An effort to bridge the divide between more liberal and more moderate Democrats in the state legislature has fallen apart.
The two sides were working on a bill to increase transparency around legislative caucuses in response to the Colorado Opportunity Caucus’ retreat at a hotel in Vail in October. The caucus is made up of moderate Democrats at the Capitol and doesn’t disclose all of its donors, though at least one of their funders is a nonprofit that has targeted liberal Democrats in primaries.
But now the two sides are no longer talking about their transparency effort and the more liberal faction Friday introduced a very similar bill without their more moderate counterparts.
“I don’t believe in speaking for my colleagues as to why they aren’t on it or their opinions about (Senate Bill) 108,” said state Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat, who, along with state Rep. Yara Zokaie, D-Fort Collins, represents the more liberal faction and has been leading the push for the transparency measure.
Opportunity Caucus Chair Lindsey Daugherty, a Democratic state senator from Arvada, said in a statement issued by a caucus spokesperson that she feels the proposal has devolved into an effort to require transparency for some but not all.
“You’d have to ask Sen. Weissman and Rep. Zokaie why they believe less transparency is what the people of Colorado deserve,” Daugherty said.
Senate Bill 108, the original measure brokered between both sides, would require caucuses to file monthly public reports with nonpartisan legislative staff detailing their fundraising and spending.
That bill, introduced in February, is sponsored by Daugherty and the caucus’ top House member, Rep. Sean Camacho, D-Denver. It was also sponsored by Weissman and Zokaie.
The bill seemed to be a peacemaking gesture among Democrats, who have been sparring over the Vail retreat and the Opportunity Caucus’ refusal to reveal its donors. The caucus has received funding from a group, One Main Street Colorado, that has been heavily involved in Democratic primaries. Weissman and Zokaie are among the legislature’s more progressive members and have faced primary challenges from One Main Street-backed candidates.
But Senate Bill 108 has been languishing in the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee for two months without a hearing.
The new bill — Senate Bill 168, brought by only Weissman and Zokaie — would require the same transparency measures as Senate Bill 108 with slight tweaks, like more narrowly targeting caucuses formed by lawmakers and changing reporting timelines.
Weissman said some colleagues expressed concern that the original bill could apply to nonprofits that lawmakers work for but are unrelated to their legislative work. The goal is to target only legislative caucuses.
“It was cleaner to resolve the drafting issues in a new bill,” he said.
Zokaie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Camacho referred questions to Daugherty. Daugherty issued the comment through an Opportunity Caucus spokesperson.
“Rep. Camacho and I partnered with Sen. Weissman on Senate Bill 108 because we wanted to run a comprehensive bill that addressed money in politics, including legislators using their legislative power for financial gain,” Daugherty said.
She said the introduction of Senate Bill 168 was a surprise and argued that it has “significantly less transparency and accountability provisions” than Senate Bill 108.
The new bill would apply to legislative caucuses with two or more lawmakers “who organize themselves according to a common interest, ideology, issue, identity, or for any other reason.” The old bill applied to “any caucus, committee, club, organization or group” of one or more lawmakers, which could be interpreted to include organizations far beyond legislative caucuses.
Under the new bill, caucuses would have to begin reporting their fundraising and spending in January 2027 for the fourth quarter of 2026. The new bill would require quarterly reporting, whereas the old bill required monthly reporting.
Senate Bill 108 would also take effect immediately while Senate Bill 168 would go into effect sometime over the summer.
Neither of the bills would be retroactive to cover the time period of the Vail retreat. And there would be no enforcement mechanism or penalty under either measure for caucuses that don’t comply.
The state’s Independent Ethics Commission is investigating whether 16 Opportunity Caucus members, including Daugherty and Camacho, violated the state’s gift ban by attending the Vail retreat. Colorado Common Cause, a liberal-leaning nonprofit that advocates for an open government, filed the ethics complaints against the lawmakers.
The lawmakers say the Opportunity Caucus spent $32,000 on the retreat. They argue they didn’t violate the gift ban because donors to the caucus did not pay directly for things like hotel rooms.
They also argue the caucus is a state or local government entity and therefore exempt from the gift ban’s requirement that an organization only pay for lawmakers’ reasonable expenses if no more than 5% of its funds come from for-profit groups.
The Opportunity Caucus is a political nonprofit and does not have to disclose its donors.
The Opportunity Caucus, Daugherty and Camacho are being sued by political activist Derrick Blanton seeking documents related to the Vail retreat, including handouts, agendas, budgets, expenses, payments from attendees and a list of attendees.
In response to Blanton’s records request, nonpartisan attorneys in the legislature’s Office of Legislative Legal Services said Daugherty and Camacho do not have any records to disclose, arguing they attended the retreat in a private capacity.
“CORA does not include records or information made or held by a public official in his or her private capacity, even if those records are created during the elected officials’ term in office,” wrote Ed DeCecco, director of the OLLS, on behalf of Daugherty.
Blanton is hoping a Denver judge will compel the lawmakers to produce the records.
Scott Moss, a lawyer, is representing Blanton in the CORA lawsuit. He’s also representing Common Cause in the ethics complaints it brought against the Opportunity Caucus lawmakers. Both Blanton and Moss are tied to liberal candidates and causes.
Senate Bill 168 was also assigned to the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. Its first hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet.