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with all the “no” votes coming from Democrats. Senate Bill 34, which modi es the de nition of “severe bodily injury” in the criminal code. Seventeen House Democrats and one in the Senate voted against the measure, while all 31 Republicans in the legislature voted for it. Without the GOP, the measure would have failed in the House. Senate Bill 110, which is aimed at improving transparency for metropolitan districts. House Democrats opposed the bill, with 23 voting against the measure and 22 voting for it, while the House GOP supported it 18-1. e Senate passed the measure 29-3, with only Democrats opposed.

e four House Democrats who voted “no” most often were:

Rep. Elisabeth Epps, of Denver (10%) Rep. Lorena Garcia, of Adams County (8%) Rep. Javier Mabrey, of Denver (7%) Rep. Bob Marshall, of Highlands Ranch (6%) e other 42 Democrats in the House voted “yes” on 96% or more of the bills that became law. at compares with all House Democrats voting “yes” on 95% or more of the bills that became law in 2022. Epps didn’t respond to Colorado Sun requests for comment.

Garcia said she weighs how a bill will impact people before deciding how to vote.

“All the positions that I take and the issues that I work on … are really about addressing root causes, to allow anyone and everyone to be able to have a strong economic future,” Garcia said. “So the bills that I voted ‘no’ on, from my perspective, were bills that did not address root causes — that might be attempting to address an issue that’s happening in our communities, but, at the end of the day, would do nothing to deter what’s actually happening.” at included criminal justice measures that increased penalties but didn’t address the root causes of crime, she said. ere are 19 Republicans in the House. ree House Republicans voted “no” on 70% or more of the bills that became law: Reps. Stephanie Luck, of Penrose (74%); Scott Bottoms, of Colorado Springs (73%); and Ken DeGraaf, of Colorado Springs (71%). DeGraaf and Luck were prime sponsors of two House bills that became law. Bottoms cosponsored a Senate bill that became law — the “In God We Trust” license plate measure — but wasn’t the prime sponsor of any legislation that made it across the nish line. e other 16 House Republicans voted “yes” on 43% or more of the bills that became law.

DeGraaf said he voted against bills in a few categories: those that would expand government, those that he felt misrepresented what they would actually do and those that haven’t been “properly vetted.” He added that he was disappointed by how little impact debate seemed to make for a bill’s success or failure.

“Once a bill reaches the oor, it seems virtually guaranteed to pass,” he said.

First-year GOP Rep. Rick Taggart, of Grand Junction, voted “yes” on 73% of the bills that became law. House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, of Wellington, voted “yes” on nearly 65% of the bills.

Taggart said he was surprised to learn he was the Republican who had voted for the most bills that became law. He said he focused less on who was sponsoring the legislation he was voting on and instead on the policies themselves.

“My approach from day one was to work on bipartisan bills that were good, not only for my community here in Grand Junction, but good for the state,” he said.

Democrats and Republicans were more uni ed in their nal votes in the 35-member Senate, which gave unanimous approval to one-third of the bills considered in the chamber that became law.

All but two of the 12 Republicans in the Senate voted “yes” 52% of the time or more on the 474 bills that became law. And all 23 Democratic senators voted “yes” 97% of the time or more.

Sen. Kevin Van Winkle, of Highlands Ranch, voted “no” on 56% of the bills that became law, while Sen. Mark Baisley, of Woodland Park, voted “no” on 55%.

“I just disagree generally with the direction Colorado’s moving, the way we’re being led by Democrats,” Van Winkle told e Sun earlier this year in explaining why he votes “no” on so many bills.

Democratic Sens. Kevin Priola, of Henderson, and Dylan Roberts, of Avon, voted “no” on only 14 of the bills that became law, but that was enough to make them the least likely to support measures clearing the chamber this year.

Priola switched his party a liation to Democratic from Republican in August. He previously was often the lone Republican “yes” vote on Democratic bills that became law. is year, he voted in favor of 97% of bills that became law, compared with 87% last year.

Priola said some of that can be chalked up to the natural di erences between each session. He added that now that he’s part of the Democratic caucus, he has changed the way he votes.

“ is year, those tweener bills that no one was upset about either way — that I didn’t think were bad policies but I wasn’t in love with them either — being in the other caucus I gave them the bene t of the doubt,” he said. “I’m going to support my caucus.” is story via e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver that covers the state. For more, visit www.ColoradoSun.com. e Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, which owns Colorado Community Media.