Earlier this session, a bill to provide more accountability for state-issued tax incentives won approval 64-0 in the Democratic-controlled state House.
Conventional wisdom suggested it would likewise sail through the Senate. Instead, the chamber’s Republican leaders killed it in committee.
It now rests in the legislative graveyard created this session by a divided legislature, in which partisanship and gridlock colored the major issues of the term, despite initial pledges of bipartisanship.
“I think the story of the session is one of stalemate,” said Eric Sondermann, a veteran state political observer. “Harking back to the Cold War, it was one of mutual, assured destruction. … One side has nullified the other.”
The General Assembly’s session expires before midnight Wednesday, and more bills are expected to fall victim to the impasse, including major efforts to launch a $3.5 billion transportation bonds package and an overhaul of how the state counts tax revenue.
At the start in January, Republican leaders took power in the Senate for the first time in a decade. New Senate President Bill Cadman set the tone. On some days, he said, they would pass legislation to make a political point. On others, they would make collective progress.
For four months, the House and Senate made their points clear as Republicans pushed measures to restrict abortions, repeal gun restrictions and weaken renewable-energy mandates and Democrats advanced bills on minimum-wage hikes and the renewal of a pay-equity commission.
As expected, all those measures failed in the opposite chamber. But the bills allowed legislative leaders to score political points for next year’s elections.
“It seems to me that this legislative session was as much about a setup for 2016 as anything else,” said Robert Preuhs, a political science professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
The 2014 election split the legislature, giving Republicans a one-vote Senate majority and narrowing Democrats’ advantage in the House to three votes after a number of close races.
“Elections do matter, particularly in a narrowly, narrowly divided legislature — you clearly see that,” Sondermann said.
He said that despite public opinion pushing lawmakers in Washington and elsewhere to work together, “both parties seemed to have moved toward their base elements this session.”
Most agree that the biggest beneficiary of the divided legislature is Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who took office in January for his second and final term.
“He doesn’t have to deal with the crazies on both sides,” said former Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty. “Their bills die in one chamber or the other, and the governor never has to get his hands dirty.”
Every year, the majority of bills pass with bipartisan support but little fanfare. This session is no exception. About two-thirds of the bills that Hickenlooper has signed into law were co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats.
“Clearly, the path through the divided chamber minefield is bipartisan sponsorship,” said John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University.
A felony DUI bill is expected to win approval after dying in the legislature for the past five years. And House and Senate leaders are co-sponsoring a handful of big initiatives, including two bills aimed at school safety that were inspired by the shooting death of Arapahoe High School senior Claire Davis in 2013.
Freshman Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik, a Republican who won an open seat that Democrats had expected to keep, said lawmakers deserve more credit for working together on issues.
“We need to let Coloradans know that we are trying to work together for them, that it isn’t just a cut-and-dried line down the middle and we’re not going to budge,” the Thornton lawmaker said.
But the death of the tax expenditure bill — and many other bills with bipartisan support — left lawmakers from both parties surprised.
The tax measure, House Bill 1205, created a year-round legislative committee to evaluate the effectiveness of $4.6 billion in state tax exemptions, credits and deductions and make recommendations about their future. The bill, which would have cost $600,000 a year, failed because it “had a big price tag,” said Sen. Kevin Grantham, R-Cañon City.
“I find it interesting that lawmakers would not want to know what return on investment taxpayers are receiving from $4.6 billion in state giveaways,” said Tony Gagliardi, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, an organization that traditionally supports GOP candidates.
Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, introduced a bill requiring that patients be told upfront about out-of-network costs and was surprised the new GOP chamber killed it. Republicans said the measure needed more work and there was conflicting testimony about its effectiveness.
“It was about transparency, which Republicans always talk about,” she said. “I did wonder, ‘Is this how they felt when their bills died?’ “
Republican Rep. Kevin Van Winkle put forward a bill to close what he considers a loophole in the judicial system that allows municipal courts in five cities to seal domestic violence cases. It won approval in committee two weeks ago but still awaits a floor vote — and time is running short.
The Highlands Ranch lawmaker said it’s “unfathomable” for some victims that domestic violence offenders can have their record wiped clean “simply because they were unlucky enough to be abused or beaten” in one of the five cities.
Republican Sen. John Cooke, a freshman from Greeley, saw a number of bills he sponsored get killed in the House. But he also worked with Democrats to pass the felony DUI measure and police protocol bills.
“I think the really good bills, for the most part, make it through,” he said. But, he acknowledged, “there are probably good bills on either side that didn’t make it.”
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels
The legislative graveyard
The divided legislature and partisan lines meant one-third of the legislation so far this session died, including a good chunk of the most-watched bills this term. In few other cases, the two Republican-led Senate and Democratic-controlled House reached a compromise. Here’s a look at some top issues.
Bills that died
Minimum wage: A Democratic bill approved by the House would have allows towns and counties to set the local wage based on the cost of living, but it died in the Senate.
Gun background check: Senate Republicans advanced a measure to repeal the background check requirements for firearm purchase, but it failed in the House.
Renewable energy mandates: The Senate passed a bill to cut in half the renewable energy requirement on the state’s largest utilities. It died in the House.
Fetal homicide: Pushed by the Senate GOP leader, the bill would have allowed for murder charges in the killing of an unborn child. The House is expected to vote it down in committee.
Parents Bill of Rights: The Senate-approved bill to allow a parent to determine what their children learn in school and the health care they receive failed in the House.
American Indian mascots: House Democrats advanced a bill to prohibit Colorado schools from using American Indian mascots, but it was rejected by a Senate committee.
Birth control: Democrats wanted to use state dollars to continue a grant program that provides long-acting reversible contraception, such as IUDs, to teenagers and women at little to no cost.
Gun ammunition magazines: A Senate GOP move to repeal the limit on gun ammunition magazines to 15 rounds failed in the House
Police chokehold: A Democratic bill in the House to ban police officers from using chokeholds in most cases was rejected in a Senate committee.
Compensate mineral owners: The owners of mineral rights would have received compensation if a local government restricted fracking under a Senate bill, but the House killed it.
Construction defects: A Senate measure to diminish the liability of builder for construction defects failed in the Democratic House, which argued that it wouldn’t encourage more condominium building.
Bills approved after compromises
State budget: A bipartisan committee crafted a $25 billion budget that included substantial compromises from both parties when it came to tax incentives, education funding and new building projects.
Health exchange audit: Both chambers agreed to allow the state auditor to conduct a review of the state’s health insurance exchange after a limited audit found significant issues.
Immigrant driver’s licenses: After a heated debate, state budget writers agreed to allow three offices — instead of the original five — to offer driver’s licenses to those in the country illegally.
Electronic harassment: The House and Senate struck a deal on a bill to make threats and harassment through text messages and social media sites a misdemeanor criminal charge.
School safety: The two chambers’ leaders sponsored a bill to study school safety and another measure to waive immunity for school districts in order to allow victims of shootings to collect financial damages.