Highlights from the Legislature on Friday:
— The Colorado House approved the state budget (Senate Bill 259) without debate and approved a bill declaring a fiscal emergency (Senate Bill 271), allowing the state to tap tobacco funds.
The measures included a bipartisan package of bills to cut about $300 million from the state budget to avoid major cuts to higher education. The bills now go to the Senate, which is expected to send them to a conference committee to work out differences.
— Senate Democrats unanimously picked Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer of Longmont to replace Peter Groff as Senate president. Sen. John Morse of Colorado Springs was chosen to replace Shaffer as majority leader. Groff is stepping down at the end of the session to take a job in the Obama administration.
— The Senate backed a measure (House Bill 1180) which would exempt people with concealed weapons permits from undergoing background checks whenever they buy a gun. They must pass a background check before they can get a permit. It now heads back to the House, which passed its own version earlier.
New Bills
— Ask voters to allow the Legislature to convene in a city outside Denver if Denver is hit with a disaster emergency (House Concurrent Resolution 1004).
