STATE BILL COLORADO
Colorado’s 2010 General Assembly reached its midway point this weekend. The 120-day session concludes in early May. Here’s how Colorado news organizations covered the news.
Denver Business Journal: The 2010 Colorado legislative session, which reached its mid-point over the weekend, either created jobs and boosted renewable energy or has been a job-killing disaster in which leadership has gone deaf to the needs of Coloradans, officials from both parties say. Marked by some of the most caustic and hard-fought battles in recent years, the 120-day session rolled into the 60-day mark as one that has been defined for business by the battle over tax exemptions.
Denver Daily News: Sweeping fees, new tolls on old roads and lifting the lid on government spending is how Colorado Republicans say the first 60 days of the 2009 Colorado legislative session will be remembered. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and Rep. Mike May, R-Parker, held an informal discussion with reporters yesterday to describe their thoughts on the first half of the 2009 General Assembly. The Democrats will do the same tomorrow, and the Denver Daily News will cover that.
Associated Press: It`s time for midterms at the Colorado Legislature, halfway through their 120-day session, and by all accounts it`s an incomplete. House Speaker Terrance Carroll, a Denver Democrat, said Friday the biggest fight is yet to come as lawmakers prepare to balance next year`s budget in the midst of a revenue crisis. Carroll says lawmakers will have to cut another $1.5 billion from the $18 billion spending plan as they wait for the state`s latest revenue forecast due next week.
The Pueblo Chieftain: As sure as January’s frost has given way to the first sprigs of green grass on spring’s doorstep, the opening-day optimism that bipartisan cooperation would be the hallmark of this legislative session has subsided into party-line splintering at the session’s midway point. In its first 60 days, the General Assembly has overcome a budget deficit of more than $1 billion for the current fiscal year by lifting tax exemptions and cutting funding to state departments. The session’s second half is certain to be a lot like the first, as the Legislature tackles an estimated $1.3 billion general-fund shortfall for the fiscal year 2010-11.
