Colorado’s legislative leaders provided a forecast of fast work and bipartisanship Sunday afternoon for the special legislative session that starts Monday morning in Denver. The purpose is to distribute $280 million, plus sales tax relief for bars and eateries.

The relief flows from the slimmed-down state budget the General Assembly passed in June. That budget was based on a dire revenue forecast that didn’t turn out to be as bad as predicted. Federal stimulus money shored up an economy that’s performed better than revenue forecasts and created a surplus.

Congress helped out, however, until they didn’t, said House Majority Leader (and speaker-elect) Alec Garnett, a Democrat from Denver. Housing assistance and unemployment benefits are running out, while Democrats and Republicans in Washington quibble over numbers. 

The soonest Congress will take up the next round of aid will be in January. Colorado hopes to deliver a stopgap rescue for people and businesses barely hanging on.

“Some of the reasons we’re in this place is the lack of federal action,” he said of the partisan impasse in Washington. “… We have some general fund revenue to come in and provide on a one-time basis to create a stimulus-type of result across the economy to help those who are going to have trouble in these next months ahead.”

Senate President Leroy Garcia, a Democrat from Pueblo, said congressional inaction has “completely abandoned” Americans in their time of need.

“Small businesses have been drowning for months waiting for comprehensive federal aid, while hardworking Coloradans anxiously watch housing and unemployment support dissipate,” he said. “The amount the Colorado state government can do to alleviate the burdens of struggling communities is limited, but it’s not nothing.”

House Speaker KC Becker of Boulder added: “This is going to make a dent, but not nearly what Washington can deliver. We need Washington to act to deliver the comprehensive relief we need.”

Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, a Democrat from Boulder, characterized the week ahead as a balancing act.

“We are going to do this in a way that hopefully addresses the biggest needs that we have the power to address, but that does it in a way that keeps everyone as safe as possible,” he said.

That will depend largely on individual legislators who could introduce bills out of spite or hope for distraction, if they are tangentially related to the reason that Polis gave for calling the session: pandemic relief.

Becker promised Sunday that every bill would get a fair hearing. Other legislative leaders said those throwing legislative Hail Marys won’t have much luck, if they haven’t put in the work to build a coalition. Democrats will control the votes to dispatch those bills quickly.

Garcia scoffed at the characterization of a reporter that bills by Republicans are dead on arrival as “not a true statement.” 

“Speaking for the Senate, we’re going to look at any of these policies … we’re going to do it like we normally would to ensure the process is followed and consider those types of policies, as we’ve vowed,” he said. “Obviously there hasn’t been the pre-work on their behalf on many of these.”

Fenberg described it differently.

“Generally speaking, the debates and the conversations and the legislation we’re going to be considering over these three or so days really are not going to be about policy,” he said. “They’re going to be about getting financial assistance into the right place immediately.”

The General Assembly that was elected in November will take office when they reconvene at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Democrats in the special session and the next regular session will maintain a 41-24 majority in the House, and a 19-16 edge in the Senate, which is one more seat than they currently have after Democrat Chris Kolker flipped the District 27 seat left open when Sen. Jack Tate chose not to seek a second term.

Redistricting could shuffle boundary lines and the partisan lean to more seats in play in 2022.

Nonetheless, Democrats are apt to be graded on how they led the state through the twin crises of public health and economic hardship.

House Republican leader-elect Hugh McKean of Loveland said his caucus is coming back to Denver “to help everyday Coloradans.”

“We are offering ideas to help Colorado’s small businesses and families, from the folks who own the corner cafe to helping students and schools,” he said in a statement Sunday morning. “The economic and social devastation of the COVID-19 epidemic is unprecedented and demands innovative solutions that put more money in folks’ pockets and give businesses a chance to survive. The very same tax credits that have been under attack in recent years are essential for families to have more money when they need it, the allowances for students and schools to pursue the best learning opportunities are more important than ever.”

McKean called small businesses and family enterprises are the backbone of the state’s economy and “represent the life savings and hope for future generations.

“We will find ways to survive this strangest of times and possibly even find ways to help all of Colorado thrive.”

The week ahead is an audition for how things such as public safety and remote testimony will work when the next regular session begins, Garnett said.

“I don’t think it’s going to be perfect this week, but I certainly think it’s the right thing to try and do,” he said.

The executive order calling for a special session of the Colorado General Assembly, Nov. 19, 2020.