The legislative session in Colorado has been running for a month. Donald Trump has been president for three weeks. The national political tumult that has marked the early days of the administration has resulted in a stream of public protest in the state and angry exchanges at the Capitol.

Three weekends ago, the day after Inauguration Day, more than 100,000 Coloradans flooded Civic Center in Denver as part of the national women’s march for “human rights and equality,” as participants put it.

The next weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, thousands of Coloradans poured into Denver International Airport to protest Trump’s executive order on refugees and immigration.

Hundreds gathered on the west steps of the Capitol Jan. 31 to protest efforts to repeal the federal and state Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges.

Across the state, residents have jammed congressional phone lines and email inboxes seeking to communicate their feelings about Trump cabinet nominees.

A town hall hosted by Boulder County’s representatives at the Capitol drew some 400 concerned constituents who peppered their lawmakers for hours with questions.

The House Democratic majority responded by passing back to back resolutions on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 on flashpoint topics. House Joint Resolution 1013 was directed at President Trump and asked him to rescind the immigration order. Resolution 1005 stated Democratic support for full range reproductive health care, including abortion, covered by “public and private health insurance.”

On both days, Democrats took turns at the lectern voicing alarm and disapproval.

“Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it,” said Rep. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, on Tuesday. He was quoting Mark Twain to condemn Trump’s immigration order. “This is an example of power being derived from fear. I ask us to reject that.”

Republicans saw the resolutions as either politically opportunistic, unhelpfully reactive, unnecessarily distracting or some combination of all of the above.

“How is this a productive use of our time?” said House Minority Leader Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock, who on Wednesday seemed to have had enough. He said the resolutions, particularly the abortion resolution, were counterproductive, that they were serving mostly to antagonize members of his caucus.

“If you don’t agree with us and the millions of Coloradans who believe we should protect life, that’s fine, you don’t have to agree with us,” he said Wednesday. “I’m disappointed to see this is how we’re being forced to use the little time we have to seek solutions to Colorado’s problems.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the crowd assembled on the west steps of the building demanding lawmakers protect Obamacare exhibited passion that recalled the tea party protests of 2009 and 2010. Members of the crowd thought something essential about the country and its promise was being betrayed.

“You’ve all heard it,” said Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, D-Denver. “Well, let’s be clear again: Health care is a right, not a privilege. More than 20 million people here in America have been added to the list of those with health care insurance thanks to Obamacare – that is a wonderful word isn’t it, Obamacare?” The crowd roared in response. “People are covered for pre-existing conditions, for diabetes, cancer, MS and so much more. They can not be denied health care and we are not going to let that happen again. Not going to happen.

“We’re going to fight and fight and fight,” Guzman said.

Staying on task at the Capitol this session will be difficult – for Democrats and Republicans. The long fractious 2016 election season is enjoying a hyper-charged aftermath. Yet, there are signs nearly every day that a commitment to cooperation is taking hold in large and small instances – and that can feel odd.

Lawmakers and lobbyists have bent over backward to compliment legislative leaders for conducting long-running productive talks, remaining flexible in debate and striking cooperative and conciliatory tones around big-ticket issues – namely how to fund vital transportation upgrades and how to restart housing construction to alleviate the nagging shortage that has driven up home prices and rents across the state.

Mike Kopp, a former state Senate minority leader this year is acting as spokesman for the Homeownership Opportunity Alliance, a group spearheading support for construction litigation reform on behalf of mostly developer and business interests. On Wednesday, he was very sunny about Democratic House Speaker Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, in the wake of the introduction of one of a suite of coming reform bills.

“To her great credit, the Speaker has really made it clear she wants to see reform, and she has stuck out her neck to get it done,” he said. “I think she sees how big an issue this is to almost every kind of entity – low income housing advocates, builders, trade and energy groups.”

Kopp said he is very hopeful progress on long-stalled reform is going to happen this year. He credited Duran and Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, with enlightened leadership.

“We’ve been very happy with the congenial tone struck by leaders on both sides,” he said.

Then on Feb. 2, Democratic and Republican members the Senate education committee voted unanimously in favor of a fraught campus free speech bill. The unanimous vote wasn’t what anyone expected.

The bill is sponsored by arch-libertarian conservative Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton. Debate included reference to controversial figures such as Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor who engendered conservative fury with work in which he argued the imperialist excesses of the United States made the 9/11 attacks inevitable, and right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, who drew large protests last week on a stop at the University of Colorado Boulder and days later protests that turned violent at the University of California Berkeley.

Democrats began the committee hearing voicing fears that the bill might protect hate speech. Sen. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, referenced Hitler. But they ended the hearing shaking their heads, surprised with the fact that they thought the bill might be a good idea.

“This is a weird year. This is a really weird year,” said committee Chair Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs, staring straight ahead as he walked out the door of the committee room and down the hall.

– john@coloradostatesman.com