DENVER—Remember all those promises from Democrats and Republicans to work together and focus on jobs and the economy this year?
Just ask Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp, a Republican from Littleton, how it’s working. Or House Minority Leader Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, or Senate President Brandon Shaffer, R-Longmont.
“The approach of the mid-session mark reveals the stark and sobering differences between Democrats and Republicans,” Shaffer said.
“I think it’s safe to say that Democrats continue to labor under the belief that you can keep doing the same things and expect different results with respect to getting our economy turned around,” Kopp said.
Pace said House Democrats have brought more than twice as many jobs bills than Republicans, twice as many government transparency and accountability bills and nearly three times as many bills that help working families.
“Being the minority party is no easy task, as most of the Democratic bills that would have created jobs and increased government transparency and accountability have been killed along party lines,” said Pace. Pace cited bills that would have given a preference to Colorado products, and another that would have provided counselors to help small businesses navigate red tape, among their legislation to create jobs that got killed.
The Senate minority caucus handed out a summary of legislation that touted several Republican bills killed by Democrats that the GOP maintained would have been good for the economy. They said none of the Democrat bills were good for the economy.
Senate Minority Whip Scott Renfroe summarized the session so far as “lacking anything other than partisan attacks against the Republican caucus.”
Travis Berry, spokesman for the Colorado Competitive Council that lobbies for businesses and business associations, said it has been tit for tat on many contentious issues, with Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in the House killing bills that they didn’t like, and that has not been all bad.
“Most of the bad ideas have been killed,” Berry said. He cited bills that would have limited the use of credit information for granting loans and setting bidder preferences for state contracts.
Among the other bills killed this year was a proposal by McNulty to cut another $195 million from the $19.1 billion budget that begins July 1, on top of the $1 billion already on the chopping block. The proposal died after Democratic Majority Leader John Morse demanded McNulty provide specific cuts and none were forthcoming.
Senate Republicans touted several bills they argue would have spurred the economy, including measures that would have rolled back fees on automobile registrations being used for fixing bridges and roads and another that would have phased out business personal property taxes.
Other issues are stalled in the House and Senate as they near the halfway point of their 120-day session on Sunday, but some of them are still giving themselves an “A” for effort, according to Pace.
House Speaker Frank McNulty focused on the positive, saying the bipartisan efforts on congressional redistricting are going well, and Gov. John Hickenlooper is going ahead with plans to consolidate state agencies with help from lawmakers. But Hickenlooper and legislative leaders say the biggest issues lie ahead. Hickenlooper has only signed 29 bills of more than 500 bills introduced, while 123 have been killed, 77 in the House and 46 in the Senate, according to legislative records.
Shaffer said the divided Legislature, where Democrats have a 20-15 majority in the Senate and 33-32 majority in the House—has both sides treading lightly trying to find solutions.
“We still have to do the biggest things—the budget, protect education, redistricting,” Shaffer said.
“We’re still feeling one another out a bit. There has been plenty of things passing one chamber and then not moving in the other chamber and then not moving in the other chamber. So I think we’re going to have to see where we can compromise and work together,” Shaffer said.
Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, said congressional redistricting is another area where both parties have promised to work together, hoping to avoid an expensive special session. Map proposals are due by April 14, which he says is time to get a compromise by the time the Legislature adjourns on May 11.
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Associated Press Writer Ivan Moreno contributed to this report.
