It’s spring so it must be snowing. It’s time to be outside tending our gardens so it must be budget week at the capital. The legislative session is more than half over and there’s much more to be done. Here’s how the chambers and parties have landed so far.

The House has 149 final votes on bills and the Senate has 195. Gov. Jared Polis has signed 71 bills. No surprise the House is the house most divided. The Senate, though not a bed of roses for members, is at least at the geranium level of equanimity.

Four GOP House members probably hold their noses whenever they enter their chamber. Reps. Scott Bottoms and Ken DeGraaf from Colorado Springs have the most negative voting records at 32 NOs to 117 YESs. They’re followed closely by Reps. Stephanie Luck representing Canon City at 33 NOs and 109 YESs and Brandi Bradley representing Douglas County with 40 NOs and 95 YESs.

These House members do agree with Dems on giving preference to relatives for raising children in child neglect cases and giving parents who have lost rights more opportunity to reunite with their children (HB23-1024). They also agree to give employee leave for service in the Colorado National Guard (HB23-1045). The fearsome foursome split on NO votes to take more care of children who live with lead paint in their homes (HB23-1058) with Bottom and Bradley YES and DeGraaf and Luck NO.

Eight of 19 House GOP legislators have voted NO more often than YES. Rep. Michael Lynch from east of Fort Collins and Rick Taggart from Grand Junction have the most moderate GOP record by the numbers at 91 YESs to 55 NOs for Lynch and 91 YESs to 49 NOs for Taggart. All Republican House members voted NO on the two firearms bills in the House: HB23-1165 on County Authority to Prohibit Firearms Discharge and HB23-1219 on a Waiting Period to Deliver Firearms. They were unanimous against SB23-190 on Deceptive Practices Pregnancy Related Services. So on the core social-culture issues, GOP House members hung together even though they may be hanged separately in 2024.

To the House Democrats. As usual, Dems voted mostly YES on final third reading bills. Out of 46 House members, 36 voted NO five times or fewer. Rep. Shannon Bird from Westminster diverged most often with 131 YESs to 16 NOs. The bill to make sheriff and DA elections nonpartisan split Dems with 13 Ds voting NO. All GOPers voted YES. The charter timeline bill also split pro-public school Dems from pro-charter Dems with 13 Dem NO votes. The school policy bills will carry over into the next days of the session with HB23-1239 and HB23-1241. The former will give school districts more discretion around standardized assessments and will likely be opposed by pro-charter Dems. HB23-1241 will likely be supported by pro-charter Dems looking to load up the task force with “ed-reform” supporters.

Though everyone now knows after the many hours of debate that firearms bills unite GOP legislators, they are somewhat less unifying on the Dem side. Six Dem House members and three Dem Senators voted against SB23-169 to increase the firearm purchasing age to 21 years. Eight Dem legislators voted against HB23-1165 to allow counties to prohibit firearms discharge.

In general, the 35 Senate legislators experience more equanimity than House members. No senators are upside-down on YES/NO votes. Sen. Kevin Van Winkle from Highlands Ranch is, hands-down, the most conservative senator at 113 YESs to 80 NOs. He’s followed by Sen. Mark Baisley from Salida/Canon City at 126 YESs to 69 NOs and Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen from Colorado Springs at 136 YESs to 59 NOs. Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer from Greeley at 158 YESs to 36 NOs and Sen. Perry Will from Glenwood Springs/Aspen at 160 YESs to 35 NOs are the moderate end of the GOP.

Out of 23 Dem senators, 21 voted NO five times or less. Sen. Kevin Priola, the Dem who was elected as a Republican, is in Dem first place for NO votes at 11 with 184 YESs out of 195. He continues his GOP support on firearms bills and on women’s reproductive issues. Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver comes in a distant second place with six NO votes.

Pro-union Democrats haven’t been able to carry the day on their initiatives. They lost HB23-1118 for fair workweek employment standards in committee on an 8-2 vote. They lost on HB23-1025 on timelines for charter schools 51-13 in the House. But not everything is decided on this front. SB23-098 on gig worker transparency is still moving through the Senate. The Unemployment Compensation Dependent Allowance, HB23-1078, is moving to House Appropriations.

No doubt, Dems hold the cards this session. The two biggest dividing issues between the parties, firearms and abortion rights, are pretty much decided. From now on, there will be skirmishes rather than full-on battles between the parties with the majority center probably carrying the days of the spring season of the session.

Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.