Sen. Rod Pelton represents a slice of Colorado where getting to the Capitol is not a quick errand. His district runs across the Eastern Plains, and he knows exactly what it costs to be in the building. And yet, when the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee took up a bill on March 3 that would make it easier for lawmakers to skip the drive, Pelton was the one arguing for showing up.
"I don't like where this will allow for remote participation in joint committees during session, though I like it when we're in the building and being on the joint budget. Not joint budget, the Legislative Audit Committee," Pelton (R-District 35) said, correcting himself. "I try to be in person every day that we have it during session and in the interim, I think it's very important to be here to have these hallway conversations and those sort of things."
That was the whole fight, more or less. The bill in front of the committee, HB26-1068, is about as small as bills get.
Under current law, the executive committee of the legislative council can set policies allowing members of the General Assembly to participate remotely in interim committee meetings and in legislative proceedings during a disaster emergency. HB26-1068 expands that authority to cover meetings of any joint committee made up of members from both chambers, held at any time of the year.
In plain terms: the law is silent on what happens when a joint committee meets during the session, and this fills in the blank so leadership can set one uniform rule. There's no fiscal note attached.
Sen. James Coleman (D-District 33), the president of the Senate and one of the prime sponsors, framed it as mercy for lawmakers from the far corners of the state — the Eastern Plains, Grand Junction — who otherwise have to make a long trip for a rare weekend session. His co-sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez (D-District 32), was even more blunt about the scale of it.
"As you see, this is a cleanup bill," Rodriguez said. "My colleague's presentation was probably longer than the bill itself."
No witnesses signed up to testify, which tells you something about how much of a lightning rod this wasn't. The hearing turned jokey, with the sponsors and Pelton ribbing each other over the eternal House-versus-Senate rivalry.
But the vote still landed on party lines. The committee referred the bill to the Committee of the Whole 3-2, with Democrats William Lindstedt (District 25), Tom Sullivan (District 27) and Katie Wallace (District 17) in favor, and Republicans Pelton and Janice Rich (District 7) opposed.
Strip away the procedure and there's a genuine, if quiet, disagreement underneath: whether the work of a legislature happens in the votes, or in the conversations that surround them. Pelton, who sits on the Legislative Audit Committee, put his chips on the hallway. The sponsors bet on the road not taken — the four-hour drive nobody makes for a Saturday meeting.
The measure, sponsored in the House by Speaker Julie McCluskie and Rep. Monica Duran, had already cleared the House; with the committee’s nod it now heads to the full Senate.