The cooler weather on Saturday did nothing to bring down the temperature inside the Colorado State Capitol, where tempers flared on day three of a special legislative session.
Gov. Jared Polis called the legislature back to work to close a $750 million budget shortfall after President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” lowered taxes and, in turn, lowered revenue to the state.
The House was already stifling due to a lack of air conditioning when Democratic state Rep. Sean Camacho decided to turn up the heat. He accused Republicans of wasting time and tax dollars by debating bills at length and stretching out the special session, which costs about $22,000 a day.
“If every member on this side room uses your full 10 minutes to filibuster on bills instead of doing the people’s work, that costs (the state) $283,” he said.
State House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Democrat, interrupted Camacho, telling him to address the bill being debated. She then gave Republicans a chance to respond.
Republican state Rep. Ty Winter, the assistant minority leader, said, “there’s lots of money that’s spent out of this building that is way less important than me standing up and fighting for my people and this caucus standing up and fighting for their people.”
But it may ultimately be a losing fight with Democrats in control. They targeted business tax breaks, calling them corporate tax loopholes.
“Think about who’s bearing the burden of our tax liability right now. It’s teachers, it’s nurses, it’s firefighters,” said Democratic state Rep. Yara Zochaie.
Democratic state Rep. Lorena Garcia insisted the bills hit the wealthiest businesses: “We cannot afford to give these businesses a pass. We all have to step up.”
Republicans argue that the bills also harm small businesses.
“The message it sends is this: ‘if you work hard in our state, build something and try to grow, the Democrats will penalize you for that,” Republican state Rep. Brandi Bradley said.
Republican state Rep. Ken DeGraaf said the bills would also hurt consumers: “Anything that increases the cost of business increases the cost to you.”
Lawmakers not only debated the bills’ merits, but also their legality. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights requires voter approval for changes to tax policy that generate revenue.
“We’re not making tax policy change, we are simply extending our current tax policy,” insisted Democratic state Rep. Emily Sirota.
Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell disagreed, saying, “we took a temporary tax and we are now making it permanent. That’s a tax policy change.”
Democrats also approved a bill that uses money from the Unclaimed Property Trust Fund to help offset the loss of federal health insurance subsidies, and gave initial approval to a bill that allows state Medicaid dollars to cover Planned Parenthood services, along with a bill that shifts money from a free school meals program to food stamps if approved by voters.
For all the dispute, Democratic Rep. Lorena Garcia noted there is one thing both sides agreed on: “I don’t think anyone in this room actually wants to be here today.”
The House will be back at it on Sunday. Among the unresolved issues; how to fix a highly controversial artificial intelligence law that takes effect in February. Lawmakers are at an impasse.
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