Peter Marcus

One of the most partisan bills facing the legislature did not disappoint this week as the House on Friday backed the controversial sweeping elections reform measure. The lower chamber’s vote came after more than 80 citizens packed a legislative committee room on Monday during a cold spring snowstorm to voice their opinions on the polarizing proposal.

UPDATED: This story has been updated to reflect an amendment to House Bill 1269

The energy conversation in Colorado was dominated this week by a lengthy debate in the legislature on raising the renewable energy requirement for rural electric cooperatives.

Senate Bill 252, sponsored by Senate President John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, would raise the state’s rural renewable energy standard to 25 percent.

The Democratic-controlled House on Friday night gave preliminary approval to an aggressive jobs bill that seeks a significant overhaul to state contracting procurement laws.

House Bill 1292, sponsored by Reps. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, and Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, would require state agencies to weigh overall “best value” in their consideration of competitive bids on state contracts. The measure would move away from a strictly price analysis.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday night pushed through legislation that would offer Colorado driver’s licenses to all residents of the state, whether they are a legal resident, or an undocumented immigrant.

Senate Bill 251, sponsored by Sens. Jessie Ulibarri, D-Commerce City, and Senate President John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, is said to have bipartisan support. But that was not the case Wednesday as the measure passed on a party-line vote of 3-2.

A legislative committee recommending legislation to implement marijuana legalization in Colorado finished its tedious work crafting a regulatory model for the budding industry on Monday, suggesting three bills that would establish taxes, as well as rules and regulations.

The three bills that the legislature will likely see breaks down to:

Democrats have pulled back on a measure that sought to ensure statewide collective bargaining rights for Colorado firefighters after Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, threatened to veto the legislation. But the revised bill could still splinter the Democratic Party and result in a veto.

The Senate on Tuesday remembered the late former Sen. Paul Sandoval for being a hustler considered the “Godfather” of Colorado political circles. Sandoval died on April 24, 2012 at the age of 67 after the hardest campaign of his life, a painful battle with pancreatic cancer.

He was memorialized as a wheeler and dealer who did not rest solely on Democratic races, though he was a Democrat through and through. When Republicans he admired came to him for his blessing, Sandoval was willing to break partisan divides.

A more than 100-page sweeping election reform bill is likely to be introduced by Democrats in the Senate next week, covering everything from moving voter registration deadlines to mailing ballots to inactive voters.

Even before the bill has reached its final draft, Secretary of State Scott Gessler and fellow Republicans have pounced on the proposal, concerned that the bill would create same-day voter registration. The GOP is also critical of what they consider to be a “secretive” drafting process. Gessler said he hasn’t yet seen a draft of the bill.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, faced hecklers on Monday during a hydraulic fracturing debate with Boulder County Commissioner Elise Jones, during which he restated his support for the oil and gas industry, but stopped short of taking a position on controversial energy bills moving through the legislature.

Brittany Moore said the awful sound her 4-year-old German Shepherd, Ava, made as an Erie police officer fired a bullet that severed the dog’s spinal cord was all part of the most tragic day of her life.

“Imagine watching your best friend get shot to death,” she said at a rally Wednesday at the Capitol, as tears welled behind her thick sunglasses. “Watching her in agony when she is dying, moaning in pain, and you’re not able to comfort her; not able to hold her until she breathes her last breath; not able to say, ‘I love you’ one last time.”