Members of the Legislative Council on Monday approved every bill submitted by summer and fall interim committees.

The measures passed given the panel’s Democratic majority, but one bill, on pensions, caused heartburn for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

The bills submitted by the Pension Review Commission included a measure to require the General Assembly to catch up on payments owed to the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA).

The $225 million annual payment, set up under long and complicated negotiations in 2018, was suspended in the 2020 session as part of the effort to cut $3.4 billion from the upcoming year budget.

While the annual payment was resumed in the current year budget, lawmakers have yet to make up that 2020 payment. The bill from the pension commission would require the state to issue a warrant for the missed payment, plus $78 million in interest, based on PERA’s investment gains during the two fiscal years ending in 2022.

That’s where things got a little dicey.

The standard practice for the Legislative Council is to vote up or down on a bill. Members don’t amend bills in order to preserve the intent of the committee.

While the committee ultimately approved the bill on a 15-2 vote, several lawmakers, including Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, said they would vote to move it forward for now but want further discussion on paying the interest payment.

Sen. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, indicated that paying the interest might create a precedent the Joint Budget Committee could struggle with.

Pension committee chair Sen. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, said the committee wanted to make PERA whole. Budget cuts made during the COVID budget year don’t carry an obligation to repay, she said, as those cuts were discretionary and don’t accrue interest. But that’s not the case with PERA – the $225 million payment is a legal debt by the state and taxpayers to the pension plan and one that accrues interest, she said.

Lundeen said he supports the $225 million payment, but isn’t as comfortable with the interest payment. In contrast, Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, R-Parker, backs the interest payment, as well as paying back the $225 million.

JBC Vice-chair Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, said he supports making the missed payment, but he is wary of the interest payment because of the precedent it sets.

It’s also an equity issue, according to Moreno. No other budget cut to a state agency was restored with funding exceeding the original cut. Other programs could make the case for missed opportunities or services not rendered.

The challenge is that the $78 million in interest payments is “largely speculative,” he said.

“This is keeping our word,” House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, R-Loveland, said. The legislature made the commitment not to shift PERA’s unfunded liability to retirees and employees, he noted. SB 200 “was a negotiation we made in good faith” with retirees and employees, he said.

Esgar, who was on the JBC when lawmakers made the budget cuts, said she also struggled with the interest payment. She suggested the JBC could forward a bill to make the $225 million payment, and Bird said she is talking to JBC Chair Rep. Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, about that issue.

Bird also said the commission’s biggest goal is to do everything it can to make the PERA fund whole and ensure its sustainability. Still, she pledged to continue negotiations with the JBC and the governor’s office.

GOP lawmakers also voted against a bill to make the “Idaho stop” a statewide law. In 2018, the General Assembly approved a bill making it permissible for local jurisdictions to implement the Idaho stop, which allows cyclists to ride through an intersection (including with a stop sign) if they slow to a reasonable speed as they approach the intersection and yield to vehicles and pedestrians.

But its adoption so far is minimal. In the metro Denver area, only Englewood and Thornton have approved it. That led to confusion about which jurisdiction allows it or doesn’t, said Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield, who represented the Transportation Legislative Review Committee.

The bill won approval on a 11-6 vote, with McKean claiming the measure doesn’t fit under the transportation committee’s charge. Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail, also appeared to have misgivings. She said she would vote to move it forward for now.

The Legislative Council, an 18-member pane of 11 Democrats and seven Republicans, approved all 31 bills from the nine interim committees and commissions.