Last week, as Gov. Jared Polis quarantined with COVID-19 (and I wish the first gentleman all the best as he remains hospitalized with the virus), state legislators gathered together for what has been termed an “Extraordinary Session.”  In actuality, perhaps other than the fact that this special session of the General Assembly was called amidst a global pandemic, it ended up decidedly unextraordinary.

In this space way back in May, as the legislature was about to return for its regular session, I urged legislators to reassert their constitutional role in the lawmaking process.  “[King] Polis should be dethroned and demoted back to governor,” I wrote.  “Let the General Assembly begin the revolution when it returns next week.”

Yet, when the state House and Senate wrapped up their regular work in June, no such legislative revolution came. They squandered the opportunity. And with the special session, the chance to put the governor in check came and went once more.

As Polis intended, the General Assembly approved several bills – now all or mostly signed into law – to provide relief from both the coronavirus and, even more, Polis’s own crushing restrictions on Colorado’s businesses.  Unfortunately, these new laws merely help cushion the blow by providing bits of assistance to struggling individuals and businesses.  While it is good Polis went to the legislature for some things in his aid package rather than taking unilateral action, that’s not saying much.  It’s the least he could do.

By the end of this brief session, something massive was left woefully unaddressed.  As any fourth- or fifth-grader knows, both the federal and state governments have three branches: legislative, executive and judicial.  They also know that the legislative branch is the one that makes the laws.  Yet, Polis has turned elementary civics on its head by usurping legislative authority with endless “emergency powers.”  This invocation of “emergency powers” goes clear back to the Spring, and he regularly extends that power unilaterally.

Astoundingly, the General Assembly failed to accomplish anything to rein in King Polis’s reign and take back its own authority under the state constitution to make laws.

In Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Chancellor Palpatine snaps at Jedi Master Mace Windu, “I am the Senate.”  Within mere hours, the Galactic Senate formally affirms Palpatine’s assumption of its own powers, and he becomes emperor.  While Colorado legislators did not explicitly endorse Polis’s effective declaration – “I am the General Assembly” – last week, they did so implicitly.

Legislative Republicans put forward a series of bills, ranging from an immediate end to the current lockdown-lite to 30-day, 60-day or even 120-day limitations on emergency powers.  Not one made it out of committee.  While the merits and details of these bills can and should have been debated – reasonable minds may differ on the time frame, and legislators could and should have hashed out reopening metrics and the like – it is self-evident that the General Assembly should have done something to restrain gubernatorial overreach.

This is why the 2020 “Extraordinary Session” was anything but extraordinary: Because it was exceptionally ordinary.  The attitude was one of, “Let’s just pass bills that make it a little ‘easier’ for Coloradans to get by under Polis’s restrictions.”

What would have been extraordinary is if the legislature revolted, affirmed its place in the state constitutional order and resoundingly declared, “We are restoring our place under the state Constitution.  We are bringing about legislative revolution, and we are now going to make the decisions on how the pandemic policies will proceed.”

Instead, they declined their own responsibility and served as a rubber stamp, passing the buck of all responsibility and decision-making to the governor.

This isn’t just about Polis’s pandemic policies.  Reasonable minds may differ on universal mask mandates, shutting down bars and restaurants and other steps.  It is about the nature of our republic.

In addition to structuring the federal government, the U.S. Constitution guarantees each state a “republican form of government.”  In many instances, I have criticized Republican President Trump for assuming unilateral authority on issues ranging from trade and immigration to invoking the Defense Production Act.  Regrettably, Democrats have leveled no such criticisms against their own party’s governor to protect Colorado’s system of government.

Kudos to statesmen like Rep. Humphrey and Sens. Gardner, Lundeen, Sonnenberg and Woodward for at least attempting to bring some semblance of accountability with their bills.  Had enough legislators joined them in checking the executive, perhaps it really would have been an extraordinary session.