Colorado legislature updates as property tax special session begins

The Colorado General Assembly is set to gavel in at 10 a.m. today for what members hope will be a three-day dash of lawmaking that ends in a final truce in the long-running political fight over property tax policy.

This story will be updated throughout the day.

Updated at 9:51 a.m.: Lawmakers have introduced a slate of bills to consider this week, though one will be what drives the Capitol for the next several days: A proposed “framework” that includes an additional cut to the state assessment rate, changes to the cap on how much local property tax revenue can grow in the future, and other tweaks. Those components have been agreed to by legislative leaders, outside conservative advocacy organizations and the governor’s office.

The proposed changes would cut statewide property tax collections by an estimated $270 million annually, on top of the $1.3 billion cut signed into law following last year’s legislative session. It would also lead the conservative group Advance Colorado to yank a pair of ballot measures that, if passed by voters in November, would force even deeper property tax cuts and enact a stricter cap on statewide property tax collections that opponents warn would devastate state and local government services.

But how the agreement was reached and how it’s being used to pull lawmakers from across the state back to the Capitol has prompted pointed criticisms and frustrations from some lawmakers.

Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat, referred to Advance Colorado president Michael Fields as “Gov. Fields” during a public caucus meeting where leadership previewed the special session for House Democrats.

Sen. Chris Hansen, a key architect of this and other property tax bills going back years, said at a Sunday caucus meeting of Senate Democrats that the special session is “fundamentally a failure of (Advance Colorado and Colorado Concern) to negotiate in April and May.”

He called the new proposal a “relatively small change from (last session’s bill) that completely eliminates the risk of two catastrophic ballot initiatives.”

The Denver Democrat also told lawmakers that they’re not confined to what’s in the proposal, either.

“We have negotiated a framework that both sides felt was doable, but we now go into a different phase of the discussion, which is with the 100 members of the General Assembly,” Hansen said. He added that he thinks it will be “an open question” whether Advance Colorado supports the measure up until it reaches the governor’s desk.

For his part, Fields said in an email: “Coloradans deserve real property tax relief and we are confident that this will get done this week during special session.”

Heading into the first day, it’s clear the framework does not have the unequivocal support of the Democratic majorities. At the very least, lawmakers said they’re still working to understand the proposal fully. Democratic Sens. Janice Marchman and Chris Kolker, of Loveland and Centennial, are hosting a public study session of the bill at 5 p.m. today so that lawmakers can talk through the proposal and ask questions of legislative analysts. Public comment will be reserved for the committee hearings.