Colorado legislature updates: Lawmakers dig into main property tax proposal as special session begins

The Colorado General Assembly is set to gavel in at 10 a.m. today for what members hope will be a three-day dash of lawmaking that ends in a final truce in the long-running political fight over property tax policy.

This story will be updated throughout the day.

Updated at 10:26 a.m.: An hour before lawmakers formally started the special session, legislative leadership sought to stress to reporters the importance of the deal they and the governor’s office had struck with conservative and business groups backing two ballot measures that the legislators said would be “catastrophic” to state and local finances.

“What we are doing here today at the governor’s call, is governing with great responsibility,” said House Speaker Julie McCluskie, who told colleagues Thursday that she had sought to avoid the special session. “This is a moment for us to diminish the threats of two ballot initiatives that would upend the state, that would deliver catastrophic blows to the investments we have made over these past few years, particularly to public education, to the services that are provided locally within our state, and to special districts, things like fire and emergency response.”

Legislative leaders also sought to emphasize that, though a deal had already been struck, there was still room for negotiation and for legislators to do their jobs. That claim comes as other lawmakers — particularly House Democrats — have chafed at feeling as if they’ve been called back to the Capitol to serve as “rubber stamps” for a deal already negotiated between senior leaders, the governor’s office and outside groups.

It remains to be seen how much — if any — of the deal can or will be changed, or if other legislation brought outside of the deal may imperil it, as some Republicans have said they will. House Minority Rose Pugliese, one of the sponsors of the deal with McCluskie, told The Denver Post last week that there was some wiggle room but that much of the framework should remain unchanged and that she wanted lawmakers to only focus on the deal.

Updated at 9:51 a.m.: Lawmakers have introduced a slate of bills to consider this week, though one will be what drives the Capitol for the next several days: A proposed “framework” that includes an additional cut to the state assessment rate, changes to the cap on how much local property tax revenue can grow in the future, and other tweaks. Those components have been agreed to by legislative leaders, outside conservative advocacy organizations and the governor’s office.

The proposed changes would cut statewide property tax collections by an estimated $270 million annually, on top of the $1.3 billion cut signed into law following last year’s legislative session. It would also lead the conservative group Advance Colorado to yank a pair of ballot measures that, if passed by voters in November, would force even deeper property tax cuts and enact a stricter cap on statewide property tax collections that opponents warn would devastate state and local government services.

But how the agreement was reached and how it’s being used to pull lawmakers from across the state back to the Capitol has prompted pointed criticisms and frustrations from some lawmakers.

Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat, referred to Advance Colorado president Michael Fields as “Gov. Fields” during a public caucus meeting where leadership previewed the special session for House Democrats.

Sen. Chris Hansen, a key architect of this and other property tax bills going back years, said at a Sunday caucus meeting of Senate Democrats that the special session is “fundamentally a failure of (Advance Colorado and Colorado Concern) to negotiate in April and May.”

He called the new proposal a “relatively small change from (last session’s bill) that completely eliminates the risk of two catastrophic ballot initiatives.”

The Denver Democrat also told lawmakers that they’re not confined to what’s in the proposal, either.

“We have negotiated a framework that both sides felt was doable, but we now go into a different phase of the discussion, which is with the 100 members of the General Assembly,” Hansen said. He added that he thinks it will be “an open question” whether Advance Colorado supports the measure up until it reaches the governor’s desk.

For his part, Fields said in an email: “Coloradans deserve real property tax relief and we are confident that this will get done this week during special session.”

Heading into the first day, it’s clear the framework does not have the unequivocal support of the Democratic majorities. At the very least, lawmakers said they’re still working to understand the proposal fully. Democratic Sens. Janice Marchman and Chris Kolker, of Loveland and Centennial, are hosting a public study session of the bill at 5 p.m. today so that lawmakers can talk through the proposal and ask questions of legislative analysts. Public comment will be reserved for the committee hearings.