Face the State

And just when you thought you might have made it through the 2008 legislative session without yet more laws passed by legislators who know what's best for you, there have been a few fun surprises during the final few weeks of the session.

No matter how well protected we think we are from ourselves and each other, and regardless of whether you think your taxes are too high, lawmakers can always come up with more ways to protect the “public peace, health and safety.”

This session, lawmakers produced 662 proposals on how to improve Colorado, but as the session comes to a close it has become clear that many of them are grasping at straws.

The highlights during these last few weeks of the session:

Sen. Abel Tapia’s, D-Pueblo, attempt to raise the car registration fee. This fee was so unpopular even tax-loving Gov. Bill Ritter, a fellow Democrat, rejected it in February. Tapia didn’t get the message the first time around; the fee was nixed last week.

And as Face The State previously reported, Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins is leading a statewide crusade against masturbating in public. There may be a loophole under current law that allows for people to touch themselves under their clothes. And currently, in most cases, getting caught will only land you a misdemeanor or petty offense (even if it's done at a funeral). We just hope Bacon didn't stay up late at night thinking about this too hard.

Let’s not forget House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, and his lame-duck attempt to gut TABOR. Luckily for taxpayers, he couldn't muster the two-thirds support from fellow lawmakers necessary to get the question onto the November ballot. Now, he'll be taking the cause to taxpayers directly through the onerous process of petitioning onto the ballot through a citizens' initiative. If successful, a full-fledged campaign could cost more than $10 million. Perhaps this is Romanoff's effort to keep Colorado's fledgling political consulting industry alive and well-fed, not to mention motivating the teachers union for November's general election.

As for election reform, we suspect that Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, is trying to play Secretary of State rather than state Senator, after sponsoring at least ten bills regulating elections. Notably, he also seems to have taken a page out of "Blue Ribbon Bill" Ritter’s book in trying to create an “Election Reform Commission” that will study the election process in Colorado.

And if 662 bills aren’t enough to occupy the General Assembly’s time, there are dozens of resolutions that will give lawmakers an excuse to talk into the microphone. What would you like to hear them discuss? Armenian genocide? Single parents? Cesar Chavez? Women’s history? You name it and the legislature probably has a resolution recognizing it.

Point is, Colorado’s lawmakers meet for 120 days every year, and if they would just learn to cut out the excess (and dare we say, “go green?”) time and tax dollars could be saved.