DENVER (AP) - Colorado lawmakers on Tuesday resumed their legislative session after a two-month coronavirus hiatus, dusting off a full slate of bills and preparing to address a pandemic-related $3.3 billion budget shortfall.
On the House and Senate floor, most legislators wore protective face coverings. Newly installed glass separated clerks from legislators and legislators from each other, while social-distancing guidelines meant some lawmakers sat high up in the gallery where visitors normally sit.
“It’s an 11 on the weird scale,” Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, told The Colorado Sun.
The Democrats who control the House and Senate say they plan to meet for about three weeks to limit people’s time inside the Capitol. The top priority will be to pass a balanced budget for the financial year that begins July 1.
With the coronavirus lockdown resulting in steeply declining revenue to the state, the pandemic is forcing deep budget cuts. Over the past three weeks, the bipartisan Joint Budget Committee drafted a spending plan that cuts $3.2 billion from the $13 billion state general fund.
The plan must go through the House and Senate.
Outside the Capitol, demonstrators held a rally in vehicles in downtown Denver to call on lawmakers to protect public schools from budget cuts.
Face coverings were optional for legislators in attendance. All Democrats wore masks, while many Republicans did not, The Denver Post reported.
“My district doesn’t really buy the whole mask thing,” said Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta. He added that mask-wearing fogs up his glasses.
Senate Republicans said Democratic Gov. Jared Polis adopted his March stay-at-home order, followed by a gradual loosening of restrictions, without sufficient justification. Polis has reviewed epidemiological science behind the administration’s strategy in his frequent public briefings.
Some lawmakers were not expected to come back to the Capitol because of personal or family health reasons. Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, who has an infant son and a husband with an autoimmune disease, told Colorado Public Radio she hopes the Senate will pass new rules to allow some lawmakers to participate and vote remotely.
Space for members of the public is limited and they are required to wear masks and undergo temperature checks. Anyone with a temperature below 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit will receive a wrist band. Those who have a temperature above that threshold may not be let into the building, on a case by case basis.
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