Colorado's special session ends in acrimony over AI, harassment claim
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Colorado lawmakers closed a fractious special session Tuesday as Democrats clashed over how to regulate artificial intelligence, then joined forces to condemn a former Republican legislator's behavior.
Why it matters: The hostile tenor reflected a tumultuous six-day term during which lawmakers touched on everything from Planned Parenthood funding to foreign tax havens as they looked to fill a $1 billion budget shortfall caused by President Trump's "big, beautiful bill."
Driving the news: In the final moments before adjournment, House lawmakers traded partisan and personal attacks that led the Republican minority leader to flee the chamber nearly in tears.
The episode came as the Democratic majority put forward a resolution to condemn former state Rep. Ryan Armagost (R-Berthoud), who abruptly resigned Thursday, the day the session started.
- Armagost is accused of taking a photo of a Democratic female lawmaker that prompted disparaging comments from other Republican lawmakers about what she was wearing.
- The resolution won approval 59 to 2.
The other side: Republican leader Rep. Rose Pugliese defended her actions in helping identify Armagost as the photo-taker, but came under direct attack from Democratic leader Rep. Monica Duran as the two stood just feet away from each other.
- Pugliese then stormed out of the chamber.
Inside the room: The break in decorum is unsurprising — it's merely an extension of the lingering tensions from the regular session that ended in May, in which Democrats and Republicans traded charged rhetoric and insults.
- "We don't know how to treat each other with dignity and respect," Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-Colorado Springs) said Tuesday as he spoke on the resolution.
Zoom in: Beyond the verbal assaults, lawmakers approved a handful of bills in the final days.
- The AI bill became the most contentious issue this session. A grand plan to streamline the state's current law landed with a thud. The final version only delayed the regulations to June from February.
To raise revenue to close the state's $1 billion budget gap, the Democratic majority:
- Eliminated a tax break for retailers that collect sales tax on behalf of the state.
- Removed a tax incentive for insurance companies with home offices in Colorado.
- Cracked down on tax havens and removed tax breaks for foreign-derived income.
- Spent as much as $100 million on health care subsidies for high-cost individuals, the individual marketplace and immigrants in the country illegally.
- Required taxpayers with pass-through gross income of $500,000 or more to add back money deducted from their federal returns.
- Authorized the state treasurer to sell $125 million in insurance premium tax credits and corporate income tax credits at a discount to generate about $100 million in new money.
Other measures that won approval include:
- Giving the governor more authority to make budget cuts when the Legislature is not in session.
- Allowing the use of state dollars to pay Planned Parenthood for costs linked to Medicaid patients now that such payments are questionable at the federal level.
- Making changes to a ballot referendum about the healthy meals for students program to allow money to go toward the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after federal cuts.
- Prohibiting the use of discretionary dollars this fiscal year for the reintroduction of more wolves into Colorado and diverting $264,000 from wildlife operations.