The 118-day run of the 2006 Colorado General Assembly was repeatedly decried by lobbyists, lawmakers and journalists as having a partisan, negative tone. Yet the session ended as one of the most productive in memory – with most of its key achievements forged in bipartisan cooperation.
This election-year legislature thus may be best described by borrowing a term from automobile stylists – it was a “two-tone” session. Party leaders traded jabs at the microphones, then calmly sought common ground on crucial public issues.
The stage for this productive finale actually was set late in 2004, when the incoming Democratic leadership, which had won control of both chambers of the legislature for the first time since 1960, decided to retain most of the legislature’s professional staff, rather than replacing previous Republican appointees with Democratic stalwarts. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said, “We decided to keep those staff members who had treated us fairly.”
That was a gracious act by Romanoff and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, but it was also politically astute, instantly endowing the neophyte leaders with a staff seasoned in the demanding art of managing a session limited by law to 120 days, weekends and holidays included. Thus policies devised by the new Democratic majority could be quickly hammered into bills.
The second key act that presaged this year’s success came late in the 2005 session when Gov. Bill Owens and 19 Republicans joined all 53 Democrats to put Referendums C and D on last November’s ballot. That bipartisan coalition went on to win voter approval for C – thus avoiding the need to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from this year’s budget.
The influx of new revenue made this year’s budget process refreshingly dull compared to the dramatic but brutal cuts in state programs in the recession-racked years. After restoring some of the cuts made in previous years to higher education and health programs, the Joint Budget Committee had enough left over to pour $298 million into supplemental funding for transportation projects and another $40 million into other construction needs, especially in higher education. This influx of additional highway funds helped offset the defeat of Referendum D last fall, which would have allowed $1.2 billion in bonds for transportation needs.
Bipartisan cooperation also produced a carefully nuanced plan to strengthen the state’s Public Employee Retirement Association, which analysts had warned faced a possible $11.3 billion funding shortfall by 2036. Every new dollar the plan puts in PERA will come from employees, not taxpayers, mostly because employees agreed to contribute an additional 0.5 percent of their salaries into the fund for each of the next six years. The result, a 3 percent increase by 2012 and thereafter, parallels a similar 3 percent increase in employer contributions by 2012 already required by a 2004 law.
That “3 percent solution” was originally crafted by Sen. Dave Owen, R-Greeley, working closely with the governor’s office. Meanwhile, Fitz-Gerald worked to broker the deal with employee organizations that were, in turn, determined to avoid a severe “two-tier” benefit plan that the PERA board had proposed. It would have sharply reduced benefits for new employees. Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, wrote the final compromise, which among other things raised the minimum retirement age for new employees from 50 to 55.
After the PERA board was reduced from 16 members to 15 and three new members representing the public were added, Owens signed off on the deal. In response, a citizens group that had been considering an initiative to restructure PERA abandoned its drive.
PERA was never in danger of imminent bankruptcy, since it already has more than $36 billion in investments. But a long-term danger that could have threatened employee’s well-earned retirements was averted at no additional cost to the taxpayers.
The third major financial issue of the session was the effort to create a rainy-day fund – an expanded reserve fund to tide the state through future recessions without the drastic budget cuts that marked the 2001-03 recession. That effort passed the House in the closing days in another bipartisan exercise as Romanoff joined House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, to propose selling a portion of Colorado’s future receipts from the multi-state tobacco settlement. Two first-term Grand Junction representatives, Democrat Bernie Buescher and Republican Josh Penry, carried the bill.
Ultimately, the package proved too complicated to pass the Senate in the hectic final days.
But bipartisan cooperation – which included tough bargaining in good faith – managed to carry two of the session’s major fiscal issues to victory, the budget and PERA. And as the saying goes, two out of three ain’t bad.
Outside of the money realm, the legislature passed two major bills, a statewide ban on smoking in most restaurants and bars and a referred law that will ask voters- on Nov. 7 to establish domestic partnerships for same sex-couples, giving them the right to make medical decisions for incapacitated partners, provide access to health-care and family-leave benefits and protect inheritance rights. The proposal also outlines the responsibilities such couples have for any children in their care, especially if the couple later separates.
The domestic partnership bill was a mostly Democratic effort, though it attracted five Republican votes in the House and one in the Senate. In contrast, the smoking ban was a bipartisan effort from the get-go. May was the prime House sponsor. Senate Republican leader Andy McElhany ultimately voted against the bill. But McElhany also helped pave the way for the smoking ban’s passage by urging all Republicans to vote their consciences. A similar measure died last year after then Senate Minority leader Mark Hillman asked all 17 Republicans to oppose it.
Space doesn’t permit listing the fate of hundreds of lesser measures decided this session, but several items deserve comment. The lawmakers passed Senate Bill 51 to rein in unchecked cash and gifts for legislative office expenses and sent it to Owens. Lawmakers also toughened reporting rules for lobbyists and clarified election rules.
Legislators approved several economic development efforts, including one boosting tourism promotion by $20 million.
Democrats passed a key item on their agenda, Senate Bill 1, to help uninsured Coloradans get cheaper prescription drugs by requiring the state to join a multi-state drug-purchasing pool. Owens vetoed a similar bill last year and is now studying the new version.
Earlier in the session Owens underscored the limits of bipartisan cooperation by vetoing a measure allowing pharmacists to provide emergency contraception that had strong Democratic backing. He also vetoed House Bill 1056, a bill that would have required schools to stock vending machines with healthy alternatives such as fruit, milk or vegetables, and House Bill 1309, which would have given the state the power to adopt clean-air standards that are more stringent than the federal government’s.
Some controversial Democratic-sponsored measures never came within range of the governor’s veto pen, because party unity fractured. House Bill 1090, strongly backed by Fitz-Gerald, died after House lawmakers stripped a provision that would have allowed past victims of sexual abuse file lawsuits against the employers of their abusers, such as the Roman Catholic Church or public schools. Catholic leaders actively opposed the bill and city and county organizations worried that, by weakening governmental immunity laws, the measure would have opened up local governments to lawsuits.
Likewise, Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, killed his bill to require employers to give workers time off to attend their children’s school events after House Democrats diluted the measure. Another Democratic bill to to require large companies to fund employee health care plans was scuttled after opponents said it unfairly targeted Wal-Mart.
After much discussion, the lawmakers passed a bill tightening rules on eminent domain, forbidding cities from condemnations that would simply resell private properties to other private developers who might generate more tax revenues. Condemnation remains as a tool to combat blight, but the legal standard justifying such steps was raised from a “preponderance of evidence” to the stronger “clear and convincing evidence.”
After much discussion, a bipartisan package of bills to curb illegal immigration passed. House Bill 1343 prohibits state and local governments from entering into contracts with companies that knowingly employ illegal immigrants. Senate Bill 206 cracked down on “coyotes” who transport illegal immigrants for money, while a companion measure, Senate Bill 225, created a new State Patrol unit to go after people who smuggle illegal immigrants. Senate Bill 110 set $50,000 fines for making false documents. Senate Bill 90 prohibits so-called sanctuary policies in cities – though lawmakers hotly disputed whether such policies were really in effect in Colorado.
Other noteworthy bills toughened laws on Internet predators and identity theft while requiring closer tracking of sexually violent criminals.
Despite the inevitable failures, the overall results of this “two-tone” session proved that serious and strongly expressed differences in philosophy can co-exist with an honest attempt to carry out the public’s business.
Bob Ewegen is deputy editor of the Denver Post editorial pages.
