Gov. John Hickenlooper signed seven matter-of-fact measures into law Tuesday in a ceremony that garnered more attention than the bills did going through the legislature.
The bills are the first Hickenlooper has signed since taking office Jan. 11.
Traditionally, the governor and lawmakers work on a bipartisan measure that gets plenty of ink on opening day and during the signing, but this year, the first bills introduced were routine. And usually public bill-signing ceremonies are for more high-profile measures.
“This seems natural to me,” said Hickenlooper, when asked about the lack of a high-profile measure out of the gate. “There’s no political message here. We didn’t try to rush one bill forward or hold one bill back.”
But Hickenlooper started off the news conference with a splash of his quintessential quirkiness when he walked to the microphone without a tie.
Just as people were thinking, “OK, I know you’re doing this ‘business casual’ thing, but shouldn’t you at least wear a tie for your first bill signings?” Hickenlooper whipped out a tie and began tying it on.
That got a huge laugh from the crowd assembled to watch the bill signings, which included the extension of an income-tax checkoff for military families and tougher licensing requirements for accountants.
“This is the first time I will have ever signed an act, as they say, a formal bill, and I am obviously very excited to be doing this,” Hickenlooper said.
Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, said the tax checkoff to help military families was initiated because so many families were affected by record deployments to fight the war on terrorism. Taxpayers have contributed more than $1 million to the fund.
Last year, amid great fanfare, then-Gov. Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 1, a measure introduced by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats that changed benefits from the Public Employees’ Retirement Association to try to keep it solvent.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327 or lbartels@denverpost.com
