By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice
GREELEY – The tools in the Republican toolbox for members of the Colorado House and Senate are few, limited by the majorities enjoyed by the Democrat party, Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer told attendees here Saturday evening at the Weld County Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner.
In a presentation she termed a Republican “State of the State” address, she detailed the inability to even play defense on bad bills, and asked Republicans to help in future legislative sessions by electing more conservatives.
“We are in the minority, and it sucks,” Kirkmeyer said. “We have 12 Republicans in the Senate and 19 Republicans in the House. Democrats have a super majority in the House.”
The loss of a couple of seats in the Senate could put Democrats in a super majority in the Senate, and then Democrats would be unrestricted in passing legislation, she said.
“There are a lot of bad bills that have been introduced by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle,” Kirkmeyer said.
With 45 days elapsed in the session, there have been 541 bills introduced, “and we could see more than 1,000,” she said.
An example of the harm a super majority can have toward good legislation provided by Kirkmeyer is House Bill 24-1092. The bill would have required minimum prison penalties for anyone involved in child prostitution. The bill was killed by the House’s State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee.
“We are one of the top 20 states for human sex trafficking,” Kirkmeyer said. “We could make the top of the list now that we have rolled out the welcome mat for this activity.”
She pointed out the killing of the bill could harm Gov. Jared Polis’ aim to be among the top 10 safest states.
“Right now, we are one of the top 12 most dangerous states,” Kirkmeyer said.
Another lost bill she discussed has been mystifying to many. Republicans introduced HB 24-1162 to set penalties for the theft of firearms, and Democrats had previously sought to make failure to report a firearm theft a felony. The bill was also killed in committee.
Kirkmeyer detailed Senate Bill 24-083, which had bipartisan sponsorship. The bill was aimed at installing newborn safety devices at specific locations where a mother could voluntarily relinquish possession of a baby 72 hours old or younger.
“We had 10 senators vote against this,” Kirkmeyer said. “God forbid a woman have a baby and relinquish it, rather than having an abortion.”
She also detailed the fallout from the failure of Proposition HH. The proposal failed by 18.6% statewide and in Weld County 71% opposed the measure.
“It took the legislature less than two weeks to pass what we said no to, but they didn’t stop there,” Kirkmeyer said.
HB 24-1163 would have required the registration of pets at $8.50 each, she said, explaining that includes goldfish. A pet registered without a designated caretaker would cost $25 to register. The bill has been killed.
She also warned there is legislation aimed at killing development and production of oil and gas, which would especially be harmful to Weld County.
“These are just a few of the bad bills we’ve seen,” Kirkmeyer said.