The number of outstanding bills lawmakers in Colorado must address before the  legislative session adjourns at midnight May 11 is slowing starting to drop.

On Monday, 303 bills awaited completion. As of Wednesday morning, it’s down to 287. Of the 16 bills lawmakers addressed, four were postponed indefinitely, bringing the total number of bills killed this session to 108.

Lawmakers since Monday have also added four more bills to the work remaining in the 2022 General Assembly session.

That brings the total to 655, according to the Office of Legislative Legal Services, with 417 bills in the House and 238 in the Senate. The latest four introduced were all in the Senate, including a bill to change how property taxes are calculated and which would provide a small refund to offset property tax increases expected in the next two years.  

The biggest marker of progress compared to earlier this week comes in the form of the number of bills awaiting committee action. As of Monday, that stood at 216. That sum was down by more than 50 as of Wednesday morning.

The major bills still awaiting final action on Monday are still waiting. Those including bills on fentanyl, collective bargaining, TABOR property tax and refund bills, flavored tobacco, paying back PERA and the unemployment insurance trust fund, hiking the age from 10 to 13 for criminal charges for juveniles and the major environmental legislation on air quality. 

One of two bills to pay back the UITF, Senate Bill 66, was postponed indefinitely by the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on a party-line vote Tuesday. That bill would have paid back the $1 billion federal loan the state had to take out to pay unemployment benefits during the height of the pandemic.