DENVER – Based on the packet of amendments to the Long Appropriations Bill, Colorado lawmakers are seeing dollar signs for the first time in years. On Wednesday night the Colorado House, on a voice vote, put its stamp on the 2018-19 budget – with a lot more changes than in years past.

As Wednesday began, House members had submitted 95 amendments to the 2018-19 state budget bill. The dollar signs in some lawmakers’ eyes came from a budget surplus of $1.3 billion estimated by state economists last week.

Money wasn’t the only motivator in Wednesday’s debate. A planned Good Friday day off hung in the balance, adding to lawmakers’ desire to get the Long Bill done before midnight so it could be ready for a final vote on Thursday.

Among the notable amendments:

One other bill that made it through the House Wednesday night contains $495 million for transportation, approved by the JBC in case Senate Bill 1 does not pass. But the debate over House Bill 1340 may signal what happens when Senate Bill 1 reaches the House. The Senate measure won final approval from the Senate Wednesday on a 35-0 vote.

Democrats put an amendment on House Bill 1340 to shift some of its funding into multimodal projects statewide, despite arguments from rural lawmakers that local governments should decide how those dollars should be spent in their local communities. The debate over multimodal projects raises questions about the kinds of changes coming from the House that could happen to Senate Bill 1 in the coming days. Multimodal projects including public transit as well as bike and pedestrian options.

The rest of the 18 so-called orbital bills, which help balance the budget, also made it through the House late Wednesday night at break-neck speed.

Despite the long list of amendments, which kept lawmakers at the Capitol until just before midnight, any amendments that passed on Wednesday will be expected to come off the budget bill when it reaches the Senate Appropriations Committee next week.

And then the process will repeat itself when the budget bill hits the Senate.