The state Capitol this year saw intense disagreements between Republicans and Democrats and an extraordinary intraparty feud among Democrats, fueled in part by first-year legislators, who perennially challenged leaders and their colleagues.   

Meanwhile, the trend of lawmakers resigning persisted into the New Year, some of them citing the toxic environment their colleagues readily engaged in.   

Outside of the Capitol, voters rejected Gov. Jared Polis’ proposed solution to soaring property valuations, compelling the governor to call for a special session.

The Colorado legislature this session featured a lot of first-year lawmakers and a short stint in which women held the majority. Here are the highlights.

Housing and local control

Senate Bill 213: Despite being pushed by Polis and sponsored by then-Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno of Commerce City, many Democratic lawmakers could not stomach the thought of taking local housing control away from counties and local municipalities, which is what would have happened if the land use bill passed.

Local municipalities and county boards came out in full force against the measure, pushing the Democratic majority to ultimately back down.

Voters to Democrats: Don’t touch TABOR

Property tax measures: Between the bills introduced and a ballot measure that failed in November, the proposed solutions pitched as property tax relief for homeowners and an equalized Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refund led to a walkout by House Republicans on the last day of the regular session in May.

Voters held the same viewpoint as the minority party members, voting down the measure that Polis and leading Democrats championed. Proposition HH asked voters whether to use TABOR surplus revenue – which is usually refunded to taxpayers – to reduce property tax increases, fund school districts and backfill counties, water districts, fire districts, ambulance or hospital districts and other local governments. A companion measure from the legislature, which would only be implemented had HH passed, would have provided a one-time only equalized TABOR refund to all taxpayers, paid next April when tax filings are due.

With Proposition HH failing by more than 18 percentage points, the governor was forced to convene a special session a week after the General Election. During the session, Democrats passed a bill that contained provisions similar to Proposition HH. 

Gun control measures move Colorado to an A-

With two of the nation’s most horrific mass shootings taking place in Colorado – Aurora Theater in 2012 and Columbine in 1999 – gun measures have been a priority for Democrats for a decade. 

It took the addition of another lawmaker, now-Sen. Tom Sullivan of Aurora, whose son, Alex, was killed in the 2012 Aurora shooting, to move Democrats’ agenda forward.

First, Democrats in 2019 approved what’s called “extreme risk protection order” bill, more popularly known as Colorado’s “red flag” law. Since then, gun measures have become a staple for Democrats and a thorn in the side of Republicans. 

Democrats passed more gun bills in 2023 than any other year. They added a three-day waiting period for firearms purchases, raised the legal age to 21 to buy a gun, expanded the red flag law, lifted a decades-old state law that prohibited victims of gun violence from suing gun manufacturers and dealers, and banned “ghost” guns.

Consequently, the Giffords Law Center recently moved Colorado’s grade on gun control laws to an A-, an improvement from the C+ two years ago. 

Students speak up

Young voices got more involved in the gun debate this year. After two March shootings tied to East High School, hundreds of students descended on the state Capitol, located just two miles from the school, to push for more restrictions.

The students succeeded in arguing for stronger “red flag” laws but failed to persuade lawmakers to approve a ban on “assault weapons.” 

Vetoes and veto threats

Even though Colorado went solidly blue in the last several elections, a record number of Democratic bills got the axe this year. The governor vetoed some and, in other cases, his veto threat ensured they never saw the light of day.

Polis vetoed 10 bills – the most he’s ever rejected. Of the 10 measures he vetoed, four received bipartisan sponsorship. Democrats sponsored the rest.

That, however, is far short of the record set by Gov. Bill Owens in 2005, when he vetoed 48 bills.

Polis did not need to bring out his veto pen for other measures he did not want to see on his desk. A rent control measure and the ban on assault weapons died in committee with help from both Republicans and Democrats. 

Vacancies take the spotlight

In 2023, eight lawmakers resigned from the General Assembly, raising the number of current lawmakers for the 2024 session appointed by vacancy committees to 29, an all-time high.

The notable departures included the following:

• In January, Rep. Tracey Bernett, D-Louisville, resigned the night before the session started, taking a plea deal from the Boulder County District Attorney to avoid jail time for falsifying her residency in order to run for the House in the 2022 general election.

• First-year lawmakers Reps. Ruby Dickson and Said Sharbini resigned shortly after the special session in November, both citing the toxic environment in the House. Sharbini also cited financial pressures in his resignation letter. 

Women briefly take the lead

The results from the 2022 elections gave women the majority in the General Assembly for the first time in the state’s history, with 51 women and 49 men.

That lasted only until the day before the 2023 session started, when Bernett resigned and Rep. Kyle Brown replaced her.  

When Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez of Denver stepped down to take a seat on the Denver City Council, an August vacancy election put Rep. Tim Hernandez into the seat. That meant men were back in the majority for the special session, with 51.

As of Jan. 1, 2024, the split is 48 women and 50 men, not including the two lawmakers who resigned in December. 

Vitriol

The 2023 session saw one of the largest classes (31 out of 65) of first-ever lawmakers in the House. One additional House member came from the Senate. That meant 19 new Democrats in the 46-member House caucus.

What that looked like, at least in the House Judiciary Committee, was sometimes a battle royale between some of the new Democratic members and the chair, Rep. Mike Weissman of Aurora.

Three first-time Democratic lawmakers were placed on the committee. 

On April 20, that same committee rejected a ban on assault weapons, with three Democrats voting with four Republicans against the proposal. Two of the three who voted the bill were among the House’s new members. The third was the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Elisabeth Epps of Denver.

Epps was also part of a group of progressive Democrats who criticized House Speaker Julie McCluskie on the last day of the regular session for the latter’s efforts to work with Republicans. In addition, Epps believed Democrats did not deliver on some of the goals set by the House majority. Some of those goals centered around rent control and housing measures. 

By the time the November special session was called, animosity between Epps and Weissman significantly grew. Epps publicly criticized Weissman on social media, and the two had a confrontation in the state parking garage.

McCluskie responded by removing Epps from the judiciary committee for the 2024 session. McCluskie cited the toxic environment in the committee when she made the assignment changes. She also removed first-year lawmaker Rep. Bob Marshall, D-Highlands Ranch, from the panel.  

“I’d like for my appointments to speak for themselves,” she said. “Serving on a member’s top choice of committee is a privilege-not a right. I took this step to address frustrations that the Judiciary Committee needed a reset due to the level of acrimony in the personal relationships on the committee and to help deliver the progressive outcomes our caucus is looking for. My decisions on where to appoint members depend on their respect of their colleagues, ability to collaborate, and adherence to decorum, which was clearly violated during our special session last month.” 

The latter served as another reference to Epps disrupting the House chamber, where she joined pro-Palestinian protesters in the gallery on the special session’s final day.

Republicans were not without blame, as some engaged in that toxic environment: Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron, who has a history of making incendiary comments, including in 2023; and, Rep. Scott Bottoms of Colorado Springs – a pastor and also a first-year lawmaker – who made antisemitic, anti-trans and homophobic comments during the 2023 regular and special sessions.

That led first-year Democratic Rep. Stephanie Vigil, of Colorado Springs, to tell McCluskie on the last night of the regular session, “We need to stop acting like trying to get along with our enemies is going to preserve this institution. I think we’re past that.” 

The adults in the room – the Joint Budget Committee

The six-member Joint Budget Committee, which was comprised of five new members, took on a completely different look this year.

Unlike the previous four years, this was a budget committee more willing to work together. Indeed, for the first time since 2018, all six members of the budget committee signed onto the state budget as co-sponsors and voted to approve the budget bill.

Working for the weekend

While lawmakers are paid for 120 consecutive days, including Saturdays and Sundays, working on weekends hasn’t been that common. Then came 2023, when tactics by House Republicans led House Democratic leadership to bring lawmakers in on eight weekend days, including two Sundays, a first in this reporter’s history.

One of the more interesting aspects was tied to the Good Friday and Easter weekend of April 7-9. House Democrats told Republicans that, if they behaved, meaning the won’t resort to dilatory or other tactics, they could have Good Friday and Easter weekend off. It worked.