Saturday marked the 60th day of the 2022 Colorado General Assembly. Here’s a look at what lawmakers accomplished during the first half – hint: observers say not a whole lot – and what’s ahead for the rest of the session.

Legislative leaders, such as Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, pointed out recently that the first 60 days have come and gone at a slower pace, and that everything will ramp up for the remainder of the session that ends on May 11.

“This is a session reflective of sessions in the past,” said Speaker of the House Alec Garnett during a recent conversation with reporters. “We’re ahead on volume.”

Garnett said he feels good about where the House is, but conceded that the big bills – whether on fentanyl, collective bargaining or recycling – are taking longer.

“I don’t feel we’re necessarily far behind,” he said. 

The pace bears that out. There’s only been a handful of really lengthy committee hearings – those that go past midnight, for example – in the first 60 days. The most notable is House Bill 1279, which seeks to affirm the right to abortion in state law. The House Health & Insurance Committee hearing on HB 1279 on March 9 and 10 went nearly 14 hours, and the second reading debate on March 11 and 12 set a modern-day record of more than 23 hours of debate.

HB 1279 passed on a 40-24 vote Monday after a final three-hour discussion and now heads to the Senate. 

As of March 11, 450 bills have been introduced, which is 69 fewer than on the 59th day in 2021, according to Legislative Legal Services. They include 297 bills in the House and 153 in the Senate. Out of those 450, 322 are still awaiting action and 31 fewer have been acted on compared to 2021. 

So far, 128 bills have moved all the way through the process: 68 are dead and 60 were completed and sent to the governor, many of which supplement the 2021-22 budgets of state agencies.

Among the 68 bills that have died are three anti-abortion bills; two measures to allow handguns on school grounds and permit people to carry a gun without a concealed carry permit; and, a second attempt in the last two sessions to reduce employee single-occupancy vehicle trips. 

A total of 623 bills were introduced in the 2021 session. 

Will there be more to come? It’s likely, given a number of controversial bills that have either yet to be introduced or which have not yet gone through their first committee hearings.

Bills not yet introduced but likely to require a lot of time in the last 58 days include a measure, sponsored by House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo and Fenberg, to allow public sector employees to enter into collective bargaining agreements.

They also include a bill that would require manufacturers to pay a fee to help establish a state-mandated recycling program. To be sponsored by Rep. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, it has been rumored to be on the verge of introduction for more than a month but still hasn’t seen the light of day.

Meanwhile, about 15 bills tied to affordable housing and behavioral health task forces and $850 million in American Rescue Plan Act money are slowly being introduced at the state Capitol. So far, six have been introduced, yet none has had its first committee hearing as of Monday. Most are scheduled for their first hearing in April. 

Public safety bills tied to the agendas of both parties are also working their way through the process.

Those measures include House Bill 1003, which allocates $2.1 million for a delinquency prevention and young offender intervention pilot grant program in the Division of Criminal Justice at the Department of Public Safety; and Senate Bill 1, the “Safer Streets” grant program, which was introduced on Jan. 11 and cleared the Senate Local Government Committee on March 3. It’s now awaiting action from the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Senate Bill 145 is one of the few bipartisan bills on public safety. Introduced last week, it seeks to create three grant programs for law enforcement totaling $30.5 million over two years. The grant programs are focused on increasing community trust in law enforcement by funding additional training and staffing, and increasing diversity of law enforcement officers. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora and John Cooke, R-Greele, is scheduled for the Senate Local Government Committee on March 22.

A second bipartisan bill on public safety but has not yet introduced will deal with the burgeoning fentanyl crisis. House Speaker Alec Garnett, D-Denver, Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, and Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs are working on the legislation. 

Also not yet introduced is legislation from Sen. Chris Kolker, D-Centennial, to upgrade school security with $2 million in grants. Another bill not yet out pairs police officers and mental health counselors, similar to a Summit County program touted by the governor.

On the Republican side and tied to its Commitment to Colorado package is Senate Bill 67, which creates a $50 million Safe Neighborhood grant program and is awaiting action from Senate Judiciary. Also awaiting introduction is a House bill to create a grant program on retention for law enforcement, which Rep. Perry Will, R-New Castle, and Cooke are expected to sponsor.