The Colorado Senate passed a bill to limit the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons Tuesday, plus another Democratic priority measure that would make it easier for organized workers to negotiate a key provision of their union contracts.
The union bill — Senate Bill 5 — passed on a 22-12 party-line vote and was greeted by cheers in the balcony overlooking the chamber. The gun bill — Senate Bill 3 — passed on a 19-15 vote in the early afternoon, with three Democrats voting no.
The two measures now head to the House, where both already have sufficient support to clear the chamber and head for Gov. Jared Polis’ desk.
But Polis has viewed both measures skeptically and has sought changes to moderate them. Tuesday’s votes came five days after a marathon floor debate on the two bills, in part fueled by negotiations with Polis’ office. Both measures are backed by Democrats and opposed by Republicans.
While lawmakers have not agreed to any changes on the labor bill, Polis’ skepticism prompted a significant change to the gun proposal late Thursday night.
As initially written, the measure would’ve banned the sale of many semiautomatic weapons that accept detachable magazines. But after days of negotiations with Polis, the bill’s sponsors — Democratic Sens. Tom Sullivan and Julie Gonzales — agreed to a change that still would allow the guns to still be sold, so long as any buyer first takes a training course and passes a background check.
That change was sought by Polis and a group of moderate Senate Democrats who planned to oppose the bill unless it was amended. The situation was further complicated by the absence of the now-former Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, who was a nominal supporter of the bill and likely would have provided the vote needed to clear the Senate without Polis’ change, had she been in attendance Thursday.
Jaquez Lewis resigned the legislature this week amid an ethics investigation into her treatment of legislative aides.
SB-3 applies to firearms that are gas-operated and accept detachable magazines, which effectively means guns colloquially considered assault weapons. It does not apply to most handguns, which are typically recoil-operated, or to common shotguns. The bill would apply to handguns that are gas-operated, such as the one used by the Boulder King Soopers shooter in 2021.
The bill still would not prohibit the possession of any weapon. Another amendment added during the earlier debate exempted a lengthy list of hunting rifles and other firearms, some of which are decades-old.
Sullivan’s son, Alex, was killed in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. Before the vote, Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat, said he wished he had been in the theater that night instead of his son, and that his son stood in his place now.
“Because forever he will be better than me. I know that he would’ve had the ability to try to get through to people what this all means,” Sullivan said. “I’m not a threat to the 2nd Amendment. It’s the 45,000 Americans who are dying by gun violence each and every year.”
The bill has sufficient House sponsors to pass that chamber, though it will likely have to weather an extensive Republican filibuster.
The House is unlikely to unwind the loophole added by the Senate, said Rep. Meg Froelich, one of the bill’s sponsors in the House.
The labor bill — SB-5 — also already has sufficient support to pass the House. The bill would eliminate a requirement in state law that organized workers pass a second election before they can negotiate a provision in their union contracts that governs the collection of dues and fees. The bill would not require any employee pay union dues or fees; those would still be subject to union negotiations and approval by the union members.
Denver Democratic Sen. Robert Rodriguez, one of the bill’s sponsors, urged his colleagues to support the bill and told them the state shouldn’t be a target for corporations “because our workers have less rights.”
The bill is a priority for Democrats and their union allies, and five former U.S. labor secretaries released a letter to Polis and to lawmakers last week urging the bill’s passage.
But the proposal has been opposed by business groups, like the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, and by Republican lawmakers. Polis has also said he’s leery of the change and that he wants the measure’s Democratic sponsors to reach a deal with the business community.
Short of such a deal, he’s told lawmakers that he intends to veto the bill.
No such deal has been reached yet, though Rodriguez told reporters last week that sponsors and labor groups have exchanged offers.
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