To lift public health restrictions and reopen Colorado, Democratic lawmakers say the first step is to protect essential workers like Mirja McDade in the retail and service industries. McDade’s past jobs in the restaurant industry didn’t include paid sick time, so she worked regardless of her health. “The food industry is probably the worst as […]
Steve Fenberg
Posted inCOVID, Health, Politics and Government
“It’s an 11 on the weird scale”: Colorado legislature makes an awkward return to the Capitol
The hallways were mostly empty. The lawmakers were mostly masked. The interactions were mostly awkward. The General Assembly’s return to the state Capitol after a two-month coronavirus pause looked anything but normal. Members of the House sat at desks divided by plexiglass or in the gallery above the chamber shouting down their votes on legislation. […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Democrats in the Colorado legislature jostle over whether they must return to the Capitol to continue their coronavirus pause
The question of whether state lawmakers needed to appear in person at the Colorado Capitol Monday to extend a pause in the lawmaking term because of the new coronavirus opened a rare public rift between Democrats in the Colorado House and Senate. The situation highlights just how much pressure the disease is putting on the […]
Posted inCOVID
Colorado’s legislature won’t resume Monday as planned. It’s an open question when they will return.
The Colorado General Assembly will not resume its lawmaking term next week as scheduled and may not return until the second half of April as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. The legislature is scheduled to reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday after a two-week break imposed in response to the public health emergency. But legislative leaders told […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Colorado legislature shuts down for 2 weeks because of coronavirus
UPDATE: Just before 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, the legislature passed a resolution to take a recess of two weeks. The Colorado legislature will temporarily shut down for at least two weeks effective Saturday after leadership at the Capitol decided it is unsafe to continue lawmaking with the new coronavirus spreading rapidly across the state. “I […]
Posted inCOVID, News, Politics and Government
Should the Colorado legislature shut down because of coronavirus? The conversation is well underway.
Colorado lawmakers have begun discussing in earnest whether to temporarily shut down the state legislature to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. The debate comes as the outbreak increasingly disrupts activity at the Capitol and as Gov. Jared Polis is warning that the spread of the virus has no end in sight. Colorado’s largest […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Politics and Government
A Colorado lawmaker brought a short-term rental bill he never intended to pass. It created an uproar.
State Sen. Bob Gardner wanted to start a conversation. He’s incited a statewide uproar instead. The Colorado Springs Republican introduced a bill at the Colorado Capitol that would change the property tax assessment category for short-term rentals to commercial from residential. That would increase the taxation rate more than four-fold from a projected 7.1% in […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Colorado lawmakers move closer to repealing death penalty after emotional debate
The deep and emotional tension surrounding a bill to repeal the death penalty in Colorado came alive on the Senate floor in a six-hour debate Thursday. “By having the death penalty in Colorado, we are saying to the people that murdering is wrong –– unless the state does it,” said Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
The 2020 battle to control Colorado’s state Senate is shaping up to be a big money election
The battle for control of the Colorado Senate in the 2020 election is drawing big money ahead of the November election, and the same is true with a handful of ballot measures. The latest campaign finance reports show Republicans hold a slight edge against Democrats in terms of super PAC fundraising through the end of […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
For Colorado’s Senate Democrats, life is threatening to get in the way of their majority
Democrats fought hard in 2018 to win back a majority in the Colorado Senate. Now, life is threatening to temporarily undo all of their work. The party holds a 19-16 advantage in the chamber, but with the possibility of two Democratic senators being simultaneously gone from the Capitol later this month — one is ill […]