Happy New Years! I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy some time with family and friends and get some rest and relaxation in.

Last year the state supreme court approved the legislature's circumvention of the Constitution by extending the mandated 120 consecutive day session during declared emergencies, and as the Governor continues to issue emergency orders the legislature has announced tentative plans for what is being called a "soft start" or "soft open", in which they will gavel-in for three days to allow for some swearing-in ceremonies and appointments and other administrative tasks, then they will adjourn and possibly return in mid-Februrary.

According to the article below they still plan on "working" even while adjourned and I have concerns that Democrats working behind 'closed doors' and out of the sight of the public may allow them to circumvent even more rules or shield them from public awareness and scrutiny, but we have no choice but to wait and see and hope that Republican lawmakers can keep an eye on them.

As expected, the two gun control bills from last year's session have been reintroduced, and they have added a third one. I've updated the Colorado Free Resistance thread with the Democrats 2021 proposed gun control agenda, so I won't go into them here.

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Colorado General Assembly to start 2021 session Wednesday with three working days

By MARIANNE GOODLAND marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com Jan 11, 2021 Updated 21 hrs ago

House and Senate Democratic leaders of the General Assembly announced Monday the legislature will come back on Wednesday as planned, to hold an initial three-day session, and then adjourn, probably until Feb. 16.

But legislative leaders will "play it by ear" on that return date, based on the data on COVID-19 infection rates available at that time, according to Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg of Boulder.

The first three days will allow lawmakers to be sworn in, deal with appointments, and work on at least six bills that are time-sensitive, primarily fixing errors in bills passed during the 2020 regular session and bills from the November special session.

Those bills could be available for public review later Monday, according to Speaker-elect of the House Alec Garnett of Denver.

Leaders said that during the adjournment, lawmakers will be working on other issues. That includes the Joint Budget Committee, which will continue to work on budget hearings, and preparing the slew of supplemental bills for state agencies that are expected to be introduced when the General Assembly comes back.

Lawmakers will also participate in SMART Act hearings during the adjournment. Those are annual hearings between state agencies and the committees of reference that hold oversight responsibilities. Lawmakers said Monday those hearings will be publicly available.

"Everything will look at lot different," Garnett said Monday, noting that the bulk of the session work won't start until the legislature returns from the adjournment. That also means that hundreds of bills usually introduced in the session's opening days won't see the light of day until the adjournment ends.

The three bills slated for introduction in the House later this week include:

-A bill on remote notarization of wills. Authority for remote notarization of wills expired last month. Practioners have been worried about having to do wills in person, Garnett explained.

-A bill to allow remote participation by lawmakers in committee meetings, including for the SMART Act hearings that will begin after the three-day session is over.

-A bill to change business income tax filings tied to the federal CARES Act.


In the Senate:

-A bill to extend the deadline around debt collection during a pandemic. A 2020 bill allowed for a temporary time out on new debt collections through Feb. 1, 2021.

-A small business relief bill passed during the special session needs to be modified due to a lawsuit over relief for minority-owned businesses. That bill will also provide additional time for counties, such as Denver, to get the aid from that bill out the door, according to Fenberg.

-A bill to fix an error in a 2020 bill on occupational therapists.


Among the big questions yet to be answered: just how long the General Assembly will meet in 2021, whether that's the full 120 days or something less than that. Garnett said lawmakers are working more efficiently, the result of the pandemic's impact on the 2020 session, and that lawmakers will be working throughout the adjournment.

"We will stay as long as we need to stay," Fenberg added. "That could be 100 days or 120 days," depending on what gets accomplished.

Lawmakers are getting vaccinated this week, although Garnett said due to HIPAA regulations they won't know exactly who's been vaccinated.

Gov. Jared Polis recently moved lawmakers into the category of essential government employees, meaning they could be vaccinated in the current phase, along with those 70 years of age and older.

Fenberg added that lawmakers are not taking vaccines away from others, and that it's important for the continuation of state government that they be vaccinated. "There's a lot of work we're doing this year on providing relief," Fenberg said. "I see this as something that is necessary so that we can meet safely."

Leaders also addressed security questions in the wake of last week's insurrection in Washington, D.C.

"I'm confident that the state patrol is planning for worst-case scenarios," Fenberg said. The statehouse is for everyone, and "scare tactics won't get in the way of the democratic process."

"We are living in trying times," Garnett said. "We will take every precaution we need to take."

As to the return date, Fenberg said that while Feb. 16 is the target, there could be things that come up that could delay that return.

"A month during COVID is like a lifetime. We will play it by ear."

Polis had previously announced that the State of the State address, which usually takes place on the second day of the session, will be postponed until February.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Modern Day Savage,

Well, that didn't take long. Nothing like a parliamentary rule change during the opening session to show magnanimity and unity by the ruling party.

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Minority leader says Democrats’ arbitrary rule change mutes Republican voices in legislature

January 15, 2021
By Sherrie Peif

DENVER — The Republican minority leader in the Colorado House of Representatives says a new procedural rule will not only negatively impact constituents, but it was done without any input from House Republicans, a power grab that is becoming more common with Democrats as they control every office at the state level.

House Rule 44, which governs the duties of state officers and employees, was changed to allow for a “blank check to introduce and pass all manner of bills,” House Minority Leader Hugh McKean said in a news release.

McKean told Complete Colorado that special rules governing the work of the legislature during a disaster declaration by the governor have been arbitrarily changed to meet the needs of the majority Democrats.

The rule change was passed as part of a 3-day “soft opening” of the Colorado legislature that ended Friday.

Joint rule 44 requires that legislators prioritize their bills during a declared emergency that activates the Colorado emergency operations action plan. They are required to make sure that things such as the budget, the school finance act, etc. are passed above all else.

“It’s does something very specific,” McKean said. “The executive committee shall (emphasis on shall) meet and set forth the following if the General Assembly is in regular session:”

May submit bills to address the specific disaster emergency
The prioritization of any pending (emphasis on pending) legislation dealing with the state budget, or state policy the executive committee deems necessary to enact prior to adjourning the session.
“What that (means) is the budget, the appropriations bill, the supplemental appropriations bills, the school finance bill and any other issues the executive committee deems critical to address. It literally restricts us to the things we have to do, and we shall (emphasis on shall) prioritize according to that. It literally says if you can’t hold a normal legislative session, ya’ll have to prioritize.”

The reaction to COVID-19 shut down last year’s session so that legislators had to reconvene, and it threatens to do the same now. It also caused the need for remote testimony by both legislators and constituents. In fact, nothing about the last legislative session or this one is anything near normal, McKean said.

“Finally, a way that we can say we have to prioritize according to what the constitution says, but they struck all that language and they made it “may” (instead of shall),” McKean said. “But they also tinkered with the way bills and late bill authorization could be granted. So really, if they want to, they can clear the deck. They can cancel everybody’s bills and they can start over and give late authorization to whatever they want and whomever they want.”

McKean said this type of power grab would take away the voice of every person in the state who happens to be represented by a Republican state lawmaker.

“If they do that, you will have legislators who are not granted a bill,” McKean said. “Whose specific needs in their district because of the letter behind their name, will be deprived of their voice through legislation.”

Republicans were able to get Democrats to concede to an amendment that will allow majority leadership to decrease the number of bills allowed but not by less than one bill per legislator.

Historically, legislators are granted a minimum of five bills if drafted prior to Dec. 1 (Dec. 15 for new legislators) and late bills as approved by majority leadership.

“We got Democrats to take it after beating them up for five hours and giving them a really good amendment they could pass,” McKean said, although the rule still passed only along party lines as Republicans voted no out of principle.

“It’s still not right,” McKean said, adding there are two problems with the resolution that changed the long-standing rule put in place after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. “We were given this bill in the evening before the executive meeting … we had less than 24 hours to dig into this bill. The executive committee excepted nothing but one or two minor changes.”

On the floor, Democrats accused Republicans of not being prepared, McKean said.

“The process was terrible,” McKean said, adding he was not surprised by their tactics. “They did not include the minority party in their process. And they should not have been surprised by five hours of debate on a joint rule because in the end, the minority party only has the rules to depend on to make sure they have a voice. If we don’t have the rules, the minority party might as well not show up.”

There is no recourse for the public or the minority party, McKean said.

“Elections have consequences,” McKean said. “The saying is: the majority has their way, and the minority has their say. So, we had our say for five hours … and that was important, but we still voted as a caucus against this because it’s still the wrong way to go about and it robs members of districts that are far outside the front range of their voices.”

Wait, so the reason for the extended session, the Kung Flu emergency, is not a priority during the session that got extended due to the Kung Flu emergency?

Oh, and "soft opening", eh? You can tell they've been studying political science in some awfully trendy restaurants.

They are going to try another round of gun control after they lost two seats and the third resigned. Good luck. I went to school with one of the senators that was recalled. Doing things behind closed doors is not new. What gets them into trouble is when they bring it out into the light of day.