“Thank God it’s over” — and more from the Colorado legislature this week

Four big dynamics drove Colorado lawmakers session from defending against Trump to boosting affordability Another regular session of the Colorado legislature has adjourned for the year In the words of Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez Thank God it s over During the -day session Democrats pushed through several hot-button policies aimed at restricting the purchase of certain semiautomatic firearms further fortifying abortion rights and expanding protections for transgender Coloradans and immigrants A state senator from that party resigned under a cloud of charges that she mistreated aides and falsified statements of help Lawmakers also nearly issued the first veto override of Gov Jared Polis seven-session tenure as part of a greater bucking of the state s chief executive that also included sidestepping his desire to delay new artificial intelligence regulations Like every year tensions rose at times both among elected officers and the masses Read more Gov Jared Polis coming labor bill veto will strain Democrat s labor ties and set stage for ballot fight Gov Jared Polis is set to veto a pro-union bill that Democratic lawmakers have urged him to sign a move that will strain his increasingly contentious relationship with organized labor in Colorado and set the stage for a ballot fight Polis explained reporters Thursday a day after lawmakers adjourned for the year that he will soon make good on his session-long threat to reject Senate Bill since it is reaching his desk without amendments he d urged The proposal which would make it easier for organized workers to negotiate union dues with their employers passed the House with total Democratic patronage Tuesday after negotiations between Polis labor unions and business leaders collapsed The governor has announced he wouldn t sign SB- unless business groups were relaxed with its provisions But those groups rejected Polis final compromise offer Read more Legal experts say Trump is unlikely to win Colorado lawsuit against sanctuary policies But he may not care Constitutional lawyers say a lawsuit the Trump administration filed last week to challenge immigration enforcement policies in Colorado and Denver has little chance of success if the courts follow past rulings in similar cases But that may not be the goal they say By using litigation as a way to inflict pain one might accomplish initiative goals even if you end up losing mentioned Martin Katz a professor who teaches constitutional law at the University of Denver The Colorado lawsuit similar to one launched three months ago against local and state governments in Chicago was filed Friday in U S District Court against Gov Jared Polis Attorney General Phil Weiser Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and other city agents President Donald Trump s Department of Justice takes issue with laws at the local and state levels Read more Colorado legislature ends with an AI fizzle as delay falters further stoking talk of a special session Colorado lawmakers wrapped up the legislative session Wednesday evening but not before calls for a special session rang out over an impasse on first-in-the-nation regulations for artificial intelligence and amid resignation over likely funding cuts soon to come from the federal establishment The legislature passed nearly bills in its days of work which ended about p m as the House adjourned shortly after the Senate They ranged from the relatively mundane to sweeping legal protections for marginalized Coloradans in the face of federal immigration crackdowns A gray fiscal cloud hung over lawmakers and their lawmaking as they passed a budget that cut billion from planned spending and grappled with how to craft policies that cost no money But the most of dramatic fireworks were saved for a bill that died Monday Read more Bipartisan vote kills governor s plan to lower homeowners insurance costs in Colorado A legislative effort to attack rising property insurance costs in Colorado failed in the last days of the session The bill which was supported by Gov Jared Polis and Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway would have tacked a fee onto property insurance policies statewide increasing the average premium by per year The administration inferred the fees ultimately would have lowered skyrocketing homeowners insurance costs House Bill died Tuesday in a Senate committee hearing at which Democrats joined Republicans to defeat the measure Read more Colorado House attempts late-night move to delay AI regulations but effort fails In a dramatic th hour move House Democrats late Tuesday night tried to resurrect a dead-and-buried plan to slow Colorado s first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence regulations from taking effect a day after a senior Democratic lawmaker killed the planned delay and threw parts of the Capitol into chaos But the plan collapsed in even more dramatic fashion The House needed to insert the regulatory delay into an unrelated bill before midnight to ensure it had time to pass before the legislature adjourns Wednesday night But another House Democrat effectively filibustered the effort until the clock struck midnight ending the attempted bill hijacking The late drama escalates what had already been a tense showdown between the legislature and a swath of senior Democratic politicians and the tech industry It throws the implementation of Colorado s first-in-the-nation AI regulations into further uncertainty as the legislature moves into the session s final day Read more Colorado trans protections bill after tough journey through Capitol is heading to Gov Jared Polis Colorado lawmakers passed much-amended law that would provide new antidiscrimination protections to transgender Coloradans on Tuesday overcoming late roadblocks to send the measure to Gov Jared Polis House Bill passed its last vote in the state Senate on the legislative session s penultimate day and late Tuesday it cleared a final procedural hurdle in the House Read more In cash-strapped Colorado lawmakers tap an unorthodox pot of money for priorities But is it too risky Facing a billion budget gap this year Colorado lawmakers turned to a source of money they had mostly ignored for the past several years to pay for a few priorities the unclaimed property trust fund The legislature looks poised to tap the fund for two bills in the waning days of the legislative session even as critics chief among them Treasurer Dave Young argue against drawing from a fund made up of lost money not taxes to cover the cost of governing body services Related Articles Four big dynamics drove Colorado lawmakers session from defending against Trump to boosting affordability Gov Jared Polis coming labor bill veto will strain Democrat s labor ties and set stage for ballot fight Legal experts say Trump is unlikely to win Colorado lawsuit against sanctuary policies But he may not care Colorado legislature ends with an AI fizzle as delay falters further stoking talk of a special session Bipartisan vote kills governor s plan to lower homeowners insurance costs in Colorado The trust fund holds money from Coloradans old savings accounts unpaid wages insurance payouts and other cash lost on the way to its rightful owners The treasurer s office has a long-running effort to return that money called the Great Colorado Payback Read more Colorado House advances labor bill after negotiations collapse with business leaders Gov Jared Polis Negotiations over a pro-union bill in the Colorado House collapsed over the weekend after labor personnel rejected Gov Jared Polis attempt to expand talks to include other deeply contentious pieces of regulation Democratic lawmakers on Monday instead pushed forward to pass the bill potentially setting up a veto showdown The policies that the governor tried to reopen included cuts to restaurant workers wages an expansion of charter schools and privatizing the state s last-resort insurer for workers compensation The details of the discussions were substantiated by five people with direct knowledge of them including House Speaker Julie McCluskie and bill sponsor Rep Jennifer Bacon Read more Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot