DENVER – The Democratic seats in the Colorado House of Representatives were oddly bare during the morning roll call Wednesday.
The absence of female lawmakers came because many were participating in the national “a day without a women” demonstrations.
The event sought to highlight gender inequity – by highlighting through their absence for a day – women’s workday contributions to the nation. At the Legislature, the absence lasted only for the duration of the roll call before the female delegation of Democrats returned.
After the demonstration, the House was back to business as usual with announcements and acknowledgments of the guests in the gallery who had come to the Capitol until Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, brought to everyone’s attention just how big a blow to the chamber losing the female delegation would be.
“I think that we are losing out on an important opportunity here to recognize in full extent the fact that almost half of our (caucus) was missing just a little bit ago,” Salazar said.
In addition to the demonstration, two bills passed third reading in the Senate and six others passed second reading between the two chambers.
Included in those that passed second reading was Senate Bill 184, which would allow for the creation of private marijuana membership clubs.
These clubs would be locations where individuals could indulge in recreational and medical marijuana that they had already purchased from a licensed retailers.
SB 184 passed second reading, and it will receive a final reading and vote in the coming days despite concerns over the feasibility of such a business model and how the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibits smoking inside of establishments except in certain instances, would apply to these locations.
Also scheduled for Wednesday were committee hearings for 17 bills including:
House Bill 1153 would require any discretionary funding given to the Colorado Department of Transportation by the federal government to be earmarked for the widening of Interstate 25 before other projects. Also it would prohibit the findings of environmental studies from delaying the undertaking once funding is available. It was died 8-5 in the House Transportation and Energy Committee.HB 1203 would change current statute to allow county governments to levy a special sales tax on the sale of retail marijuana and clarify that municipalities can do the same.It passed unanimously in the House Local Government Committee.
Any special sales tax proposed by local government would have to be approved by voters, and the revenue generated would be collected by the local governing agency imposing the tax and not the Colorado Department of Revenue.
The bill will head to the full House for second reading and debate.
lperkins@durangoherald.com
