It lasted for the better part of 40 minutes, but Democratic Rep. Tracy Kraft-Tharp of Arvada said it felt like a lot longer than that.

Late Monday morning, Democratic Rep. Steve Lebsock of Thornton launched into a filibuster of a bill to amend the Colorado Children’s Trust Fund Act. The bill would allow the organization tied to the trust fund act, a commission of nine people, to expand to 21 members to deal with additional responsibilities on preventing child abuse. The bill passed on a standing or “division” vote, with Lebsock the only Democrat who voted against it.

The question Monday was whether the filibuster was about the bill itself, or Lebsock’s efforts to stymie his fellow Democrats, some of whom have called for his resignation over allegations of sexual misconduct involving nine women.

Three of those women have filed formal complaints against Lebsock, and an investigation into those complaints is ongoing. A report on the investigation was initially expected to be ready by month’s end. But with the filing of the third complaint nearly two weeks ago, that timeline has been extended, although for how long is unknown.

Lebsock and several House Republicans had a number of questions about the bill, which he said Democrats refused to answer, such as why the board was jumping from nine to 21 members. So he kept asking them, repeatedly, for most of the next 40 minutes, including the 30-minute filibuster.

When he didn’t get the answers he wanted, he began reading sections of the bill, and once he finished, he started over, dwelling over certain parts of the bill at length.*

“I’ve never been in the minority before, but I’m getting the hang of it,” Lebsock said. “A minority of one, I guess,” since he no longer caucuses with the Democrats and can’t caucus with the Republicans, either (because he’s not a Republican).

Democratic lawmakers could be seen discussing how to bring the matter to a close. Once Lebsock yielded to Kraft-Tharp, ostensibly to respond to his questions, Democratic Rep. Jovan Melton of Aurora immediately called for a division vote and that was the end of it.

Kraft-Tharp told Colorado Politics afterwards that this bill is about “child abuse and neglect…I hope we don’t put children in the middle of this political world. That would be sad.”

Lebsock tweeted later:

I support the Colorado Children's Trust Fund Act. However, this bill increases the # of board members from 9 to 21. Two republican @COHouseGOP lawmakers asked simple questions regarding bill language. House dems refused to answer. Example of #copolitics that folks are tired of… https://t.co/IoHcY68czT

— Steve Lebsock (@RepLebsock) January 29, 2018

Clarification: Lebsock read sections of the bill, not the entire bill itself.