Over the last three years, opening day for the Colorado General Assembly was Jan. 13, Jan. 11 and Jan. 10 respectively. All three opening days were on a Wednesday.

In 2019, the legislative session will begin on Friday, Jan. 4. Yes, you read that right, a Friday.

So the next question, for those who may have to cut holiday vacations short, is why?

It’s actually required by the Colorado Constitution, and it has to do with this year’s elections of the five top statewide officers: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general.

The Constitution requires the governor to be sworn in on the second Tuesday of January. The General Assembly can start its session no later than the second Wednesday of January, and that’s where the problem lies for 2019. The second Tuesday in 2019 will be on Jan. 8, and normally, the General Assembly wouldn’t start its session until the next day, Jan. 9.

That won’t work.

For the reason why, look no further than the legal eagles in the Office of Legislative Legal Sources, which recently posted an explanation on its Legisource blog. The Constitution requires the General Assembly to declare the winners of the top four statewide offices. The legislature has to be in session to do that.

Most of the time, the General Assembly has been lucky; the second Tuesday in January 2015 was on Jan. 13; the General Assembly began its 2015 session on Jan. 7. No problem there.

But go back to 2011, and you begin to see the problem. Gov. John Hickenlooper was sworn into office on Jan. 11. The General Assembly started its session the following day. – before the election winners had been declared.

It happened previously in 2007 when Gov. Bill Ritter was inaugurated. The ceremony was on Jan. 9. The General Assembly began its session the following day.

In both cases, the new governor and other statewide office holders had not yet been officially declared the winners by the General Assembly.

So then the question becomes what day to move the start day to, and that’s a decision that was made by the legislature’s leadership at the tail end of the 2018 session and confirmed through a vote of the House and Senate. The leaders chose a Friday, which on first blush looks a little odd.

Only once in the last 28 years has the General Assembly moved its start date to a day other than a Wednesday, and that was in 1995. The session started on Monday, Jan. 9. Gov. Roy Romer was sworn in for his third term of office the following day.

So why a Friday instead of a Monday?

It has to do with the day the session ends rather than when it begins, according to the Office of Legislative Legal Services. A 120-day session means the start and end day are the same. If the session ends on a Friday, the 120th day, everyone goes home for the weekend and a well-deserved rest. If it ends on a Monday, lawmakers would have to come back (or stay the weekend) for the 120th day.

For lawmakers, the change in date has a secondary impact: Their bill requests are due to the Office of Legislative Legal Services, whose staff actually write the bills, about a week earlier than usual. The first deadline is the Monday after Thanksgiving, so you might be able to guess what Thanksgiving week will be like for a few lawmakers (especially new ones) scrambling to get their first bill requests in on time to the legal staff.

On the other hand, with the 2019 session ending on a Friday, maybe the prospects of a long weekend near the end of the 120 days will encourage lawmakers to do what was done about a decade ago – get their work done a day or more early – as was the case in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

One can wish, yes?