colorado-state-capitolLast night was the end of the 2016 session (for now, at least) and, as tradition would dictate, we’re calling out the best and worst of the legislative session. Let’s start with the losers, shall we?

LOSERS

  • Transportation funding: Providing roads and streets is a good use of government funds, yet, there still is not an appropriate level of funding. In the final days, Democrats killed Rep. Brian DelGrosso’s bill to issue bonds to pay for transportation. Oh well. Guess we’ll just ride our bike to work. Hey…..
  • Construction defect reform (perennial loser): Trial lawyers own the House Democrats who continue to block meaningful reform on this issue. Maybe next year…. Like we said last year….
  • Morgan Carroll and Joe Salazar: Speaking of trial lawers, this disaster duo tried to make businesses guilty until proven innocent when it comes to operating in areas near earthquakes. Their bill was killed in an embarrassingly bipartisan fashion. Even their own think the two are crazy.  Carroll is term limited (and, running against the buzz saw of Coffman for Congress), but it remains to be seen whether Salazar survives his election. He was awfully close to losing last time and legislation like this will not help his re-election efforts this year.
  •  Presidential primaries: There seemed to be mass agreement about moving to a presidential primary, but, then, someone threw open primary in there and others saw their stranglehold on the caucus system coming to an end. Well, that was that. All of the momentum for a presidential primary came to a screeching halt. Loser – construction defect reform.  Trial lawyers own the House Dems who continue to block meaningful reform on this issue.
  • 3.2 Beer: Well, it was fun while it lasted. Actually, no it wasn’t. Low-strength beer sucked. It was all of the calories without the actual buzz. You might as well have been drinking Coca-Cola. A bill passed yesterday with overwhelming bipartisan support that puts beer and wine in grocery stores by 2019 and ditches the 3.2 drool. Sure, it’s a little slow, but we can all agree that 3.2 beer sucked anyway.

WINNERS

  • Republican Senate Leadership: While Colorado is losing some of its finest Senators in Senate President Bill Cadman and Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, they left on a high note and they will be missed. There are several Democratic State Senators with whom we sometimes disagreed, but who were great allies for Republicans. Sen. Hodge comes to mind.
  • Term Limits: Yes, it’s true that we are losing some of the aforementioned great leaders like Cadman and Scheffel, but we’re also getting rid of terrible legislators like Speaker Dickie Lee Hullinghorst and Sen. Morgan Carroll who is getting her tail kicked in the Sixth Congressional District against Coffman.  Silver linings, PeakNation™.
  • Oil and Gas Industry: Fractivists tried several times to cripple the oil and gas industry (which provides thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of jobs, in Colorado), but each time the industry was ready and thwarted the attempts.