Legislators talk funny. That is to say, they use a jargon that can confuse the uninitiated. Halfway into the session, even the freshpersons by now have picked up the patois. The ordinary citizen feels excluded. But we are here to help. Here’s a glossary of often-used phrases.
Amendment 41: This “ethics in government” ballot issue, banning lobbyist gifts and other things, still irks the insiders. Some want to “fix” it; others say it can’t be fixed because it’s a constitutional amendment. It has meant less wining and dining and more whining and maligning.
Call of the House (or Senate): From time to time, some legislator will move “a call.” Formal business is suspended, beckoning chimes are activated (a different signal for each chamber), and sergeants at arms are dispatched to round up any members who have wandered off. It’s a tactic used to buy time, or to change minds for a critical vote.
Committee of the whole: When either chamber is in second-reading debate, it becomes (“resolves itself into”) a committee “of the whole.” What was the House or Senate is now a committee. It takes voice votes instead of roll calls. Members don’t have to go on record as killing a bill or doing some other controversial thing. Often, though, someone will move, after the debate, to amend the committee’s report to the full chamber, and then rolls are called. In recent years, some legislators have taken to calling this sometimes partisan, argumentative period “the COW,” which is appropriate in a Bart Simpson-esque way, as in “Don’t have a COW, man.”
Fiscal note: An explanation added to a bill that says how much the legislation, if passed, would cost the state. Bill sponsors hope to avoid it; bills with fiscal impact (“FI”) are less likely to pass than those without (“NFI”). Fiscal notes do have one advantage, though: they’re much easier to understand than the legalese of the bill itself.
Joint Budget Committee: Six members, two from the majority and one from the minority party in each chamber. Despite a string of ballot issues restricting the legislature’s fiscal flexibility, the JBC still is the center of what power is left. Its members meet more often than any other committee, and they tend to become more loyal to the JBC’s idea of the way things ought to be than they are to their own political parties.
Safety clause: Most bills introduced in the legislature once had this. The safety clause prevents the bill’s being forced to the ballot for a popular vote on whether it actually should go into effect. In Colorado, citizens can do that sort of thing, if they’re motivated enough to collect the requisite petition signatures. The clause asserts that the legislation is “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety.” But it has fallen into disrepute, especially among conservatives, who consider it unnecessary and uppity (though no one can recall any citizen initiative actually challenging an un-claused bill). Still, during the legislature’s special session on illegal immigration last year, many conservatives added these clauses, believing that their bills really were “necessary for the immediate preservation … ,” etc.
State Affairs: These committees, one in each chamber, have more complicated names now. The House and Senate list them officially as the “State, Veterans and Military Affairs” committees, but there are scant little veterans or military affairs going on at the state level. So everyone still calls them “State Affairs.” And they still have the same basic role. New name; same game: they are where problem bills are sent to die.
Fred Brown (punditfwb@aol.com), retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a political analyst for 9News.
