Housing debates, next wave of gun bill votes in Colorado legislature

Just over two weeks remain in the Colorado legislature’s 2024 session, and the days are getting longer as leadership works to fit dozens of still-pending bills into the rapidly shrinking calendar.

That means bills are starting to quickly swing through their floor votes, passing second readings one day and final votes the next. This week will likely be no different: The House passed a gig worker protection bill (HB24-1129, aimed at delivery drivers) first thing Monday morning, and it was scheduled to advance several more, including a bill to study a potential universal health care payment system (that’s HB24-1075).

The annual logjam in the two chambers’ appropriations committees — which, once the state budget is set, must balance available money against the impact of other legislators’ bills — is beginning to ease.

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced SB24-117, which would better regulate eating disorder clinics. A similar bill was gutted last year over funding concerns, but this year’s version is advancing and is set for a first full vote in the Senate later this week.

Here’s what else is happening this week.

Key land-use committee hearings

Three of the big land-use reform bills have now passed the House and are headed for the Senate this week. All three of those housing-focused bills are likely to face tougher roads in the upper chamber, which last session was much more leery of sweeping zoning reforms than the House.

We should get an early taste of the Senate’s land-use flavor Tuesday. That’s when the Local Government and Housing Committee will debate HB24-1313, the bill seeking to encourage and then require more residential density near transit areas, and HB24-1152, which would allow for accessory-dwelling units to be built in Front Range cities.

Two other housing bills that passed the House are up in that same Senate committee Thursday. One is HB24-1304, which would eliminate minimum parking requirements in Front Range cities. The other is HB24-1175, a bill that’s not part of the land-use package but is tied to housing affordability; it would give local governments a right of first refusal to buy subsidized affordable housing when a building or complex is up for sale.

Next stage for many gun bills

The Senate on Monday morning passed two gun-related bills — one setting new training requirements for concealed-carry permits and the other tightening rules for the storage of firearms in vehicles. Those votes are covered in a separate story published Monday afternoon.

Resolutions galore

A slew of resolutions are set to be considered in the House and its committees this week.

Rep. Bob Marshall, a Democrat from Highlands Ranch, has two: The first, HCR24-1004, would reform the state’s vacancy committee system (the process that quickly replaces early-departing legislators using a small, insular party voting process). The resolution, if passed, would ask the state’s voters to pass a constitutional amendment that would require a lawmaker seated via a vacancy committee to sit out the next election, making them a short-term lawmaker.

The resolution cleared a first committee with bipartisan support earlier this month. It’s now awaiting a first full vote in the House.

Marshall’s second resolution, HCR24-1006, would institute a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights-type system in the state constitution to cap property taxes (Marshall called it “TABOR lite” on the social media platform X). The resolution (which would also need voter approval) is scheduled for a first hearing in the House Finance Committee on Monday.

House Republicans have some resolutions teed up, too.

One (HCR24-1005) would ask voters to create a “Parent’s Bill of Rights” in the Colorado Constitution. Another (HJR24-1023) opposes the use of forced and child labor in the manufacturing of electric vehicle and their components. Both of those are up in House State, Civic, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee on Monday.