DENVER – Colorado lawmakers frantically worked Wednesday to advance several key measures in the final hours of the legislative session.
Last-day compromises were forced by voters who choose a split Legislature in which Republicans controlled the Senate for the first time in a decade.
Before the session ended around 8 p.m., lawmakers took actions around student-testing reductions, felony DUI charges for repeat offenders and pay raises for elected officials, sending those bills to Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Several other critical bills came down to the wire, including a controversial effort to continue the Office of Consumer Counsel, the OCC. Late action also came on police reform, limiting the use of red-light cameras and asking voters to let the state keep marijuana tax revenue. All those bills also went to the governor.
Gridlock over the OCC revealed a divide on whether to include telecommunications as part of the office’s purview. Republicans controlling the Senate had the upper-hand and Democrats were forced to agree to exclude telecom so that the entire office wouldn’t close. That bill heads to the governor.
Red-light cameras came down to two bills sent to the governor, one that would completely ban its use and another that would require local governments to hold an election before using the technology. Hickenlooper has expressed concern with both proposals.
Lawmakers also finalized their package of police-reform measures. Lawmakers on Wednesday sent the governor bills addressing transparency in the wake of police-officer shootings, extending training and encouraging the use of body cameras. Of the package of 10 bills, six measures are on the way to the governor.
Some of the major action Wednesday, closing day for the session, included:.
Elected officials’ pay
A politically difficult measure that raises salaries for state lawmakers and other elected officials also went to Hickenlooper.
The pay bump would be the first increase since 1999, as previous legislative attempts to raise salaries failed.
Senate Bill 288 received a vote in the House of 33-30, with Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, voting against the raise, and Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, supporting it.
The Senate backed the bill by a vote of 21-14, with Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, supporting the measure.
The new salaries would not kick in until 2019, meaning many lawmakers voting for the bill would not be serving at the time. Hickenloopeer also would be term-limited by then.
The price tag of the bill is $1.3 million. It would increase pay for executive elected officers, lawmakers and other local officials.
Based on current budget figures and judicial salaries, the governor would receive a 30 percent pay hike, from $90,000 a year to about $117,000 a year; attorney general would get about $102,000 instead of $80,000; and other constitutional officers would receive about $88,000 compared with $68,500.
State lawmakers would see pay raises of almost 27 percent, from $30,000 a year to about $38,000 a year. County officials would receive raises based on the size of a county and other formulas.
Felony DUI
House Bill 1043 creating a felony crime for repeat drunken-driving offenders cleared both chambers after years of failed attempts to send a measure to the governor.
The measure would allow for a felony charge in DUI cases on a fourth offense. Hickenlooper has indicated support for the measure.
“It’s time to say enough is enough,” said Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, a sponsor of the bill. “We are not going to tolerate people continuing to drive while they are intoxicated.”
In its original form, the bill would have created a felony charge after three DUI convictions. But lawmakers amended the bill after that proposal appeared unlikely to pass.
Hunters, anglers win
Hunters and anglers finally hit their target Monday as a Colorado bill that would have clarified state jurisdiction over federal lands was shot down.
Senate Bill 39 – with Republican sponsorship – would have allowed Colorado to exercise authority along with the federal government over federal public lands.
Sportsmen and conservationists began their opposition to the bill in February with a rally at the Capitol. Since then, the bill has slowly moved through the process, with support from Republicans, only meeting its match with three days left in the session.
The bill died in the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee on a party-line vote of 7-6.
“It is part of a larger agenda to assert increased state control over our public lands,” said Scott Braden, representing Conservation Colorado. “We think this represents an assault on our national parks, on our national monuments, wilderness areas, forests and existing multi-use lands, which are critically important to our state’s economy and our high quality of life in Colorado.”
The debate revolved around whether SB 39 was an initial step toward the state taking control of federal lands, which opponents worried would lead to shutting down precious recreational areas because of costs associated with management.
Critics pointed out that the language of the measure was similar to a proposal pushed by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. Similarly, they opposed a separate bill this year that would have studied transferring federal lands over to the state’s authority, which died last month. Supporters and opponents of those efforts often found themselves trading jabs on social media over the proposals.
Rain barrel bill dies
A measure that would have allowed Coloradans to collect and store rainwater that falls on their roofs dried up Tuesday after the Senate delayed a vote on the measure, effectively killing it.
The bill died on a rainy night in Denver, after the measure was thrown a life-preserver earlier in the day when the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee passed the bill by a vote of 5-4. That was considered an accomplishment because the bill had been delayed in committee since April 16.
But concerns over water rights seemed to prevail, and Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango – who had worked tirelessly to see the bill cross the finish line – simply couldn’t convince her colleagues to give it a floor vote.
“I hope we will have a vote on it, so I can do more than just indicate that support in committee,” Roberts said earlier in the day.
Sen. Mike Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, appeared perplexed, pointing out that the bill had widespread support from many constituents in Colorado and had earned the backing of the House. Colorado is the only state in the nation that prohibits rain barrels.
“I thought this would be a simple matter,” Merrifield said, just before his bill died.
Supporters hoped that at the very least, the bill would have been amended to study the issue. But even that suggestion wasn’t enough.
The bill would have allowed people to keep rain from their roof in up to two 55-gallon rain barrels for use in their garden or on their lawn. It also would have set standards, including mandating screens to filter out debris and insects. It was estimated that with two 55-gallon barrels, residents could have captured more than 600 gallons of water each year.
Supporters of the effort pointed to a study that indicated that 97 percent of water that falls on residential property never ends up in a river or stream.