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Colorado lawmakers end session with camaraderie, finalizing property tax reform -- though not all is resolved

Nick Coltrain and Seth Klamann, The Denver Post on

Published in News & Features

DENVER — Unlike last year, the end of the Colorado legislative session Wednesday came with no fireworks — no protest walkouts, no intracaucus tensions boiling over into public, no last-minute implosions of keystone policy bills.

The final day of lawmakers’ nearly four-month session instead was dominated by noticeably brighter spirits as the General Assembly put the finishing touches on a slew of legislation that had dominated the final weeks. Notable bills touched on tax credits, property tax reform, gun restrictions and major land use changes that will shape the state for years and, supporters hope, decades to come.

Contentious housing bills that died or were vetoed last year were brought back, in varying forms, and passed. Lawmakers and the governor struck grand bargains to defuse ballot measures. And Democrats have settled into a now-familiar — if not consistently united — seat at the head of the legislative table.

Some of the last proposals to cross the finish line on the final day — which ended with the Senate’s adjournment just before 8 p.m., before dark — included an income tax credit for Colorado families with household incomes under $90,000, to cover up to two years of tuition and fees at in-state public universities, colleges and technical schools; a bipartisan bill to remake the public school finance system; a series of tax reforms that include a tax credit of up to $3,200 for dependent children, scaling down as family income increases, as children age and if state revenue growth slows down; and an income tax reduction of $450 million this year.

When the legislature convened in January, it was with a palpable sense of dread. Lawmakers, lobbyists and observers feared the session would reflect the angst and tension that marred last year’s regular and special meetings of the General Assembly.

Instead, the session unfolded largely as a casual observer would’ve expected.

 

Where tensions did rise, they did so mostly within standard — though at times still pointed — etiquette under the Gold Dome, even if public exchanges between lawmakers outside the building’s marble halls sometimes descended into personal attacks.

Sen. Dylan Roberts, speaking Wednesday about a compromise on a bill penalizing gun owners who don’t secure handguns left in vehicles, lamented “disrespectful” comments made in the House about an amendment from his chamber. But the Frisco Democrat ended on a simple request to “disagree better.”

Flare-ups still emerged. The House’s Democratic leadership implemented new protocols to limit what they considered offensive speech on the floor. Some House Republicans repeatedly castigated their Democratic colleagues on social media as supporting pedophiles and criminals, based on votes opposing various GOP-backed bills.

Those comments contributed to a tense meeting between Democratic lawmakers and their leadership last week, with legislators demanding that leaders do more to address attacks online.

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