New Year, New Session, Same Old Legislation Expected
- Anne Boswell Taylor
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
By Anne Boswell
When the General Assembly reconvenes in Denver next week, January 14th, it's expected to be more of the same according to two lawmakers.
State Senator Rod Pelton feels that with Governor Jarrad Polis term limited, the Democrat majority might feel emboldened to bring legislation that could be far worse for Southeast Colorado than recent past sessions.
Representative Ty Winter of district 47 agrees but promises a fight no matter what.
"We'll continue to fight for rural Colorado."
The state enters this session in the red to the tune of more than 1.4 billion dollars. A late summer session was called to try and right the financial ship but the vessel failed to leave the dock.
Winter called it a propriety problem with the spending.
Both lawmakers feel that legislators from the urban areas of Colorado need to understand how important Southeast Colorado is to the rest of the state.
This is the 75th year for the General Assembly and while the state of Colorado turns 150 this year, we were curious about the history of the Assembly. According to Colorado Newsline the legislature used to only meet every two years, sessions were shorter, lawmakers were not full-time and pay wasn't great. Many of them were farmers, ranchers, business owners and lawyers who served. In 1951, voters decided legislators should meet every year and meet for longer sessions.
Before the decision to change to longer sessions, Colorado had a smaller population and government functions were limited, issues were mostly local and since the economy was largely agriculture, railroads and, mining, there were fewer laws being written. A short session, which was every two years, was plenty.
The Colorado General Assembly's website has been updated since last year but when the new session starts January 14th, you'll still be able to watch and/or listen live or to recordings of the day's hearings. https://leg.colorado.gov/
We will be following bills of interest, legislation that affects Southeast Colorado so make sure you check back.
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Stay warm this winter with a heated vest. A great gift idea for anyone on your list, birthdays, Valentine's day, anniversaries. We really loved this one:
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