We’re getting to that point in the session when the majority party starts picking off some of the minority party’s bills even when there isn’t anything in them the majority objects to. There is any of a number of reasons for this, but the bottom line is they do it because they can. It already has happened a time or two – with the two parties taking turns as perp and victim, given split control of the two chambers – and you can expect the pace to pick up.

It is in that context that Republican state Rep. Lori Saine of Firestone and the House GOP – by the numbers, even deeper in the minority than they were prior to last Nov. 8 – introduced on Tuesday what has to be the most downright huggable bill of the session. More to the point, it’s bulletproof.

As described in a House GOP press release:

House Bill 1179…outlines steps good Samaritans can take to help save animals or children trapped in unsafe vehicles. The bill lists steps a person must take to have immunity from any damages associated with their intervention.

Translation: Dare to kill this bill, and you might as well vote to cancel Mother’s Day.

Politics aside, the legislation does address a deadly serious issue – and our observations about the political realities of warm-and-fuzzy legislation are in no way to presume Saine and the bill’s other sponsors aren’t genuinely moved by the issue.

By one tally last year, 682 children across the country – alongside untold pets – had died since 1998 after being neglected in hot cars. Among incidents closer to home, a Grand Junction-area mother was found guilty of child abuse in 2014 after her 2- and 4-year-old sons perished in her overheated, running car while the mom had sex and smoked pot with a man in another vehicle. Makes it pretty hard to quibble with HB 1179’s legislative intent.

Meanwhile, it won’t hurt the bill’s chances that it has bipartisan co-sponsors lined up in both chambers. It has been assigned to the House Health, Insurance, & Environment Committee.