House Dems oppose measure

Senate had reached a bipartisan deal on Colorado Civil Rights Commission

Democrats and Republicans in the state Senate on Friday reached a compromise on changes to the hot-button Colorado Civil Rights Commission in an attempt to end months of simmering, party-line debate about the panel’s future.

But House Democratic leaders quickly threw cold water on the deal, saying its changes to the panel go too far.

The bipartisan deal would take some power from the governor in terms of panel appointments but also would ensure a mix of Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated voters on the commission.

The compromise would open the panel up for legislative audit. Otherwise, the commission will function almost the same as it has.

“I think this is not perfect for anyone,” said state Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, who helped usher the compromise. “It’s also a major step forward for everyone, I believe.”

The deal passed the Republican-controlled Senate unanimously on a voice vote and is expected to head to the Democratcontrolled House, where it would have to be approved.

“This really is a bipartisan compromise that I think changes the trajectory, not the mission, of the (Colorado Civil Rights Division),” said Sen. Angela Williams, DDenver, referencing the agency under which the commission is housed.

Democrats in the House, however, reaffirmed their reluctance Friday to change the commission at all.

“We have always advocated for a clean reauthorization of the commission because it is fulfilling its purpose — to ensure that Coloradans’ rights are protected regardless of where they’re from, whom they love or the family they were born into,” Denver Democrats House Speaker Crisanta Duran and Rep. Leslie Herod said in a joint statement. “The changes added in the Senate go too far, reworking the commission dramatically. We cannot support the current changes and hope that we can find common ground and pass a bill reauthorizing the Civil Rights Division and Commission before the end of session. Coloradans are watching.”

Duran and Herod are the coprime sponsors of House Bill 1256, which reauthorizes the civil rights commission. Their pushback could mean the fate of the commission will be decided in a conference committee between lawmakers from the House and Senate.

Adding pressure to the situation is the fact that there appears to be no middle ground in sight with the legislative session — which ends May 9 — winding down.