The Colorado legislature is returning Sunday during the final weekend of work in its 2024 session, set to end Wednesday. Among major pieces of legislation still pending are gun regulations, housing, land-use policy, transportation, property tax reform and other priorities.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
Updated at 11:14 a.m.: In a pair of late-night votes Saturday, the Colorado Senate advanced two land-use reform bills, inching them just a few steps away from Gov. Jared Polis’ desk.
House Bill 1313 — which would require Front Range local governments to set density goals near transit-rich areas and set strategies to hit those targets — passed on a standing vote. House Bill 1152, which would allow accessory-dwelling units to be built in Front Range cities, cleared on a voice vote. Both now need a final vote in the Senate (which is not meeting Sunday after its late night) before sponsors meet to reconcile changes made since the two bills passed the House.
A third land-use bill, to limit parking minimums along the Front Range, fully passed the Senate on Saturday, too. Rep. Stephanie Vigil, a Colorado Springs Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors, said she planned to accept the Senate’s moderating changes and send the bill to Polis.
The flurry of weekend activity puts the land-use package, a which would mark first-in-decades reforms, on the brink of full passage, a year after a first attempt collapsed under its own weight like a dying star.
The second attempt hasn’t been easy, and none of the bills has advanced unscathed. House Bill 1313 has been amended repeatedly, sparking frustration from one Democratic senator Saturday night. The parking measure, which supporters feared was on life support just a few days ago, was pared back from a broad ban to only developments near transit stops; local governments also would now have a case-by-case option to still require some parking. The ADU bill also includes a soft parking requirement after a late amendment in the Senate.
The repeated changes appeared to prompt Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who’d given key but skeptical backing to the density bill, to abandon her support entirely. Gonzalez has said she’s particularly concerned about the bill because it’s likely to impact her community — urban parts of Denver susceptible to gentrification — more than others.
She reiterated those concerns late Saturday, as well as frustrations with more late changes to the bill; sponsors brought several amendments Saturday, which were somewhat technical but also gave local governments more flexibility in exempting certain areas from the density goals.
Gonzales called for a no vote on the bill at one point. Later, during a procedural vote, she also advanced an amendment that would’ve essentially gutted the ADU measure.
Still, even with the amendments, the bills would still mark a shift in how the state — and local governments — approach land-use and development across the Front Range as policymakers reach for a solution to the state’s housing crisis. The ADU and density bills could face their final votes in the Senate on Monday, giving sponsors two days to reconcile changes and send them to Polis.
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