House Minority Leader Hugh McKean has a long way to go to “own the pride,” the Republican caucus in the state House. His members may be big cats, but they’re not hunting on the same team.

The House has had 66 third reading, or final votes, on bills as of March 22. The early comparison between Minority Leader McKean’s votes and former Minority Leader Patrick Neville’s votes shows the divide that McKean has signed on to manage. McKean has voted YES on 40 bills, NO on 26. Neville has voted YES on 18 bills, NO on 48. Two Republicans, Janice Rich of Mesa County and Rich Holtorf of eastern CO, have more YES votes at 43 and 41 than McKean. That YES-NO range frames the political variation among Republican House legislators.

Eight Republicans have voted YES on third reading bills more than NO. Fifteen Republicans have voted YES fewer times than NO. 

Contrast the Republicans with Democrats’ votes. The blue party voted unanimously YES on all 66 third reading bills except for missed votes and ONE NO vote, Rep. Dave Valdez from southern Colorado on HB21-1106, on safe gun storage. That’s a united caucus.

Taking a closer look at McKean and Neville, it’s apparent that their view on funding government is different. McKean voted YES on 12 of 13 supplemental funding bills. Neville voted YES on 3, NO on 10. Neville supports marijuana legislation, voting with the industry on HB21-1090 to decriminalize and wipe convictions for some marijuana possession charges, and HB21-1204 on unemployment insurance and marijuana-licensed businesses. McKean opposed both bills.

Neville sponsors some of the most hard right bills that come forward year after year. He’s well known for his Second Amendment advocacy, one reason Republicans have lost so many seats. He doesn’t disappoint this year. Two bills, HB21-1038 allowing concealed handguns on school grounds and HB21-1185 to repeal firearms regulations and firearms training regulations, have already been postponed indefinitely. Another bill, HB21-1017, Protect Human Life at Conception, a Republican perennial, will go down in committee.

There are 50 postponed indefinitely bills as of March 22. Of 33 bills currently Pi’ed in the House, 23 have Republican-only sponsors. Two have Democrat-only sponsors. This issue carries over to the Senate, with 17 postponed indefinitely bills, 12 with Republican only sponsors and four with Democrat-only sponsors. 

Two questions emerge: what kinds of bills are Republicans introducing and why are there so few Democratic co-sponsors? With some exceptions, the PI’d Republican bills tend to be partisan, no surprise, but they also have a pointed “stick it to the Democrats” purpose. 

Take HB21-1032 on local government authority over disaster declarations. The legislation is designed to poke Gov. Jared Polis in the eye, essentially taking away his authority to manage statewide disasters. Popular with the Republican base, perhaps, but not a winning formula for re-taking the state House of Representatives.  

Another example is HB21-1049 to prohibit discrimination based on labor union membership. This bill prevents employers from collecting union dues from payroll checks. Union dues pay for labor negotiations that lead to the contracts that employees benefit from. The bill had support from the National Federation of Independent Businesses but other pro-business organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and Colorado Competitive Council opposed the legislation. 

Hugh McKean will have to get his disorderly House Republicans to stop digging their hole to bring the party back to a majority. If votes tell a story, a majority of his caucus is carving out a deep trench hard toward the political right. This will not play with younger voters who are now moving into their 30s and early 40s who are looking for solutions to climate change, health care coverage, public school underfunding, higher education debt, and reasonable-cost housing. Then there’s the business community that would like transportation improvements. 

Bills on these issues come from Democrats, which is not surprising with their majority. If Republicans want to be integral and significant to the legislative process and Colorado’s future, there are plenty of issues (see above) that need deep thinking and good solutions. Right now, however, they aren’t on the Republican agenda.