Author: Pat Poblete

A bill seeking to lift Colorado’s ban on local governments passing stricter gun laws than the state’s is on its way to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk after clearing the House and re-passing the Senate on Thursday. The third reading vote on Senate Bill 256 in the House came with no debate on the bill after Republican…

The $5.3 billion transportation funding plan driven by a raft of new fees over the next decade is on to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk after the Senate on Wednesday concurred with amendments to the legislation that were given final approval in the House earlier in the day. “The best solution for transportation funding that the…

The House on Tuesday advanced a bill seeking to lift the state’s ban on local governments passing stricter gun laws than those that exist in state law over objections from Republican lawmakers. Much of the second reading debate mirrored the debate on Senate Bill 256 before the House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee…

Here are legislative committee hearings and other events of note for the week ahead at the Colorado state Capitol. Note: Majority Leader Steve Fenberg announced the Senate is approaching the final weeks of the session. What that means: in the waning days, most committees will stop meeting and bills may be assigned to a select…

Lawmakers on Friday advanced a dozen bills from the $800 million Colorado Recovery Plan stimulus package, setting the stage for a vote on final passage on all 12 pieces of legislation. Among those were eight bills approved on second reading by the House with scant debate other than overviews offered by the sponsors. Those included:…

An effort to clamp down on the use of arrests and cash bail in the name of community safety on Thursday cleared the Senate on the strength of Democratic votes. But Sen. Pete Lee’s Senate Bill 273 faced strident opposition from the chamber’s Republican minority, who re-litigated many of the objections they had raised in…

An effort to keep high-potency marijuana concentrates out of the hands of teenagers on Thursday cleared the House and is now on to the Senate with broad bipartisan support as well as a smattering of bipartisan opposition. But even among those who supported House Bill 1317, debate ahead of the final vote was at times…

The Colorado House on Wednesday advanced a bill seeking to keep high-potency marijuana products out of the hands of teens after a rigorous debate on data collection and patient privacy. House Bill 1317 from Speaker Alec Garnett, D-Denver, and Reps. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton and Tim Geitner, R-Falcon, seeks to achieve that goal by: sending the…

Sen. Pete Lee has officially killed his initial bill this session to reform the pre-trial detention process, but his scaled-back version cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday and moved to the Senate floor, where it won preliminary approval. A final Senate vote on Thursday is next, followed by a trip to the House. The Colorado…

The second of a pair of tax-reform measures that Democrats hope will close loopholes and generate $400 million in revenues on Tuesday passed in the House on a party-line vote. “We have a carefully tailored package here to ensure that we are asking everyone to pay their fair share,” said Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver, who…