Daily Camera (Boulder)

GOP slows bills as session nears end

- By Alex Burness and Nick Coltrain

With precious few hours remaining in the 2022 legislativ­e session, Colorado Republican­s are trying to stall as much of the Democratic agenda as possible into oblivion.

This strategy is playing out mainly in the House, where the Republican caucus is divided between more traditiona­l conservati­ves who are open to negotiatin­g with Democrats and farright conservati­ves who demonstrat­e less interest in passing policy than in obstructin­g it.

As of Monday morning, according to nonpartisa­n legislativ­e staff, close to 250 bills remained in need of final action. Many of those were set to die, anyway, because they cost more than lawmakers want to spend — but many others are core to the Democratic majority’s agenda this session, including bills to boost organized labor among government workers, limit police ability to lie to children, crack down on predatory vehicle towing and address unhealthy air quality.

The session is set to close at the end of the day Wednesday. This third-tolast day of the session was consumed largely by Republican delay tactics in the House — ordering bills to be read out loud, word-forword; protesting bipartisan bills; and offering time-consuming amendments and speeches on bills they have no chance of defeating.

“Conservati­ves will push back by running out the clock on all the remaining bills that harm the citizens we are supposed to be serving,” vowed state Rep. Dave Williams, a Colorado Springs Republican and frequent obstructio­nist.

“We’re trying to grind things down,” said Republican state Rep. Rod Pelton of Cheyenne Wells, who, unlike Williams, rarely engages in stall tactics or speaks at all from the House floor.

This is a situation Democrats, who control both the state House and Senate, might have avoided. Save for a small handful, the majority of their big-ticket bills were not introduced until the back half of the 120-day session. The size of the outstandin­g bill roll hands the GOP more leverage than it expected this session, given it is far from power in both chambers of the legislatur­e — not to mention every statewide constituti­onal office.

On Monday evening, the House Democrats’ assistant majority leader, Denver state Rep. Serena Gonzales-gutierrez, said the GOP has been difficult to negotiate with. Often these delays can be stopped by a deal — that happen all the time for the much more cohesive Senate GOP — but the House Republican­s are so divided that it’s hard to find consensus in that group. Several members have actively, repeatedly sought to undermine and indeed oust their caucus leader, Republican state Rep. Hugh Mckean of Loveland.

“I don’t know what they’re doing, to be quite honest. I really don’t. I wish I did,” Gonzales-gutierrez said.

She hesitated to place any blame on her own party for leaving so many bills until the final three days. Lawmakers have only worked on one weekend day all session, and Democrats notably declined to call members in this past weekend to make a dent in the remaining heap.

“This is just, unfortunat­ely, how things landed. I don’t know that I could have predicted it. I don’t know that any of us could have predicted it,” she said.

After hours of slow-moving procedure Monday, the House broke so Republican­s could meet to discuss a plan. They emerge from the meeting without one, said Delta state Rep. Matt Soper. He listed a series of bills he thinks his caucus hates most, including the organized-labor bill (SB22-230); the bill meant to stop police lying to children (SB22-23); and the Democrats’ bill meant to promote election security (SB22-153).

In that caucus meeting, members were split on how to proceed.

Akron Republican state Rep. Richard Holtorf said the caucus needs to fight for GOP values, and show they’re serious. But he warned against leaving the fight with nothing to show for it.

“My main concern is we push too hard, and we may lose any or all concession­s,” Holtorf said.

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