It was fine. Whew, that was an easy opinion. OK, a few more words might be helpful to understand how average citizens think through legislative sessions.
If you are a political activist, a dear friend of a state legislator, lobbyist, or trade association staff member there were a few bills that were critical and you spent the last five months yelling: “WE MUST STOP IT (or PASS IT) RIGHT NOW!”
For the average citizen just paying the mortgage or rent, and trying to enjoy time with family and friends — this was a session, with its over 600 bills, that likely could be missed. And that’s a good thing. If the legislature is making big news it is most often not good.
There were a few notable exceptions that are essential for all of us to consider: property tax relief, local land use control, and gun control.
Senate Bill 303 Property Tax Relief was an unsatisfactory way for the governor and legislature to introduce and refer to the voters a ballot issue this November. Yes, if passed it will help reduce the increase in property tax that Coloradoans will face. Is it enough relief? No.
Did you feel included in the process? No.
You’ll see this on the November ballot and quite likely an alternative option put forward by outside interest groups gathering signatures. These are worth paying attention to.
The legislature failed by passing a rushed-at-the-end-of-the-session bill without enough citizen input. For an intro on these bills, last Sunday’s post did a nice job with a pro-editorial by the board and a con-column by Krisa Kafer. Both are worthy to begin to understand. Between the two opinions – Krista get’s the nod:
Senate Bill 213 concerning local land use control would have been a dreadful overreach that would overturn the entire history of Colorado’s local decision-making. Luckily it failed.
Colorado is a local control state and that is essential for good governance. Elected officials make better decisions when governance is closest to the people. The governor and many or most Democratic legislators now apparently believe that state government knows better than local elected officials and their citizens the ideal mix of property rights within local jurisdictions.
It ended up failing this year and we all must be better prepared to ensure that it doesn’t pass next year, and every year after that. This issue transcends political parties. I can assure you as a past County Commissioner, local land use issues rarely have a Democratic or Republican leaning. People want control over the most expensive purchase they ever make, their home, and the land that it sits on.
Four gun control bills from 2023 have been signed into law by the governor. Enough to make everyone mad for different reasons. Gun control proponents still want a complete ban on AR-15-style rifles and Republicans opposed all four bills in support of the Second Amendment.
A couple of the bills have challenges to their constitutionality, and I’ll look for this discussion to continue well into the future. It’s unlikely these bills will stop the next mass murderer in our midst. Isn’t that what we want to stop? This is one of the most critical issues of our time and more of us need to thoughtfully engage and pay less attention to the vested interests that want nothing or everything.
I’d like to make an honorable mention regarding social issues and culture wars. We should all feel fortunate that we are not in a state that has made national news over controversial social issues such as abortion, LGTBQ rights, book banning, and on and on. We should continue and build our “live and let live libertarian-leaning, respectful, Colorado traditions.”
I do have a few recommendations for better citizenry and governance. For our rule of law, constitutional republic form of representative democracy to work well, your elected officials must know what the people in their district think of various issues of the day.
Your state representative and senator should have invited you to at least 4 district constituent meetings throughout the year, especially one before or near the beginning and one after the legislative session. Were you invited and did you attend? Were they able to provide you a well-thought-out understanding of the major bills in the legislature, their perspective and articulate why they voted for or against specific bills?
In addition, each legislator should have mailed or hand-delivered to your door a legislative questionnaire. Did you receive it? Fill it out? Did you get a summary of the percentages of your neighbor’s thoughts on proposed bills? Did the legislator explain why they voted to agree or disagree with their own constituents? These are essential attributes of good citizenship and elected representation. Demand these types of communication, please.
Finally, it is important for all of us to thank (especially those we disagree with) our fellow citizens who are willing to run for office and serve in positions of public trust. Thank you for your public service members of the General Assembly. Hope to join some of you at your town hall soon.
What do you think about the legislative session this year? I welcome your conversation.
John Brackney is a former elected official, Army Officer, lifelong Coloradan, and business leader. He hosts a weekly discussion on contemporary public policy with U.S. History Professor Stephen Tootle on Facebook live and posted on Youtube and Spotify. Contact him at JohnBrackney@msn.com.
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