Dem Senate leader, former GOP leader reflect on 2023 legislature

Dominick Moreno and Mark Hillman o er contrasting views of tough session

When the clock struck midnight, I was incredibly proud

By State Sen. Dominick Moreno e 2023 legislative session, like any, was lled with ups and downs.

But after a hectic, yet productive 120 days under the Golden Dome, I am struck by how much we accomplished this session.

Newly emboldened with unprecedented majorities, Democrats remained laser-focused on the issues that matter most to Colorado families. From housing to health care, we rolled up our sleeves and had tough conversations about the challenges facing our state.

It wasn’t always pretty, but

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To subscribe call 303-566-4100 when the clock struck midnight, I was incredibly proud of the work my colleagues and I put in to deliver real results for families across our state.

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Our number one priority this session was addressing the housing crisis. Housing is far too expensive in Colorado, and it’s pricing folks out of their communities.

So we passed bills that will lower the cost of housing, and saved families and businesses billions of dollars on their property taxes to help keep more folks – especially those on xed incomes – in their homes.

We also worked to better support renters in Colorado through critical renter protections, including laws that reduce barriers to housing eligibility and save renters money on rental applications, and that protect lower-income Coloradans and folks

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Democrats also fought hard to save people money on their health care, including by lowering the cost of prescription drugs and improving access to critical behavioral care for our youth.

We protected consumers from getting trapped in an endless and confusing spiral of medical debt, and we expanded access to reproductive health care – including abortion and gender-a rming care.

Our package of reproductive health care bills, including my bill

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POSTMASTER: Send address change to: Arvada Press, 750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225, Englewood, CO 80110 with Sen. Lisa Cutter to break down barriers to abortion care and other critical services and make care more a ordable by closing gaps in insurance coverage, will allow Coloradans to access the full spectrum of reproductive health care services they depend on, while protecting the people who both seek and provide that care in our state.

But perhaps the most impactful change we enacted this session is our work to put a stop to the endless cycle of gun violence that is plaguing Colorado.

Just weeks before session began, we lost ve lives in a shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. In the span of one month, students and teachers at Denver East High School were subject to gun violence not once, but twice. And that doesn’t include the everyday instances of gun violence that y under the radar but leave holes in our families and our communities that can never be healed.

We grieved alongside the LGBTQ+ community in the Springs, and the students and teachers as Denver East.

But, in the face of these tragedies, we did not throw our hands up and fail to act. Instead, we used our historic majorities to pass a critical suite of gun violence prevention bills that will raise the age to purchase a rearm to 21, remove overly broad protections for the gun industry, strengthen our “red ag” law, establish a three-day waiting period when purchasing a rearm, and crack down on unserialized, untraceable “ghost guns.” ese are common sense, life-saving measures that meet the moment we nd ourselves in, and that will create a safer Colorado for us all. ere are far too many successes from this session to recount in a single column. But make no mistake: this session was a transformative one for the people of Colorado.

From lowering the cost of housing and health care to defending our democracy and addressing the climate crisis, Democrats got to work, and I am proud of the results we’ve delivered for our state.

I look forward to continuing our work next session, and to creating a healthier, safer, and stronger Colorado that works for us all.

Dominick Moreno is Democratic state Senate majority leader and represents parts of Adams and Arapahoe counties.

Disciplined leaders can avoid legislative chaos

By former state Sen. Mark Hillman

For the rst time I can recall, this year’s session of the Colorado General Assembly concluded with frenzy and confusion more typical of what we see in Washington, D.C., than what’s expected of our citizen legislature.

It’s not unusual for a few complicated bills to linger until the waning hours. However, this year’s 120-day session ended on Monday, May 8, with these ignominious developments:

• On Day 117, still 156 bills – onequarter of the 617 introduced since Jan. 9 – remained unresolved. With just two weeks to go, 335 bills were still in limbo.

• A bill a ecting all Colorado taxpayers was unveiled barely twoand-a-half days before the session ended and heard in committee that same day, before it was available to the public.Committee hearings are intended to allow public comment, but only two people, a consultant who helped write the bill and a veteran lobbyist, testi ed in committee on Sunday.

• Yes, the House and Senate were in session on Sunday – the rst time the Senate conducted the public’s business on a Sunday since 1939. is is not a partisan critique to suggest that Democrats cannot conduct business in an orderly fashion. To the contrary, for four years (20052008), Democrats managed the calendar well enough to adjourn early. ose Democrats could certainly o er pointers to current leaders. Several factors contributed to this year’s logjam.

Few in either party expected last November’s election to be a landslide for Democrats. Many Democrat-aligned interest groups scrambled to prepare more aggressive bills than would have been possible in a centrist-oriented legislature. With large Democratic majorities, far-left progressives suddenly had a ghting chance to pass controversial bills, and traditional liberals had to decide whether to improve those bills or take heat for killing them. (During my rst session in 1999-2000, Republicans were in the same boat with conservatives often frustrated by moderates.)

Outnumbered more than 2-to-1 in the House, Republicans were left with only one card to play when facing sure-to-pass bills that in amed their constituents: delay. Democrats, in turn, took the rare step of limiting debate on at least 15 bills, allowing as little as one hour for discussion.

What could Democrats have done di erently?

Most obviously, adhere to legislative deadlines. Each senator and representative can introduce ve bills. ose ve bills were to be introduced by Jan. 25 in the Senate and Jan. 31 in the House.

Yet by the end of those two weeks, the Senate had introduced just 90 bills (2.5 per senator) and the House 171 (2.6 per representative). More bills (292, not counting those related to the budget) were introduced late than on schedule, which only happens with permission from leadership.

Lawmakers are procrastinators, and lobbyists relentlessly request “just one more bill.” e Mass of Christian burial was at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church on June 7, 2023. Additional information is available at www.aspenmortuaries.com

Leaders must enforce deadlines to maintain order and to reduce stress and fatigue among the legislature’s professional sta which is responsible for writing and updating bills as amended.

Each bill drafter is responsible for multiple bills, so when a complicated bill must be completely rewritten overnight to facilitate legislative compromise, that drafter gets little sleep which can result in errors.

Each General Assembly meets for two sessions, so leaders should remind lawmakers not to waste time on bills that aren’t “ready for primetime” and to use the interim months to develop them for the following year.

Some have suggested constitutional changes, either reducing the legislative session to 90 days or allowing legislators to meet yearround.

A full-time legislature would simply multiply existing problems. Many legislators have minimal real-world experience, so allowing them to be professional, full time lawgivers, imposing their purported wisdom on those who actually produce goods and services, would be a terrible mistake.

Trimming 30 days from the annual session would cause legislators to prioritize, but it should be combined with postponing the starting date by 30 days so they can spend that month re ning bills and be ready for business on Day One.

Coloradans deserve better than this year’s chaotic circus. at improvement is possible with disciplined leadership, regardless of which party is in charge.

Mark Hillman is a former Republican state Senate majority leader and state treasurer. He operates his family’s farm near Burlington.

Germaine Helena Piper of Arvada transitioned peacefully to eternal life on May 25, 2023 at the age of 84.

“Manie” had a unique perspective on life, and a heartwarming sense of humor. e ve children she raised on her own remember her as compassionate, courageous, creative, sel ess, and gracious. She had the ability to put people at ease, and talk to anyone.

She loved to laugh! She enjoyed nding treasures at garage sales and reading cook books from cover to cover, and painting and watching birds. She said the rosary many times each day, and was an avid reader of religious books. Celebrating Christmas was always a priority. Easy to like, and easier to love, her presence will be missed by many.

Born in Denver to Lynnwood and Margarite (Telgmann) O’Leary who preceded her in passing, she is survived by siblings Lynnwood “Bud” O’leary Jr. of Evergreen; Jacqueline Schuster, Marlene Clermonts, and Colleen Ken eld, of Northglenn.

Germaine is also survived by ve blessed children, Matthew (Eileen), Mark (Becky), Gerianne Piper-Bell (Shawn), Michael (Christy), Jeannie Cole (Tom), and was a grandmother of 16, and a great grandmother of 2.