With opening day speeches – and other things – out of the way, Colorado’s House lawmakers on Wednesday introduced their first 86 bills of the 2024 legislative session.

The first bill usually reflects the majority party’s priorities. This year, the first measure is notable because of its bipartisan bonafides.

Rep. Megan Lukens, a Steamboat Springs Democrat, is teaming up with Republican Rep. Rick Taggart of Grand Junction on the reauthorization of the Rural Jump-Start program under House Bill 24-1001. The tax incentive program, which has been in the statutes since 2016, encourages new businesses to move into rural, economically distressed areas.

In a statement on Wednesday, House Speaker Julie McCluskie of Dillon, who is a rural lawmaker, said the House’s first 10 bills “will create jobs in rural parts of our state and save Coloradans money on housing, health care and prescription drugs.”

“House Democrats will improve wildfire mitigation efforts, increase access to early childhood education, and expand our behavioral health workforce to build a stronger, safer and healthier Colorado,” she said, adding, “We are ready to get to work.”

The first three bills also received bipartisan backing. 

Here is a look at a few other bills.

House Bill 1027 creates a sales tax holiday for back-to-school items and a tax exemption for baby and toddler products. Sponsored by Rep. Ty Winter, R-Trinidad, and Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, the bill has been assigned to the House Finance Committee.

Under House Bill 1028, Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, takes another try at permitting local governments to launch sites where individuals can inject or ingest drugs under the care of medical professionals. A House committee killed the proposal’s 2023 version. The concept lacks the support of Gov. Jared Polis.

A bill on railroad safety limits the number of cars in a train under Rep. Javier Mabrey’s House Bill 1030.

Mabrey, D-Denver, also co-sponsored, along with Rep. Manny Rutinel, D-Denver, HB 1007, under which local governments would be prohibited from “enacting or enforcing residential occupancy limits unless those limits are tied to a minimum square footage per person requirement necessary to regulate safety, health, and welfare.”

HB 1051 aims to put more teeth into the laws governing the towing industry. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, and Tish Mauro, D-Pueblo, comes from the interim transportation legislation review committee. The proposal allows the Public Utilities Commission to revoke towing carrier permits for specified violations of state laws.

Another proposal increases the allowances lawmakers get.

For the past 27 years, lawmakers who live within 50 miles of the state Capitol have been allowed a per diem of $45 per day during the session. Meanwhile, lawmakers who live more than 50 miles away, which includes those who must rent apartments in Denver during the session, for example, have been allotted $237 per day during the 120-day session. While the amount for rural lawmakers has been increased several times, urban lawmakers have been stuck at the $45 per day rate. 

That could change under a bill proposed by Reps. Regina English, D-Colorado Springs and Naquetta Ricks, D-Aurora. Along with Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver, HB 1059 sets up an independent state elected official pay commission and increase the per diem for urban lawmakers by about 5%. Under the bill, the per diem would be set at 25% of the federal per diem rate for Denver.

For lawmakers outside of the 50-mile radius, the per diem would be set at 90% of the federal rate for Denver, which is also a 5% increase.

English and Ricks are also the sponsors of a bill that, among other provisions, creates a marijuana “independent delivery license,” available to individuals with a “social equity” license.

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Wilson, R-Monument, sponsored a measure to create a Gadsden flag “Don’t Tread on Me” license plate.

Last year’s legislation, which died, to allow the state’s ethics commission to assert jurisdiction over members of school boards and special districts is back under HB 1073. 

Finally, HB 1084 repeals and reenacts one of the measures from the recent special session, where lawmakers approved a law to allow for an increase in the earned income tax credit.

Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-Colorado Springs, is now suing the General Assembly because he requested the measure be read at length, which did not happen. That could render the 2023 measure null and void. HB 1084, which would repeal and reenact the special session bill, is sponsored by Reps. Jenny Willford, D-Northglenn and Mary Young, D-Greeley.