The Colorado General Assembly convened this morning for the third day of its special session on property taxes. It was called to provide additional commercial and homeowner relief as part of negotiations with conservative activists to avert deeper-cutting measures on the November ballot. The session will last at least through Thursday.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
Updated at 6:51 p.m.: The full Senate gave initial approval to the property tax deal Wednesday night, clearing the way for the bill to pass on a final vote Thursday and then head to Gov. Jared Polis for signature.
Much of the Senate debate was dominated by Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, a Pueblo Democrat, who spoke for more than an hour against the negotiations and deal that sparked the special session. He said the process had taken a proverbial “sledgehammer” to the legislature as a co-equal branch of government.
Updated at 4:40 p.m.: The legislature’s new proposed referred ballot measure is officially dead. Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat and the bill’s Senate sponsor, asked the Senate Finance Committee to table the bill, which it later did.
For posterity: The measure, if approved by the state’s voters, would’ve required local approval of any future property tax changes instituted by a statewide vote. Democrats had backed it as a way to limit future property tax wars (like the one that brought them to the Capitol this week), but Republicans had opposed it as limiting the ballot and initiative process. It faced likely fatal headwinds in the Senate, where Democrats are one vote shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the resolution and send it to voters.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the primary property tax bill, sending it to the full Senate for a first voice vote. That debate was set to start early this evening.
Updated at 1:25 p.m.: After passing the primary property tax bill, the House swiftly passed a more minor measure that makes permanent a property tax exemption for agricultural equipment. Representatives then passed — by the narrowest possible margin — a proposed ballot measure that would require local voter approval of any future statewide ballot initiatives that affect property taxes.
Because that measure would go on the ballot, it required two-thirds support in the House. Democrats hold a supermajority in the chamber, with two more seats than the 44-vote threshold needed to advance the measure.
Republicans opposed it, and one Democrat — Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy — is absent. Another Democrat, Rep. Marc Snyder, voted against it.
That meant that every remaining House Democrat had to back the bill, which several had vocally supported as a way to prevent future property tax ballot wars. With voting winding down, three Democrats still hadn’t voted. Two eventually voted yes, leaving the decisive vote to Rep. Elisabeth Epps.
Epps, who in June lost her primary and will leave the legislature in January, at first pushed the “no” button, which would’ve killed the bill. House Speaker Julie McCluskie started to close voting, and then Epps quickly changed her vote — ensuring the bill passed, 44-19.
It now moves to the Senate, where the ballot referral faces an even tougher road with Democrats just short of a supermajority in that chamber. Senate Republicans have criticized the measure, and it would need at least one of them to support it.
Updated at 1:03 p.m.: The bill at the center of the Colorado legislature’s special session cleared the House shortly after noon on a 45-18 vote, setting it up for sprint through the Senate.
House Bill 1001 would deliver another reduction in the state’s assessment rate, adding about $254 million to the $1.3 billion cut to statewide property tax collections that Gov. Jared Polis signed into law in May. The assessment rate, along with local mill levies, affects how much money property owners owe in taxes.
If HB-1001 becomes law, most homeowners would see an additional cut of less than $100, compared to the roughly $400 savings for the owner of a typical $700,000 home under the spring legislation.
More important to legislative leaders and Polis, the new bill is the keystone to a deal to pull initiatives 50 and 108 from November’s ballot — that is, if the bill that passes aligns with the framework negotiated by the elected officials and the conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado and the business-oriented group Colorado Concern.
It went through relatively minor changes in the House of Representatives, where Democrats hold a supermajority, as separate bills pushing progressive priorities died.
Progressive Democrats cast the majority of the no votes following a series of speeches criticizing the process. But bipartisan support ensured a majority.
“This is a deal that was drafted and stakeholded in the backroom by people who will never have to answer for the outcomes,” said state Rep. Stephanie Vigil, a Colorado Springs Democrat. The groups that negotiated the deal were afforded access that she and other lawmakers “could never hope to get,” she said.
House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat and sponsor of the bill, acknowledged that the special session and the bill were intended “to protect Colorado from the devastating ballot initiatives,” while also defending the outreach effort and the transparency of the legislative process.
“Is this a move to play defense right now? You bet it is,” McCluskie said. But she noted it was also to assure communities and stakeholders that the legislation would provide assurances on school funding and local government services.
The Senate will take the bill up this afternoon. If lawmakers want to wrap up the special session by Thursday, the bill will need to clear a committee hearing, which will be the only opportunity for public comment, and an initial voice vote today.
Any changes in that chamber will need to be reconciled with the House — a potential snag backers of the compromise hope to avoid.
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