UPDATE: The Senate re-adopted the 2018-19 state budget Thursday on a 31-4 vote after about $30 million in spending was added to the budget. The House also re-passed the bill Thursday on a 47-16 vote. House Bill 1322 now heads to the governor for signing; he has 10 days after it is received by his office to do so.

After months of drama over the Division of Civil Rights and Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a budget committee Wednesday quietly ensured the agency will be funded in 2018-19, should a related bill pass the General Assembly.

The Joint Budget Committee, acting as the conference committee on the $28.9 billion state budget, approved amendments to the budget that ensured funding for the civil rights agency will be included in the 2018-19 budget.

The 2018-19 state budget is back in the hands of House and Senate lawmakers after the JBC on Wednesday ironed out differences in the versions passed in the last three weeks. Both the Senate and House added millions of dollars in spending – for school safety, rural broadband, hikes in staff salaries at state mental facilities, and film incentives – through 41 amendments.

There was no discussion by the conference committee on the amendments passed by both the House and Senate that put $2.1 million for the civil rights agency into the budget. The JBC deadlocked on a 3-3 vote along party lines in February on continuation funding for the agency.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will review a bill on April 18 that seeks to reauthorize the civil rights agency.

Amendments that won bipartisan support in both the House and Senate had the best chance of surviving the ax that fell Wednesday.

What the JBC adopted:

What fell by the wayside:

What didn’t get done: House Bill 1340, which sets aside $495 million for transportation funding. The bill was amended in the Senate to remove a formula on how the dollars would be divvied up, but the conference committee postponed action on it to a later date, likely awaiting a final decision on Senate Bill 1, which dictates how the dollars will be spent.