Legislative Matters
| Jurisdiction | Colorado,United States |
| Pages | 50 |
| Citation | Vol. 52 No. 7 Pg. 50 |
| Publication year | 2023 |
FEATURE
CBA's 2023 Legislative Session in Review
BY TYLER MOUNSEY
This article provides an overview of the CBA's legislative efforts during the Colorado General Assembly's 2023 session.
On Monday, May 9, the 74th Colorado General Assembly adjourned after a session marked by conflict and division. During their 120 days of work, many conversations and debates were dominated by partisan and intraparty conflicts. Despite this widening gap of opinions, the CBA succeeded in fulfilling its mission of supporting the justice system and a wide variety of legal issues for all Coloradans.
By the Numbers
At the Capitol, with so many different narratives and opinions on every policy topic, often it's best to first agree on the facts. For the legislative session, those facts depend on a thorough analysis of many floor votes and bills in the recent session. The following data is pulled from a careful analysis of information from the State of Colorado General Assembly website.
In 2023 the state legislature introduced 617 bills and passed 78% of them. That's the second-highest percentage of passed bills in 11 years, while the total bills introduced is the third lowest since 2013.
Governor Polis vetoed 10 of the 484 bills, which is the highest number since his first election. Of the 10 that were vetoed, half had bipartisan sponsorship. And all but 56 bills that became law had bipartisan support. Despite that, this year saw a decline in not only bipartisan support but also unanimous votes. Only 60 measures—about 13% of all bills that became law—passed with unanimous support, the lowest in four years.
Anyone who pays attention to any media is familiar with the gridlock on most levels of government. The difference in this session, partly as a result of the 2022 elections, is that dissension was not only across the aisle but also between moderate and progressive lawmakers of the same party. With 40% of the general assembly serving their first year, discord is expected, but the differences were made clear by their final votes.
In some instances, we saw moderate Democrats siding with Republicans. In others, we saw progressive Democrats voting against their own party, especially around criminal justice bills. This new dynamic created the need for House Democrats to get help from the GOP more than once because they didn't have enough votes within their own caucus.
Aside from the division in the political landscape, cost was a point of contention in various bills. Ballot measures that included the income tax cut, universal school lunch, and affordable housing spending increase put significant pressure on the upcoming budget. The 2023-24 budget turned out to be the largest in history and about $1.2 billion more than the current year's spending plan.
There were large increases for K-12 education, housing, workforce development, and covering the expiration of federal Medicaid matching funds. Other allocations included $103 million for workforce-related legislation, $2.3 billion to the general fund reserve to prepare for the next economic downturn, and $221 million for housing-related legislation. In particular, SB 23-303 and HB 23-1311, as well as funds for property tax relief and implementation of Proposition 123, all applied significant squeeze to a Joint Budget Committee that had all new members except for its chair.
The success of legislative measures depends on the narrative, timing, and political...
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