The Colorado legislature gaveled in Thursday for its latest special session — this one to address a yawning budget gap caused by changes to the federal tax code passed by Congress and President Donald Trump. At the outset, the session is expected to last five days or so.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
1:51 p.m. update: Democratic lawmakers are preparing a resolution to censure a Republican legislator for his role in taking and sharing a picture of a Democratic colleague, who was then the subject of private and public abuse.
The censure vote against Rep. Ryan Armagost, a Berthoud Republican, is set for Friday morning. (Read a separate story about it here.) During a caucus meeting Thursday, Democratic lawmakers said they would never forgive Republican lawmakers for mocking Rep. Yara Zokaie’s appearance in a private group chat, and they criticized Republican leadership for not notifying House leaders of Armagost’s role in taking and sharing a picture of Zokaie.
Republican legislators will be able to respond during debate on the resolution Friday, and Democrats braced for a public fight — and prepared to respond in kind.
“If they try to show out on this issue, it’s going to be very hard to sit still,” warned Rep. Chad Clifford, a Centennial Democrat.
“This is a very serious moment, a moment where I will ask you all to recognize that the minority may respond in ways that I hope do not disappoint us,” House Speaker Julie McCluskie said during the meeting. “I hope they recognize, as well, that regardless of who engaged in this behavior, no member of our body, Democrat or Republican alike, should ever behave in this way.”
The censure vote appeared to have broad support from the Democratic caucus, which has enough votes to reprimand Armagost even if all Republicans vote against it. When McCluskie announced the coming vote, much of the caucus clapped.
1:24 p.m. update: The Republican minorities kicked off the legislative session by accusing the majority Democrats of routing GOP-sponsored bills through “kill committees” — the state affairs committees in each chamber — which will give their proposals a perfunctory hearing before dooming them to a paper shredder.
The GOP is outnumbered by Democrats nearly 2-to-1 in each chamber of the General Assembly, and several caucus members acknowledged ahead of the session what that power imbalance would mean for minority bills.
Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, said in response today that she would ensure the bills get a hearing, as required. But she said the premises of many Republican proposals were nonstarters. Several Republican proposals propose outright eliminating some state programs, halting tax credits for low-income Coloradans so that they wouldn’t be paid out of the general fund, and cutting health insurance programs for people without proper immigration status.
“I am committed to making sure that every bill has a fair hearing through a committee of reference, and I can assure you our members will invest themselves in understanding the policy proposals and being sure they are heard,” McCluskie said. “I can also tell you that we will not support further cuts to health insurance for individuals, (and) that we will not be OK with taking away the family affordability tax credit, which so many families depend upon. We will continue to fight with our values in mind to protect Coloradans.”
1 p.m. update: The legislature’s Democratic majorities will truck ahead in the session with their preferred policies of ending and limiting some tax breaks for businesses and cracking into overseas tax shelters. They will also look to dip into the state’s rainy-day fund and turn to Gov. Jared Polis to make mid-budget year cuts.
“While Republicans gave corporate tax breaks, we are here to close corporate tax loopholes,” Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat, said.
Republican House leader Rose Pugliese pledged long debates on the floor, one of the few tools the minority party has to make an impact.
“The fight will last as long as it needs to to make sure every single one of our House members has the ability to represent their constituents and bring forward their ideas and their solutions,” Pugliese said.
Republicans will also work with conservative allies outside the legislature to file lawsuits over proposals they see as violating the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. The state constitutional amendment, known as TABOR, requires tax increases to go to a vote of the people.
“They’re raising taxes on Coloradans and Colorado businesses, and they can’t do that under TABOR without a vote of the people,” said Michael Fields, the president of the conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado.
McCluskie said Democrats’ revenue-raising proposals have been “done carefully and thoughtfully” and do not violate TABOR.
12:50 p.m. update: Lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills that would change the state tax code to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations; set new rules around how Gov. Jared Polis can make cuts to state spending between budget cycles; and more.
State budget analysts estimate Colorado’s budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, faces a $783 million shortfall following the federal tax bill signed by President Donald Trump last month. Colorado’s rare and close mirroring of the federal tax code means the state is being hit quickly with trickle-down effects of those federal changes, through lower state income tax collections.
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