It happens every January, when 100 duly elected lawmakers convene under the gold dome of the state Capitol in Denver to do the people’s business.

The 120-day session commenced at 10 a.m. Wednesday and will adjourn at midnight on May 6, with an ocean of partisanship, compromises and political stunts yet to traverse.

The Public Children’s Chorale of Pueblo opened the session in the Senate, singing “This is It,” the intro song from the Looney Tunes cartoons.

House and Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate will make opening day remarks Wednesday. Lawmakers sharing greetings and introducing their families today is a bookend to the boozing and wastebasket emptying that goes on at the end of the session four months from now, when the winter chill is replaced by the spring blooms on the hillside around the Capitol.

“No pressure,” someone whispered to 8-year-old Ryder and 12-year-old Leo Kunkel, the sons of Speaker of the House KC Becker as they walked onto the Speaker’s platform to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 

> TEXT: Gov. Polis’ first State of the State address in 2019

Thursday morning, Gov. Jared Polis will make his second State of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly.

Colorado Politics, of course, will be our readers’ reliable source for the speeches, pageantry and proposals.

Polis, as he and other governors have, will provide his aspirations for Colorado in the coming session and years ahead, while recapping the successes and challenges of the 2019.

Senate Democrats unofficially launched the session Tuesday when it announced the first bills of the session. The first bills are a way of signaling the majority’s top priorities each year.

The first bill of the session is on school safety and mental health. Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 1 to train parents, teachers and students in the K-12 system to intervene in mental health challenges. 

Senate Democrats also rolled out bills on rural economic development, a new state park in southern Colorado, student loan forgiveness and simplified health care billing.

The first five bills to be introduced in the House later Wednesday all have bipartisan support, and deal with issues such as raising the minimum age for purchasing tobacco and vaping products, providing college credit for work experience, expanding eligibility for rural business tax incentives, grants for wildfire mitigation and adding crisis counseling services to the state’s Safe2Tell program.

Senate President Leroy Garcia of Pueblo and Kerry Donovan of Vail, both Democrats, appeared to be the first lawmakers on the job Thursday morning.

> RELATED: Colorado Senate Democrats roll out their first five bills for 2020

Well-wishers greeted Donovan and especially her well-regarded pooch, Gary, a canine favorite among several at the Capitol.

Donovan expected the ripples and waves of the 2019 session will come ashore this year.

“Some of the work we did last year leads to the natural conclusions of this year,” she said. “We ran a study bill to do a public option (insurance program). This year we’ll do a public option. (Family and Medical Leave Insurance) didn’t get across the finish line, so this year we’ll work on FAMLI. There are some obvious big bills we’ll need to run this session, which makes it a little unique.”

Donovan said election years also result in surprises, as candidates and advocates try to box in opponents to promote issues to the base.

“In the Senate I think there’s an anxiousness in it being the more deliberative body and taking more of a leadership role in the building,” she said.

Democrats hold a 19-16 edge in the Senate, and a 41-24 majority in the House.

At least part of that reason is Emerge Colorado, the organization that trains Democratic women and helps them get elected.

Executive director Micha Rosenoer was handing out flowers, encouragement and congratulations Wednesday morning. Fifteen Emerge alumni are serving in the 100-member body, plus Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

“We’re here to celebrate Democratic women leading in Colorado,” she said.

She said women are always expected to lead on women’s issues, but that doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. House Speaker KC Becker of Boulder, for instance, is a key driver of the Democratic agenda in state government.

“That includes working families, paid medical leave, clean air, public transportation — those are all important to working families and our women candidates,” Rosenoer said. “We expect you’ll see them lead on those issues this session.”

Sen. Bob Gardner, a Republican from Colorado Springs, made a name for himself with flowing, cohesive speeches aimed at slowing the Democratic march in 2019.

Expect him to do the same, if the need presents itself this session, he said during an elevator ride to his office Wednesday morning.

“I’m expecting more liberal Democrat overreach and more Republican constructive response about what’s good for the economy of Colorado,” Gardner said.

On speechmaking, he said, “I do expect I’ll have explain why Democrat proposals are not good for Colorado.”

Waiting to catch the same elevator with her family at a later moment, Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, a Democrat from Arvada, was excited about her bill to put more money into special education programs in schools.

She doesn’t expect as much money for transportation as in the last two sessions, where lawmakers steered hundreds of millions of dollars into the program. The legislature is waiting for Gov. Jared Polis to release his long-range transportation plan, including transit and rural roads, his people have told Colorado Politics.

The governor already is delivering on big promises to education, health care and green energy, as Donovan and other legislators noted.

The state constitution requires a balanced budget, which means without a massive infusion or tax revenue, big-dollar promises will be hard to sell over the next four months, Zenzinger said.

“It’s about keeping the budget steady,” she said. “We’re still growing, so we’re pushing up against that (Taxpayer’s Bill or Rights) cap, but we’re not growing as much, so we have to being a little more steady.”

The House, as the body that’s a little more casual, started off the session the same way.

The opening day prayer got more than a few raised eyebrows from members of the minority party. It was led by Pastor Joe Agne of the Cedaredge Methodist Church, and included references to borders and migration, transgender pronouns, and “mansplaining,” which drew laughs and applause, especially from Democratic women representatives.

After prayers and pledges, Speaker of the House KC Becker announced the documents opening the session would not be read at length, which after a pregnant pause drew a few laughs. “Thanks for the pass on that, Minority Leader Neville,” she said, which drew more laughs.

“Are we supposed to know what we’re doing?” quipped one lawmaker, who shall go unidentified, but is completing his second year in the House as one of the 19 new House members elected in 2018. 

The usual trash talking started off the session.

We went to “that dark place known as the Senate. They were not prepared to recognize us, so we had to wait until they were organized and ready for business. They said they were,” said Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver.

“Time will tell,” added Rep. Dave Williams, R-Colorado Springs, who said the Senate appeared to “a bit confused as to who we are.” Must have been that choral performance that lulled them into their usual naps, he said.

Tony Milo, executive director of the Colorado Contractors Association, also was listening for talk of roads and finances.

“The Democrat leadership is saying we need to find new revenue to fund transportation improvements across the state and the Republican position is we should devote more existing funds to our roads — and they are both right,” he said. “The General Assembly and Gov Polis can and should dedicate an additional $500 million for transportation through a mix of existing general fund money and a modest package of fees paid for by those who are using the system. It’s past time for a bi-partisan compromise to break the funding log jam.

“Between sitting in traffic and extra wear and tear on vehicles Colorado’s bad roads are costing our state’s motorists thousands of dollars each year and impacting all Coloradans’ quality-of-life.”