do when your bill has a conflict

    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…)

  • After my bill is delivered to the House or the Senate, how do I add sponsors?

    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.

  • The session is about to start – how much longer do I have to request my bills?

    Your first three bill requests, which are intended to meet the early bill introduction deadlines, had to be submitted by December 1, 2011. If you submitted only three bill requests at that time, you can request two more bills. You must submit these last two bill requests to the OLLS on or before Monday, January 16, 2012, unless the General Assembly decides that it will not meet on that day, since it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. If that happens, the deadline for submitting your last two bill requests to the OLLS is Tuesday, January 17, 2012.

    If you submitted four bill requests by December 1, you can submit one more request, but if you submitted five bill requests by December 1, you cannot submit any more bill requests unless you withdraw, or kill, one of the bill requests you already have in. If you have already requested more than three bills, and you have three bills that will meet the early introduction deadlines, you can replace up to two bill requests with new bill requests so long as you submit them to the OLLS on or before Monday, January 16, 2012, or Tuesday, January 17, 2012, if the General Assembly does not meet on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

  • Can another member add my name as a sponsor on his or her bill without my permission?

    No. Your name will not go onto any bill unless the OLLS has received your permission to be added as a joint prime sponsor, an additional sponsor, or as the opposite house prime sponsor. The procedure for getting your permission is called “sponsor verification.” If the sponsor of a bill or a lobbyist tells the OLLS that you will sponsor the bill, you will most likely receive a call, an e-mail, or a personal visit form a member of the OLLS staff stating that the Office is trying to “verify” you as a sponsor on Member A’s bill. You are then free to say yes or no. Or, after you tell Member A or the lobbyist that you will be a sponsor on the bill, you can call or email the OLLS verifying that you will be a sponsor. After we confirm your sponsorship with Member A, we will add your name to the bill.

    You may ask to see a copy of the bill before you agree to become a sponsor. The OLLS will then get permission from Member A to give you a copy. If you still can’t decide whether to become a sponsor, you should probably talk directly with Member A.