Twenty-Five Years Ago This Week: “There is a God,” sighed former state Sen. Regis Groff, D-Denver, as he watched the Democrats assume control of the Colorado Senate for the first time in 40 years.

“Now they’re in the cubbyholes,” chuckled Groff, referring to the cramped Senate office quarters that the Democrats had occupied for decades. 

Groff was not just attending the opening day of the legislative session to gloat about the Democratic win, but to cheer on his son, Peter Groff, D-Denver, as he was sworn in for Senate District 7.

The overflowing crowd in the galleries of the House and Senate chambers was filled with such notables as U.S. Congressmen Scott McInnis, R-CD 3, Mark Udall, D-CD 2, and Bob Schaffer, R-CD 4.

Bi-partisanship was a common word in the short speeches given by Senate President Stan Matsunaka, D-Loveland, and House Speaker Doug Dean, R-Colorado Springs. 

The Legislature and Gov. Bill Owens were keen to demonstrate how bipartisan they were by taking quick action to help low-income Coloradans manage ever-increasing natural gas prices. Before the opening of the legislative session, Owens and legislative leadership pledged a “fast track” action to address the heating costs by transferring $10 million from a severance tax fund to the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP). 

Rep. Jim Snook, R-Alamosa, and Sen. Rob Hernandez, D-Denver, co-sponsored a bill that would boost LEAP payments from $300 per month to $700 per month and could change qualifying income requirements and thereby increase coverage from 50,000 to 70,000 Coloradans.

While very little debate hampered the progress of the Snook-Hernandez LEAP bill, the same could not be said for how to spend the money raised by the passage of Amendment 23 to up state school aid by the rate of inflation plus one percent. 

Owens advocated spending the funds on a seven-point program that included lowering classroom sizes, while Matsunaka said the money ought to go to school districts to decide.

“Hand in hand with accountability is flexibility,” said Matsunaka, referring both to his plan for state school aid and the slim 18-17 majority the Democrats had in the state senate. 

Senate Minority Leader John Andrews, R-Centennial, said Democrats needed to be held accountable and warned against “a Santa Clause approach that says ‘spend more and hope for the best.’”

Twenty Years Ago: State Rep. Bill Berens, R-Broomfield, told The Colorado Statesman that he would introduce two bills during the legislative session to protect young children and compel judges to impose harsher penalties on offenders and accomplices.

“We are engaged in a battle to protect young children from those who would seek to harm them,” Berens said. “Current laws are lacking and in some cases actually allow these criminals back on the street to continue committing these heinous acts around our children.”

One bill was modeled after ‘Jessica’s Law,’ which passed the Florida State Legislature in May 2005. The Florida law was named in memory of Jessica Lunsford who was abducted, raped and murdered in February 2005 by John Couey, a previously convicted sex offender. 

Berens’ bill would prohibit assisting a sexually violent predator from evading the requirements of sex offender registration. The bill would also provide additional support from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to local law enforcement, and it would require that offenders who live in cars, trailers, or motor homes to provide that information to local vehicle licensing agencies.

Berens said the second bill would require mandatory minimum sentences of 24 years for first-time child-sex offenders.

Rachael Wright is the author of several novels, including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing columnist to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette, and the Denver Gazette.