by Jery Payne

We did it! We just passed the finish line and concluded the Second Regular Session of the 74^th General Assembly. The marathon was fun while it lasted, but we’re happy to be sitting down, rubbing our feet, and drinking some water. Around mile 20, our legs felt like rubber, but “Gonna Fly Now” came up on the playlist, and remembering the scene of Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, we caught our second wind. When we crossed the finish line, we jumped up and down like the Italian Stallion. We’re tired, but it’s the satisfied kind of tired you feel when you rest after a hard day’s work.

We hope you feel the same!

If this year’s legislative session felt a bit busier, that’s because it was. There was a total of 705 bills introduced, with 233 bills introduced in the Senate and 472 bills introduced in the House. Last session, in 2023, 617 bills were introduced. In 2022, 657 bills were introduced. In 2021, 623 bills were introduced. So the General Assembly was a bit more active than usual this legislative session.

The regular session is done, but the Office of Legislative Legal Services staff is still getting bills signed by legislative leadership, writing digests, indexing, publishing the statutes, and getting bills ready for the governor, who has to decide what to do with each bill. After sine die, the governor has 30 days to sign, veto, or ignore a bill. If the governor signs or ignores a bill, it becomes law. If the governor vetoes a bill, it does not become law and the governor must send it back to the House and the Senate with a letter explaining the reason for vetoing the bill. The General Assembly can override a veto but not if the General Assembly has adjourned sine die.

The General Assembly could call itself back for a special session to repass the vetoed bill and override the veto, if it is vetoed again. But for now, the legislative votes have been taken and we await the decisions of the governor.

The next race begins on January 8, 2025. So we have about eight months to do all the work that leads to drafting legislation for the next legislative session. Make that seven months, as we all need a rest!

Before you know it, interim committees will begin. The General Assembly will be forming two letter interim committees: The American Indian Affairs Interim Study Committee and the Cell Phone Connectivity Interim Study Committee. Plus, HB24-1368 creates the Language Access Advisory Board. The purpose of the Advisory Board is to bring together stakeholders and experts to study and make recommendations on improving meaningful access to the legislative process for populations with limited English proficiency

Here are the returning interim committees:

• Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee
• Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Colorado Jail Standards
• Pension Review Commission
• Pension Review Subcommittee
• Sales and Use Tax Simplification Task Force
• Statewide Health Care Review Committee
• Transportation Legislation Review Committee
• Treatment of Persons with Behavioral Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems
• Wildfire Matters Review Committee

Please enjoy your interim (we will be also enjoying ours). For now, Colorado LegiSource is going on hiatus for the summer. See you in the fall!

by Jery Payne

As we head down the road towards the 2024 session, looking for a nice rest area with green grass and blue sky, the 2023 session is now in our rear view mirror, and although each session has its own special scenery, road curves, and interesting viewpoints, 2023 was quite a ride. Sometimes it felt like we were racing down an open highway, windows open with the wind blowing through our hair. And other times we waited in a traffic jam, peering out over the steering wheel to count the number of cars ahead, only to shrug our shoulders, turn up George Strait, and sing along, “And there’s a road, a winding road that never ends ….”

If this road hasn’t ended, at least we’re pulling into the motel for the night. The General Assembly has adjourned sine die. The regular session is done, and it’s time for some rest and relaxation.

Despite the long hours, the number of bills introduced is actually pretty normal. I count 617 bills introduced this session, which is about the same as the last few sessions: 657 bills were introduced in 2022, 623 bills in 2021, 651 bills in 2020, and 598 bills in 2019. But the number of bills doesn’t really tell the whole tale because the word bill can refer to a three-page bill or to a 300-page bill. This year did seem to have more of those longer complex bills than normal. But again, that doesn’t really tell the whole tale. The 2023 session felt long because it was a session with many long debates, which makes for long hours for legislators and staff.

The 2023’s regular session is done. Staff is still getting bills signed, writing digests, and getting the bills ready to go to the governor, who has to decide what he will do with these bills. If there are 10 days left in the session, the governor has 10 days to sign, veto, or ignore a bill. But if there aren’t 10 days left when the bill is presented, the governor has 30 days for those same options. If the governor signs a bill or ignores it for the required time, the bill becomes law. If the governor vetoes a bill, it does not become law and the governor must send it back to the House and the Senate with a letter explaining his reasons for vetoing the bill. Normally, the General Assembly can override a veto, but not if the General Assembly has adjourned sine die. (I suppose the General Assembly could call itself back for a special session to override the veto, but let’s hope that’s a road trip it does not take.) 

For now, the legislative votes have been taken and we await the decisions of the governor.

Enjoy a bit of downtime, but the 2024 session is coming, so don’t wait too long.

Before you know it interim committees will be starting up. In addition to the existing committees, this year the General Assembly will be forming three additional interim committees: The Colorado’s Child Welfare System Interim Study Committee, the Recidivism Interim Study Committee, and the Legislative Interim Committee on Ozone Air Quality. The first two were created through the letter process, while the third was a product of House Bill 23-1294. So now enjoy your interim. We will be also enjoying our interim, and LegiSource is going on hiatus for the summer. But the 2024 session is coming. Today, the motel is calling you from the road, but tomorrow, the road will be calling you from the motel.

By Julie Pelegrin

For the second year in a row, the General Assembly wrapped up the legislative session both early (if you’re looking at legislative days) and late (if you’re looking at the calendar). They started January 13, 2021, as required by the constitution, met for three days, then temporarily adjourned. When they returned on February 16, which normally would have been the 35th legislative day, they picked up counting with the 4th legislative day. So, while it may have felt like everything was running a month behind, the General Assembly was on track – or even a little ahead – for the remainder of the session. When they finally finished their work on June 8 – the 116th legislative day – the General Assembly adjourned sine die with four days of their maximum 120 calendar days to spare even though it was a month late compared to pre-pandemic sessions.

This strange calendar was again the result of being in session while the Governor’s statewide public health disaster emergency order was in place and operating under Rule 44 of the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives. While the General Assembly was meeting in January, one of the actions they took was passing Senate Joint Resolution 21-001, which adopted the joint rules of the 72nd General Assembly as the temporary joint rules of the 73rd General Assembly, but made a couple of important changes to Joint Rule 44. First, the House and the Senate amended the rule to state that it remains in effect so long as the Governor’s public health disaster emergency is in effect or until the Executive Committee terminates the operation of the rule. With this change, a majority of the members of the Executive Committee (the President, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader of the Senate; and the Speaker, Majority Leader, and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives) can decide that the General Assembly is no longer operating under the rule, regardless of whether the public health disaster emergency order is still in effect.

The other significant change to Joint Rule 44 affects how the legislative days are counted. During the 2020 legislative session, once the public health disaster emergency was declared and Joint Rule 44 came into effect, only those days on which one or both of the houses convened counted against the 120-day maximum. That meant that the weekends, when usually neither house convened, did not count, which significantly extended how late the session could continue into the year even if the General Assembly did not take a temporary adjournment. With the General Assembly’s changes to the rule, once the General Assembly convenes in a year in which Joint Rule 44 is in effect, every calendar day counts toward the 120-day maximum, unless both houses agree to temporarily adjourn for more than three days. So, the days during the temporary adjournment from January 16, 2021, through February 15, 2021, did not count, but once the house reconvened on February 16, every day counted.

In terms of introduced bills, this session was a little low compared to past years, but the pass rate was the highest in at least the last eight sessions. In all, 623 bills were introduced; 503 bills (81%) were enacted and 120 bills (19%) were killed. Of those bills that were enacted, as of June 17, the Governor had vetoed one bill, allowed two bills to become law without his signature, and signed approximately 250 bills. Almost half of the enacted bills are still waiting for the Governor’s action; he has until July 8 to either sign or veto them. At 12:01 a.m. on July 9th, any bills not acted on will become law without his signature.

Similar to last session, the remarkable thing about the 2021 session was not the total number of bills introduced, but the timeframe in which bills were introduced. Sixty-five bills were introduced after May 1, with just over a month left in the session. Fourteen of those bills were introduced with just two weeks left in the session. These late bills included the annual school finance bill and a separate bill to change the school finance funding formula; an almost 200-page transportation funding bill; several criminal law reform bills, including a 360-plus page bill on misdemeanor reform; a bill to modernize the public utilities commission; a bill to create a new department of early childhood; some climate change and energy bills; several significant tax reform measures; a prescription drug pricing bill; and several bills to spend millions of dollars in federal stimulus money. Suffice it to say, those final five weeks were busy.

Even with so many bills so late in the session, the General Assembly managed to adjourn four days early, a feat few thought they could achieve. And at this point, the General Assembly has no plans to return until the second regular session of the 73rd General Assembly convenes on January 12, 2022. Here’s hoping the 2022 legislative session will follow a more normal pattern…whatever that means.

By Julie Pelegrin

Finally, the longest, shortest, strangest legislative session in recent memory is over. Monday, June 15, 2020 – that’s right, June 15 – the 72nd General Assembly wrapped up their second regular legislative session. The total number of bills introduced was comparable to past sessions: 427 House bills and 224 Senate bills for a total of 651. What was different about this session was that 88 of those bills were introduced in the last 16 days of the session.

There were actually several things that were different about this session.

On the 67th legislative day, March 14, the General Assembly temporarily adjourned until March 30 due to the public safety concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. When they attempted to return on March 30, a quorum of legislators was not present in either house, so the temporary adjournment continued until May 26. This was the first time in 30 years that the regular legislative session did not end within 120 days after it started.

When the General Assembly temporarily adjourned on March 14, they invoked for the first time Joint Rule 44 (g) of the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives, which says that, during a declared statewide health emergency, the limit of 120 calendar days that the constitution places on the length of a regular legislative session applies only to the days on which at least one of the houses actually convenes. (Otherwise, every calendar day beginning with the first day of the legislative session counts toward the limit). Just to be sure, the General Assembly submitted an interrogatory to the Colorado Supreme Court, and the Court confirmed that counting only working calendar days complies with article V, section 7 of the Colorado constitution.

So Tuesday, May 26, when both houses reconvened, was the 69th legislative day. And the day on which the General Assembly adjourned sine die – June 15 – was actually only the 84th legislative day. Thus, in another first in 30 years, the General Assembly ended the legislative session a bit more than a month early, while also ending a bit more than a month late.

Although the session was interrupted and truncated, the General Assembly considered the usual wide range of policy issues: education, death penalty, health care, water, taxes, housing, regulation of vaping and other nicotine products – the gamut. But it seems some of the biggest issues were handled in the last 16 days after the General Assembly reconvened.

As of March 14, neither the annual budget bill nor the annual school finance bill – the only two measures that the constitution requires each year – had been introduced, although the budget bill was almost finished. Because of the unprecedented drop in the economy caused by the secondary effects of COVID-19, the Joint Budget Committee and its staff put in many, many exhausting hours rewriting the entire bill. As originally written, the budget was expected to spend approximately $800 million more in the 2020-21 fiscal year than in the 2019-20 fiscal year; as passed, the budget spends approximately $3.3 billion less. The school finance bill also had to be written to reflect the constitutionally required increase in per-pupil statewide base funding of $132 (1.9% for inflation) above the per-pupil statewide base amount for the 2019-20 fiscal year and, due to the loss in revenue, a decrease of approximately $445 million in the total amount the state will appropriate the 2020-21 fiscal year for school finance below the amount appropriated for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The school finance bill also includes a provision to potentially—but not in 2020-21—increase the amount of property tax that school districts collect to rebalance the amount of revenue contributed by school districts and by the state to fund public schools.

There were other significant tax measures passed in the last 16 days. This November, voters will consider whether to repeal the Gallagher amendment, the constitutional provision that controls the assessment rates for residential and business property, and whether to increase the taxes on nicotine products to the tune of about $83 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year, about $168 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year, and more in subsequent years. The revenue is earmarked for rural schools and school districts, preschool programs, tobacco education programs, affordable housing construction grants and loans, and eviction legal defense costs.

The General Assembly also passed House Bill 20-1420, concerning the adjustment of certain state tax expenditures in order to allocate additional revenues to the state education fund. This bill, for purposes of state income taxes, reverses some of the effects of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) that would otherwise reduce state revenue. Also, beginning in the 2021 tax year, the bill extends the earned income tax credit (EITC) to taxpayers who do not have a valid social security number but otherwise qualify for the credit and increases the amount of the EITC beginning in 2022. For the first two years, the bill is expected to result in a net increase in state revenue of up to $126 million, all of which will be transferred to the state education fund. Beginning in the 2022-23 fiscal year, the bill is expected to cause a net decrease in state revenue of up to $92 million over two years.

And lest we think the last 16 days have been all about money, the General Assembly also passed Senate Bill 20-217, enacting landmark criminal law reforms in direct response to the public’s calls for changes in law enforcement.

Clearly it was a busy 16 days. Legislators now turn their attention to the duties of the interim and the coming elections, while legislative staff shift their focus to publishing the statutes, reviewing agency rules, finalizing the state’s 2020-21 budget, preparing the 2020 Blue Book explaining the initiatives and referenda that will be on the November ballot, and planning the training program for the new legislators who will join the 73rd General Assembly in January 2021.

Mark your calendars: the first regular session of the 73rd General Assembly will convene at 10:00 a.m., January 13, 2021.

By Julie Pelegrin

For the first time since the 2012 regular legislative session, both the House of Representatives and the Senate worked until midnight on the 120^th legislative day before gaveling closed the second regular session of the Seventy-first General Assembly. Actually, the General Assembly wrapped up at 11:58 p.m. in 2012. For the most recent true midnight sine die, you have to go all the way back to 2002.

And there were some other unusual things about the 2018 legislative session.

Representatives introduced 441 bills, Senators introduced 280 bills, for a grand total of 721 bills. That’s the highest number of bills introduced in a single session in over a decade. Ten days before the session ended, there were still 276 bills pending passage. In the last three days of the session, the General Assembly voted on approximately 126 bills.

There was nothing unusual about the wide range of topics under consideration this session. There were several bills recommended by the Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Interim Study Committee, bills to address the teacher shortage, bills concerning school and student safety, a bill to expand access to broadband in rural areas, bills for tax credits, bills on marijuana, gun bills, higher education bills, bills addressing the competency of juveniles and other defendants, bills on a stunning array of topics. And, of course, there was the bill to fund the operations of the executive and judicial departments for the 2018-19 fiscal year: the budget bill.

Legislators had an unusual revenue windfall to apply toward the 2018-19 fiscal year, which resulted in a $150 million increase in funding for preschool, elementary and secondary education; a nine percent overall increase in funding for higher education; $495 million for transportation projects; and $225 million for the Public Employees’ Retirement  Association (PERA).

And speaking of transportation and PERA…

One of the bills passed during the last two days of the 2018 legislative session was the first introduced: Senate Bill 18-001. After trying for several consecutive legislative sessions, the House and the Senate members were able to craft an agreement and pass a transportation bill. In addition to the $495 million for transportation projects just mentioned, the bill authorizes an additional $150 million in projects in the 2019 fiscal year and allows the state to request voter approval for $2.34 billion in transportation bonds.

The PERA bill—Senate Bill 18-200—took longer to wrap up. The conference committee (three representatives and three senators who meet to work out the differences between the House version and the Senate version of the bill) was formed Wednesday, May 2 but did not meet until late on the last night. The Senate passed the conference committee report and took final action on the bill at 11:10 p.m., less than an hour before adjournment. In its final form, the bill generally adjusts contribution levels, age of retirement, and cost-of-living increases to strengthen the solvency of the PERA system.

But that wasn’t the last controversial bill to pass. The House of Representatives took final action on House Bill 18-1256, which continues the existence of the Civil Rights Division and Commission within the Department of Regulatory Agencies, at 11:30 p.m. by repassing the bill and sending it to the Governor’s desk.

And still, the controversy continued.

The last bill considered during the 2018 session—Senate Bill 18-252—addressed determining the competency to proceed of a person who has mental illness and is accused of a crime. The conference committee met earlier in the day and reached a conclusion, although not all of the committee members agreed with the outcome. The House adopted the conference committee report and repassed the bill, and by about 11:30 p.m., it was ready for Senate action. The bill sponsor explained the conference committee report and asked for an aye vote. But at that point—about 11:40 p.m.—Senator Aguilar began speaking against the conference committee report, urging a no vote. She explained her reasons, and kept explaining her reasons, until the President banged the gavel at midnight and the Majority Leader made the motion to adjourn sine die. In one of the most unusual moves to occur in several years, the last bill of the session died at midnight due to a filibuster.

But there’s still one unusual outcome from the 2018 session that we must mention.

Each year, before they adjourn, the General Assembly passes a joint resolution to set the date for convening the next regular legislative session. This year, because of overlapping constitutional provisions (we’ll explain in a later post), the General Assembly set the date for convening the 2019 regular legislative session for January 4, 2019. Does that sound early to you? Well it is. And it’s a Friday; the legislative session usually starts on a Wednesday. Silver lining: The 2019 session will end on Friday, May 3, 2019, thanks to the 120-day constitutional limit.

The early start date drove the General Assembly to change the bill request deadlines. This year, each returning legislator must submit at least three bill requests to the Office of Legislative Legal Services no later than November 26, 2018. Each legislator who is newly elected to the General Assembly must submit at least three bill requests no later than December 10, 2018. Both of these dates are about a week earlier than usual.

Having survived one of the more unusual sessions in recent memory, we’re all looking forward to a nice, quiet interim – at least until the interim committees start meeting in July or August.

by Julie Pelegrin

Last night—May 10, 2017—at 9:29 p.m. in the Senate and 9:39 p.m. in the House, Senate President Kevin Grantham and Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran, respectively, dropped the gavel on the first regular session of the 71^st General Assembly. With this legislative session, the General Assembly negotiated resolutions to several long-standing issues, including how to address construction defects, the status of the hospital provider fee, and whether school districts must distribute a portion of their local tax dollars to the charter schools of the district.

During the 120 days since opening day in January, the House introduced 375 bills and the Senate introduced 306. Both houses also introduced a total of three concurrent resolutions (to amend the constitution), nine joint memorials (to memorialize previous legislators who recently passed away or ask Congress to consider a particular issue), and 80 joint resolutions (to address or comment on a variety of issues).

Overall this year, the General Assembly passed 423 bills—a passage rate of about 62%. The Governor has already signed 206 of those bills and vetoed one: S.B.17-139, concerning the extension of the credit for tobacco products that a distributor ships or transports to an out-of-state consumer. He has until June 9^th to act on the remaining 216 bills or, at 12:01 a.m. on June 10^th, they will become law without his signature.

Although it took longer than usual, the General Assembly passed the bills it is required to pass each year: The general appropriations, or “long,” bill (S.B.17-254) and the school finance bill (S.B.17-296). The long bill was finally passed on May 3. It authorizes spending $28.7 billion (state general fund, cash funds, and federal funds) for the expenses of the executive and judicial branches of the state. The school finance bill, which sets the amount of statewide base per pupil spending each year and the amount of the negative factor (to be known going forward as the “budget stabilization factor”), finally passed on May 10, the last day of the session. For the 2017-18 school year, on average, schools will receive $7,662 per student in state and local money, an increase of $242 over the 2016-17 school year. The Governor has not yet signed this year’s long bill or school finance bill.

Despite the fact that the houses were controlled by different parties, the General Assembly managed to negotiate to common ground on many issues this year:

• Putting some limits on construction defects lawsuits (H.B.17-1279);
• Establishing the hospital provider fee as an enterprise (S.B.17-267), one benefit of which is helping rural hospitals to continue operating;
• Reducing the constitutional cap on state spending by $200 million (S.B.17-267);
• Increasing the sales tax rate on recreational marijuana to 15%, and using $30 million of the revenue for rural school districts in 2017-18 and all school districts and institute charter schools starting in 2018-19 (S.B.17-267); and
• Requiring school districts to equitably distribute the local property tax money they collect to benefit the students enrolled in all of the schools of the school district, including charter schools and innovation schools authorized by the district, and requiring each school district and charter school to post on its website a list of the statutes for which it has received a waiver and the plan for meeting the intent of the waived statute. (H.B.17-1375).

That’s not to say that all issues were resolved. Despite best efforts in the last hours of the session, the houses were not able to agree on what limits to impose on the social use of marijuana, they could not agree on several changes to the duties of the Colorado Energy Office, and they did not agree on significant increases in transportation funding. Any or all of these issues are likely to make a return appearance in the 2018 regular legislative session….if not before in a special legislative session.

They did pass the joint resolution that sets the start date for the 2018 legislative session: January 10, 2018. Mark your calendars!

Between now and then, several interim study committees will meet, including committees to study school finance, opioid addiction, supporting young and beginning farmers, comprehensive sentencing reform, and county courthouse and jail funding and overcrowding solutions.

 

* A gavel drop is similar to a mic drop, but it carries much more authority.

 

by Julie Pelegrin

With the advent of the 120th legislative day, the Seventieth General Assembly adjourned sine die Wednesday evening. The 2016 legislative session was busy with the introduction of 468 House bills – the most in a session in recent memory – as well as 217 Senate bills, nine concurrent resolutions, 68 joint resolutions, and five joint memorials. Of that number, they passed 387 bills, 178 of which the Governor has already signed. The Governor must act by June 10 on the remaining 209 bills that passed or they will become law without his signature. So far, the Governor has not vetoed any of the bills passed this year.

The 2016 legislative session saw many long committee hearings (the last House Judiciary Committee meeting began on May 5 and didn’t adjourn until 4:48 a.m. on May 6) during which the legislators debated many significant issues. They considered 20 bills that addressed marijuana in some way, 94 bills on education, and 61 bills that had something to do with taxes. They passed bills to legalize rain barrels; to address the sentences for juveniles who were tried as adults and convicted of a class 1 felony; to eventually allow for the sale of liquor in grocery stores; to change the procedures for emergency 72-hour mental health holds; and to increase the transparency and security around student personally identifiable information collected by the state and by school districts.

On top of all that, the House and the Senate adopted a balanced state budget of about $27 billion for fiscal year 2016-17, and they enacted a school finance bill that increased the total program funding for public education to a statewide average of $7,425 per student – $112 more than in fiscal year 2015-16.

The House and the Senate managed to complete almost all of the items on their calendars, unlike past years when several bills and resolutions expired at the final gavel. Items often die on the calendar because section 7 of article V of the state constitution requires the regular legislative session to end every year no later than midnight on the 120th legislative day, regardless of whether the legislative work is completed.

This has not always been the case. The 120-calendar-day-limit on regular legislative sessions is a relatively recent development.

The Colorado constitution originally required the General Assembly to meet at “12 o’clock, noon” on the first Wednesday in January in 1876 and again in 1879, and then every other year “forever thereafter, and at other times when convened by the Governor.” Once convened, the legislators could stay as long as they liked. When they convened in regular legislative session every other year, they could consider bills on any topics they thought necessary or important. And there were no limits on how many bills legislators could introduce in each legislative session.

But as we all know, nothing is forever. Things changed after about 75 years.

At the general election in 1950, the people of Colorado passed House Concurrent Resolution 11, changing the session times for the General Assembly. Starting in 1951, the General Assembly convened the regular legislative session at 10:00 a.m. on the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday in January every year. There was still no limit on how long they could meet, but in even-numbered years legislators could only enact bills that raised revenue or made appropriations or that addressed subjects that the Governor identified in writing within the first 10 days of the session. And there were no limits on the number of bills introduced.

In 1977, the General Assembly first limited the number of introduced bills. House Joint Resolution 1016 amended the joint rules to limit each legislator to introducing six bills during the session, not counting appropriations bills or bills that a legislator requested by December 1 and introduced by the first day of the session. A legislator could ask permission from the delayed bill committee in his or her chamber to introduce additional bills.

In 1982, the voters first limited the length of a legislative session with the adoption of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1. This amendment limited the regular legislative sessions in even-numbered years to 140 calendar days. But the legislators could consider any topics they thought necessary or important during those 140 days; the voters removed the Governor’s power to control the legislative agenda. Legislative sessions in odd-numbered years could still continue as long as the legislators thought necessary. The legislative deadline schedule for these years contemplated at least 175-day sessions.

In 1984, the General Assembly further limited the number of bills: Six bills during the legislative sessions in odd-numbered years and four bills during the legislative sessions in even-numbered years. A legislator could also introduce an unlimited number of appropriations bills and up to four interim committee bills, but the General Assembly eliminated the exception for pre-filed bills.

Finally, in 1988, the voters approved another Senate Concurrent Resolution 1, requiring the General Assembly to meet every year, no later than the second Wednesday of January, and adjourn no more than 120 calendar days later. The “calendar day” requirement means that, once the regular legislative session starts, every day counts whether the General Assembly meets or not. In 1990, the General Assembly amended the joint rules to limit each legislator to five bills introduced each regular legislative session, not counting interim committee bills or bills approved by certain statutory committees.

So far as we know now, the legislators will not convene again until Wednesday, January 11, 2017, when the members of the 71st General Assembly take office. But there’s always a chance the 70th General Assembly might reconvene during 2016. One never knows when the Governor or two-thirds of the legislators may decide to call a special legislative session…

Correction: May 13, 2016
An earlier version of this post misstated the total number of passed by the General Assembly as 385. The Correct number is 387, and accordingly, the Governor must act by June 10 on the remaining 209 bills (not 207) that passed or they will become law without his signature.

by Julie Pelegrin

One hundred twenty days of heavy lifting, deep diving, guard-rail strengthening, collaborating, and serious negotiating came to an end Wednesday evening. At 8:02 p.m. in the House and 8:11 p.m. in the Senate, the Speaker and the President banged the gavels to adjourn the first regular session of the 70th General Assembly sine die.

As is usually the case when one party controls the House and another controls the Senate, there were many bills, resolutions, and memorials introduced, but not many passed. Starting in January, the General Assembly introduced 682 bills. By last night, they passed 367 of them – a pass rate of 54%. This compares with pass rates of:

• 68% in 2013 and 72% in 2014 when the same party held the majority in both houses;
• 56% in both 2011 and 2012 when control of the houses was split between the parties; and
• Pass rates of 70% or higher for each of the 2007 through 2010 regular legislative sessions when the same party again held the majority in both houses.

As usual, the General Assembly tackled several difficult and contentious issues – red light cameras, changes to birth certificates, K-12 assessments, rain barrels, guns, abortion, TABOR refunds, governmental immunity for school districts, requirements affecting peace officers, student data privacy, workforce development, felony DUI, and, of course, the state budget – just to name a few.

Before the session ended, the General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution 15-028, which sets Wednesday, January 13, 2016, as the convening date for the second regular legislative session of the 70th General Assembly.

Between now and next January, some legislators will be busy meeting in interim committees. In addition to the pre-existing statutory committees, the General Assembly approved several new interim committees. This interim, watch the Legislative Council website for meetings of:

• The transportation legislative review committee;
• The early childhood and school readiness legislative commission;
• The police officers’ and firefighters’ pension reform commission;
• The water resources review committee;
• The interim committee to study vocational rehabilitative services for the blind;
• The interim committee to study profiling-initiated contacts by law enforcement;
• The interim committee on school safety and youth in crisis;
• The Colorado health insurance exchange oversight committee – formerly known as the health benefit exchange implementation review committee; and
• The off-highway vehicle task force.

And the legislative staff agencies – Legislative Council Staff, the Office of Legislative Legal Services, the Joint Budget Committee Staff, and the State Auditors’ Office, as well as the staff of the House and the Senate – will be working the full interim. First, there’s session work to wrap up, including enrolling and finalizing the bills that passed, finalizing the state budget, and publishing the new Session Laws and the new statutes. Then staff will be busy reviewing executive branch rules, auditing state agencies and programs, staffing interim committees, researching legal, policy, and fiscal issues, and generally preparing for the next legislative session.

And, starting July 9, we’ll be back publishing weekly articles to the LegiSource. If there’s a topic you would like us to address, please let us know by emailing feedback@legisource.net.

Legislators who want to start working on their ideas for legislation for the next legislative session can submit research requests and bill requests to the Office of Legislative Legal Services by emailing olls.ga@coleg.gov or or calling (303) 866-2045.