Bills find new life on Ritters desk

DENVER - A bill that changes the information in School Accountability Reports, which Gov. Bill Ritter signed last week after it landed on his desk, was new to Ritter but familiar to the desk.

Democrats, taking advantage of having one of their own in the governor’s office for the first time in eight years, repassed 33 bills this year that once were vetoed by former Republican Gov. Bill Owens.

Ritter, the first-year Democratic governor, has signed 16 so far, including the aforementioned House Bill 1345.

Some are exact replicas of deceased forebears, while others have been changed. But the fact they are coming back to life — or rising like zombies from the dead, depending on one’s viewpoint — is a concerted effort on the part of Democrats, said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.

“It’s not an attempt to oneup Bill Owens. It’s just a recognition that the administration has changed, and they might be more sympathetic to our priorities,” said the Denver Democrat, who revived a previously vetoed patient-care bill of his own and got it signed by Ritter.

Working with a Democratic Legislature during his last two years in office, Owens vetoed 91 bills. His reasons varied, but he wrote several times he felt the legislation was overly regulatory or would invite increased litigation.

Nearly half of those bills were brought back this year, including nine that passed the General Assembly and landed in front of the governor after being vetoed in 2005 and 2006. Six more vetoed bills were reintroduced but died in committees or in the House, and one requiring an increase in certifications for physicaleducation teachers passed but was vetoed for a third time.

Ritter stopped short of saying there was a pointed effort to undo Owens’ vetoes, but he said a lot of the undead legislation that flew through the General Assembly had previously been “worked through the process.”

Two previously vetoed measures, one which creates a council to study state education and the other which enrolls Colorado in a multistate drug-purchasing pool, were signed into law by executive order, as Ritter said no more debate was necessary.

Ritter used HB1345 to explain why he thought some of the veto reversals are beneficial. Although Owens did not want to tinker with accountability reports he had created, Ritter thinks some changes were in order.

Sen. Sue Windels, who has been a co-sponsor with Colorado Springs Democrat Mike Merrifield in all three years of the bill’s existence, said she carried it in the past to start the education process, knowing it would be vetoed. By the time a Democrat took over as governor, the idea had been run by many parent and teacher groups and was an easy sell, she said.

Although HB1345 has generated little controversy, a number of the once-vetoed bills have. Those include proposals to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, to license athletic trainers and landscape architects and to limit political contributions from limited liability corporations.

Also, some previously controversial proposals were watered down, but not enough to eliminate opposition. An example is Senate Bill 60, which requires hospitals to inform rape victims about the availability of emergency contraception but does not require them to provide it or refer victims to a provider, as a previous version did.

THIRD TIME’S A CHARM

The Legislature has passed 33 bills this year that were vetoed in the past two years by former Gov. Bill Owens. Nine among them stand out because they had been vetoed twice. Here’s a look:

Senate Bill 1:

Provides prescription drugs to low-income residents at discounted rates. Signed into law.

Senate Bill 25:

Bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or religion. Signed.

Senate Bill 60:

Requires hospitals to provide rape victims information about emergency contraception. Signed.

Senate Bill 87:

Voids indemnity clauses for negligence in construction contracts. Signed.

Senate Bill 98:

Allows county sales tax rates to exceed state caps if voters approve new open-space and parks tax. Signed.

House Bill 1021:

Increases certification requirements for physical-education teachers. Vetoed.

House Bill 1037:

Develops rules to promote energy efficiency by investorowned natural-gas distributors. Signed.

House Bill 1345:

Changes annual School Accountability Reports to make them more readable and include more information. Signed.

House Bill 1366:

Requires that construction contractors provide or require workers’ compensation coverage. On Ritter’s desk.