This Year’s Big Ideas
Colorado’s Legislature Heads Down The Home Stretch With Front Range Passenger Rail, Immigration Reform, Gun Control
By Penfield W. Tate III
For the GPHN
As the 2021 legislative session winds down, things will move fast and furious. Committee and floor sessions will become more tense, anxious and a little more exciting. At the time of this writing, 529 bills have been introduced this session in Colorado — and most remain on the calendar waiting for action.
The most extreme measures — too conservative or too progressive — are long gone, killed in committee. What remains are those that are pivotal to each caucus and the big ideas. The pivotal bills are likely the subject of negotiations to see if compromise is possible, which paves the way for progress on the big ideas. The big ideas normally happen late in the session because they take time to build consensus and gather the necessary votes to pass.
What are this year’s big ideas?
Train On The Range
How about Front Range passenger rail, stretching 300 miles from Cheyenne, Wyo. to nearly the New Mexico border?
The long-held dream of a rail line has been revived in SB21-238. It’s a bipartisan measure supported by business and possibly the federal government, which may provide some of the funding.
At this writing, the bill has yet to be heard in committee and has a serious uphill battle. But it speaks to the aspirations of many in Colorado. Spanning 11 rural and urban counties, the goal is to create a district charged with planning, designing, developing, financing, constructing, operating, and maintaining a passenger rail system.
The federally-owned National Railroad Passenger Corporation, which you know as Amtrak, is an enthusiastic supporter.
“The examples are there” showing that regional rail lines can attract riders and reduce highway traffic, the Amtrak CEO said, citing its routes in Washington State, North Carolina and between Chicago and Milwaukee. “We believe we’ve got the right partnership with Colorado and, ultimately, with Wyoming, to build that out.”
The district would be required to work with Amtrack and the Regional Transportation District to share resources and move toward the implementation of the rail line that works in conjunction with the existing Amtrak infrastructure and the Winter Park train. Vested with bonding authority and the ability to seek voter-approved taxes, the estimated price tag is as high as $14.2 billion with the thought that a “serviceable” initial line can be built for as “little” as $2 billion.
If passed, the district must be formed by April 2022. Then the hard questions about the rail line’s alignment and timing would be addressed. Stay tuned.
Immigration reforms
Immigration reform remains another big idea.
As I have discussed in prior months, several key bills to modernize the laws impacting immigration are working their way toward final passage. One measure, HB21-1194, creates the Immigration Legal Defense Fund to finance nonprofits that give legal advice, counseling and representation to indigent undocumented immigrants in Colorado. It’s hoping for an appropriation to jump-start a program that must rely on gifts, grants and donations to survive. This is likely to pass.
A second measure with 39 House sponsors, HB 21-1057, has passed to the Senate. It makes it a crime to threaten to report a persons’ immigration status to induce them to perform an act or to refrain from performing a lawful act against their will. This is nearly assured of passage.
A bill allowing witnesses to cooperate with law enforcement without fear of deportation, the U visa program, continues to move toward passage. HB21-1060 will align Colorado law with federal law.
A final measure nearing passage, SB21-077, eliminates the requirement that applicants for a license from the departments of education and regulatory affairs need not first establish that they are lawfully present in the U.S. With Democrats controlling both chambers and the governor’s office the prospects for this bill look promising, but it may be a bridge too far for some moderate Democrats and the Republican caucuses in the House and Senate.
48 mass shootings in a month
Colorado’s legislature has a history of revisiting some topics year after year, with each party using their existing majority to shift the momentum of the law in their direction. Which brings us to the ongoing battle over firearms.
From mid-March to mid-April this year in the U.S. there were 48 mass shootings – incidents where four or more people were shot. Boulder was one of 39 cities or towns where mass shooting occurred. Shooters chose churches and synagogues, schools and restaurants, naval yards and hospitals, massage parlors and hotels, airports, newsrooms and peoples’ homes for their rampages.
There is no place in this country where we can be safe from the threat of gun violence. And the legislature is focused on addressing the issue.
The “Promoting Child Safety Through Responsible Firearm Storage Act” (HB21-1106) requires that a firearm must be responsibly and securely stored when not in use. It’s already signed into law, with the purpose of “promoting safe and responsible firearm storage practices [that] furthers the goal of protecting children and communities from interpersonal violence, unintentional shootings, and self-harm.”
It also requires firearms dealers to post notice of the laws regarding safe storage requirements and includes funding for a safe storage education campaign. It requires the state court administrator to produce a report annually on violations under the law.
Another bill, SB 21-078 requires firearms owners to report if their weapon is lost or believed stolen within five days Failure to report is a civil offense that rises to the level of a misdemeanor crime for repeated offenses.
Expect more legislation on large capacity magazines, gun stocks and additional registration requirements.
More grandstanding ahead
And here are some proposals that have, mercifully, failed:
Efforts to repeal federal firearms regulations.
Allowing a concealed carry permit to serve as an alternative to a background check in the transfer of a firearm.
Making someone civilly liable for supporting the passage of HB19-1177 (previously signed into law) if someone was prevented from using a firearm to protect themselves due to their being the subject of a risk protection order under the bill. This last measure was particularly bizarre. You could be sued for supporting a bill, passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor. Wow.
Amid the backdrop of gun violence this year it is clear that this debate is far from over in this session. With an ending date of June 12, we will see more interesting legislation and more grandstanding. Stay safe.
Penfield W. Tate III is an attorney in Denver. He represented Park Hill in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1997 to 2000, and in the State Senate from 2001 to February 2003. He lives in Park Hill.