After 120 days of session, some, inevitably, made gains, while others – not so much.
JUICE
Speaker Alec Garnett, D-Denver: In a January interview with Colorado Politics, Garnett said he focuses every year on one big thing. "Sometimes, I don't know [what it will be], but it always seems to find me," he said. That one big thing this year is fentanyl. Garnett dug deep and marshaled the resources – and patience – to get House Bill 1326 to the finish line, including through hours of some of the most emotional testimony ever heard in the state Capitol. He wrangled with law enforcement and district attorneys over the bill's most contentious provisions, mostly dealing with simple possession, and played defense to ensure the coalition he helped to put together didn't fracture. Garnett walked a tightrope of sorts between the wishes of the harm reduction community, which sees re-felonizing possession of 1 to 4 grams of fentanyl is the wrong approach, and the law enforcement community, which sought a tougher approach to combating the crisis.
Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington: The origins of the fentanyl bill actually came from Lynch, who's serving in his second year in the House. The bill started out as a four-page idea; its final version spanned 90 pages. Lynch and Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, took on the role of negotiating on behalf of the law enforcement community. In the House, Lynch won approval for making simple possession 1 to 4 grams of fentanyl and its compounds a felony, although that can be "wobbled" down to a misdemeanor if the defendant claims they didn't know what they possessed had fentanyl in it. But the bill's language on "knowing," amended through a conference committee report in the session's final hours, caused Lynch to pull his name off as a co-sponsor.
Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver: Her work on affordable housing and criminal justice issues in 2022 would be enough to solidify her position as a political leader. But it was her voice on a Republican bill, Senate Bill 53, which sought to allow hospitalized patients during a pandemic to have one family member at their side, that spoke of her skill as a legislator. Gonzales, who has lost numerous family members, including a brother, to COVID, became the deciding vote that got the measure out of the Senate's "kill" committee – the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. And for many, one of the most illuminating political discourses of the session occurred between two lawmakers who often find themselves on opposite sides of issues – Gonzales and Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs during the April 26 hearing on the fentanyl legislation. Indeed, the respect the two showed for each other during that hearing showcased the best of America's grand experiment in representative democracy - how policymakers can strongly disagree and acknowledge that the other side offers points that are just as valid.
Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, R-Douglas County: He who speaks softly and carries a big stick, Holbert has almost always been able to find a path forward for the minority in his chamber. That really began in 2019, when Senate Republicans sued Senate Democrats over the computer-assisted reading of a 2,023-page bill. The Republicans won the day, and the Colorado Supreme Court largely agreed with them. The lessons learned on cooperation – or the lack thereof – continue to this day under his leadership. "The Professor," who is term-limited and won't be coming back to the legislature next year, will be missed, and many at the Capitol hope his successors will remember his lessons, no matter which party is in charge of the Senate come next January.
Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada: In 2021, Zenzinger lost her coveted seat on the Joint Budget Committee to Sen. Chris Hansen, D-Denver. But like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, Zenzinger seized the opportunity to return to JBC after the musical chairs that took place when Senate President Leroy Garcia resigned to take a job with the Pentagon.
Assistant House Minority Leader Tim Geitner, R-Falcon: While his Republican colleagues asked for one bill after another to be read at length during the final days of 2022, Geitner took the lead on negotiating with Democrats on one of the session's most contentious bills, on collective bargaining for county employees. Those negotiations, which also included the Senate, watered the bill down to little more than a permission slip, but the compromise meant the chamber could get its business done, and with that came the end of the legislative session.
NO JUICE
Rep. Ron Hanks, R-Cañon City: Hanks got off to an wobbly start when first elected in 2020. He went to the January 6, 2021 Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol, and came back days later with a virus that caused him to miss, without telling anyone why, almost all of the first three days of the 2021 session. This year, he tried to obstruct the majority's major bills, ranging from abortion to election, but accomplished little else. Hanks finishes his time in the House, for now, with six failed bills over two years, not one of them ever making it out of a House committee.
House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo: When she teamed up with her former Senate counterpart, Senate President Leroy Garcia, or when she was on the Joint Budget Committee, Esgar was an effective legislator and representative of Pueblo. But as majority leader, she lost ground. Her refusal last year to allow House Minority Leader Hugh McKean to change a vote he accidentally cast on House Bill 21-1298, on background checks, was seen by some as petty. Her management of the 2022 calendar, which led to some of the longest days in the legislature in recent memory, was ineffective.
Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield: Gray's April arrest, allegedly for driving drunk when he was picking up his kids from school, was a low point for the session.
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