For the last four years, the Colorado State Senate, with its one-seat Republican majority, has acted as a backstop against radical Democrat proposals that passed through the lower chamber, many of which would have been signed by Governor Hickenlooper. Starting in January, that backstop is gone, and the only question that remains is how far will Democrats go?
While reporters and television cameras are not at the state capitol these days – make no mistake – there is a lot going on. We saw new leadership elected last week, and during the coming weeks lawmakers will be drafting bills for the new session. While we do not know just what kind of hell Democrats will unleash, the Colorado Sun recently speculated that we could see a number of bills that passed the House in recent years, just to be killed by various Senate committees.
If past is prologue, here is some of what you can expect:
- Forced family medical leave (we thought we were trying to attract employers to Colorado?)
- Prohibit seeking salary information from job applicant (see above)
- Opening Medicaid to all (and who is going to pay for that?)
- Licensing freestanding ERs (will make things more expensive for the consumer)
- Increased setbacks for oil and gas drilling (who will compensate those mineral owners?)
- Special card to give illegal immigrants the ability to work in Colorado (what citizens will lose their jobs to cheap labor?)
- Bills to reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions (pushing manufacturing out of the state)
In all, 74 bills were killed by a party line vote in the Senate “kill committee” this year. With Democrats running unchecked next time around, look for these, and many more damaging measures to pass.
Hang on to your wallets and freedoms, Colorado, it’s about to get crazy in here.