Legislature Running Amok
Who saw this coming? Well, many of us saw a shift in agenda coming, but did anyone in Colorado see the outright extreme moves of the Colorado legislature in this, their first session (which has now thankfully, painfully ended)? For those of you not aware, recall efforts from Polis on down to Sheriffs are gathering steam in almost every county around the state; I’ve never seen Colorado so angry… ever. These efforts can’t legally begin until mid-summer, but organizers are active, and for good reason. Why do I say “good reason”? Simply put, the democrat-controlled legislative and executive branches (for the first time since 1931) in Colorado have done serious damage on many fronts, and they aren’t done yet. The next session (with the bills lined up that haven’t made it through yet) will prove to be just as disastrous. The GOP was completely shut out of any say whatsoever, and were forced to use stall tactics (like having bills read aloud). But these were meaningless in the long run. But don’t take my word for it; here is a PARTIAL report card of what happened this session (and this doesn’t even include the Red Flag law and the Oil and Gas laws that have been enacted):
Voting Rights
- SB-042: National Popular Vote. I’ve talked extensively about this one before. It basically gives all our electoral votes to a multi-state group that then awards them to the candidate that wins the national popular vote. Regardless of how Colorado votes. If only a few of the remaining states that have this in their legislature now approved it, this will take affect in 2020. This is signed by Polis.
- HB19-1278: Modifications to the Uniform Election Code. Effectively, this bill requires a significant increase in the number of polling places and 24-hr drop boxes. It doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, but most county Clerk and Recorders are speaking out against this, calling it unnecessary. In Larimer County alone the increase will cost $3M-$6M over 5 years.
Education and Parental Rights
- HB19-1032: Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education. This bill specifies that relational and sexual experiences of LGBT-identified individuals must now be taught (more comprehensively than in the 2013 law signed by Hickenlooper). It forbids the employment of “gender norms” and “gender stereotypes” (e.g., it is no longer allowed to teach that there are 2 sexes, male and female… this is considered a “stereotype” under this bill). There is a lot more going on with this one, some fact and some fiction. This is passed, awaiting for next session for signature.
Energy Green Plan:
- HB19-1261: Climate Action Plan to Reduce Pollution. This bill (from a Boulder and an Aurora Representative) requires statewide greenhouse emissions drop by 26% by 2025 (6 years from now), 50% by 2030, and 90% by 2050. The commission that will run this, the AQCC, will effective have control over the state’s economy with no identified plan, no cost estimates, no impact mandates, and no meaningful legislative restraints. This one is out of committee, awaiting the next session for final pass and signature.
- HB19-1313: Electric utilities Plan to Reduce CO2 Emissions. This bill authorizes the AQCC to go after these reductions, but it gives Xcel Energy a “hall pass” by letting it avoid the regulations altogether, while also getting full cost recovery for shutting down old sources and building newer generation sources. This bill effectively attacks the energy co-ops that cover the vast majority of the state. This one is also out of committee, going through final readings and amendments.
- HB19-1037: Colorado Energy Impact Assistance Act. In its original form, this concept was designed to help utilities recover costs of expensive, outdated plants that they needed to retire, while it also formed a competitive market for the ratepayers to buy electricity from the cheapest source (e.g., wind is actually becoming cheaper than coal). It resulted in bonds being issued by the utility and approved by the PUC, and was supposed to lower costs in the long run. The problem is that this bill does none of that. This bill doesn’t require a timeline to shut down those antiquated plants, it doesn’t create a competitive power market, it doesn’t lower costs, and it basically guarantees a full return on investment of recent coal plant builds (for Xcel).
Private Property Rights
- HB19-1118: Time Period to Cure Lease Violation. This eliminates the 3 days to cure a late rent violation and extends it to 14 days. It also extends eviction actions by 14 days. In effect, a landlord has to wait a month before they can begin eviction processes. This bill will be awaiting the next session.
- SB19-225: Authorize Local Governments to Stabilize Rents. This is, effectively, rent control. But what they fail to tell anyone is that study after study shows that regulation on rents have lowered the supply of rental housing and actually made the problem worse. Stanford University found a 15% decrease in available housing, and eventually California (of all places) voted it out by an 18% margin. But here’s the simple math: If property values are so extreme already, building rental property is, by definition, expensive; if rents are fixed too low by the government, owning rental property no longer makes sense. Supply drops. Exactly the results Stanford found. This bill is out of Senate committee and awaiting the next session for final reading and signature.
So what will happen with the recall efforts? Who knows – but I do believe in one possibly ironic truth: Colorado needs to rebalance its government, and fast. A recall is a good way to do that, because some recalls will work, others will not. This will remove some of the control from the democrats, and thus put a stop to the ramrodding of bills we saw in this session, not to mention the queue that is waiting for the start of the next session. Why do I say this is an ironic truth? Simple: If the path continues and recalls do not rebalance, Colorado won’t be purple in the 2020 election cycle, but could instead be full-on red. Remember the election where Obama lost a record 60 seats in one shot (no – Trump only lost 40 in 2018)? That could be Colorado if we don’t get back to balance. That’s why I would say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, “a Colorado recall isn’t a bad word right now; it might be just the right recipe.”
