Has time run out for Colorado House Bill 1312, which would require parents who want to exempt their children from vaccinations to obtain a state form?

It’s not about the bill’s content so much as the time it could take to get through the Senate before the legislative session ends Friday.

The bill, as approved by the House on Saturday, is intended to discourage Coloradans from opting their children out of vaccinations. It still allows those who have medical reasons to opt out, as well as those who object to vaccinations for religious reasons. Those who believe that the government shouldn’t have any say in parents’ decisions involving their children also still have that right to opt out via a personal exemption.

Gov. Jared Polis has concerns about the bill, most notably that the measure requires parents to visit a local health department or the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to obtain a form for exempting their children from vaccinations.

Related: Colorado House passes immunization exemption bill

Sen. Minority Leader Chris Holbert of Parker told Colorado Politics on Monday that suggested to the Senate Democratic leadership that the bill be postponed in its first committee hearing in order to ward off potentially hundreds of opponents showing up to testify on it.

The Senate, which on Monday still had 128 bills pending action, doesn’t have 20 hours or more to spend on one bill in a committee hearing, plus floor debate, Holbert said. 

That’s what happened on April 15, when the measure was heard by the House Health & Insurance Committee. About 575 people, mostly affiliated with the anti-vaccine group Colorado Health Choice Alliance, packed the committee hearing, which took 14 hours. Sources have told Colorado Politics the group hopes that even more people will show up for the Senate committee hearing.

That’s time the Senate just doesn’t have. With 128 bills on the calendar, that’s about 15 minutes per bill, according to Democratic Sen. Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village, and that’s down from 22 minutes per bill on third reading as of last Friday.

But the bill’s Senate sponsor – Republican Sen. Kevin Priola of Henderson – told Colorado Politics he hadn’t heard of that argument.

Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg of Boulder said Monday that “we don’t make decisions based on threats.”

The bill could be assigned to any committee, he added, although the calendar shows only four out of 10 committees – State, Veterans and Military Affairs; Judiciary; Finance; and Appropriations – are still scheduled to meet this week.

“If there’s a bill coming over from the House, it’ll get its due time,” Fenberg explained.

Would the Senate spend 20 hours on one bill?

“If that’s what it takes,” Fenberg said.

Joint Rule 23 requires that a bill be introduced in the next chamber within three days of receipt; the Senate received the bill on Saturday, according to Holbert.

When the Senate convened on Monday, Republicans began making their point about time, with a lengthy (or, at least more than 15 minutes) debate on a bill reauthorizing professional review committees within the Department of Regulatory Agencies. Seven Republicans got up to speak on the bill, every one of them in favor of it.

After 20 minutes of discussion, Fenberg asked that the bill be laid over until later in the morning.

On Monday morning the Senate spent 45 minutes on the first two bills on its third-reading calendar, while the House passed six bills in that amount of time.