The gavel slammed down on May 11 ending the 120 day Session of the 68th General Assembly. Republicans controlling the House and Democrats the Senate proved an effective method of disposing of extreme bills. Legislators were forced to moderate and find compromise on many pieces of legislation. However, the split chambers ensured partisan bickering over big ticket items including the budget and redistricting.
The continued revenue shortfall gave Governor John Hickenlooper an opportunity to prove his leadership skills as he successfully navigated his first major challenge in pushing a balanced budget. The Governor often teamed with Speaker Frank McNulty and sparred with Senate President Brandon Shaffer. Major legislative accomplishments this session included:
- Passing a balanced budget with a package of pro-business bills.
- Creating the Colorado Health Benefits Exchange to provide access tohealth insurance (SB 11-200);
Budget woes once again set the tone this legislative session. After months of negotiations with the Governor, the legislature passed a budget that will guide the state’s roughly $18 billion in state expenditures for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.
The split chambers definitely proved beneficial to the residential real estate industry, setting the stage for a bit calmer session than in recent years. Although a couple of bills were introduced early in the session that would have adversely affected apartment owners statewide, these bills were easily disposed of in their first committee of reference. HB 11-1214 would have required landlords of multi- and single-family residential dwellings to disclose energy use or efficiency information to potential tenants and HB 11-1147 would have limited landlords’ use of consumer credit information of a potential tenant only to evaluating the applicant’s payment history for prior tenancies. Both were dead by mid-February.
A bill was introduced late in the session that would have regulated roofers in a manner that could have limited competition and otherwise adversely affected property owners. This bill died on the Senate floor. However, an attempt to appeal a bill passed last year regulating sprinkler fitters failed to make of the Senate Appropriations Committee (after passing through the House), even though it had a positive fiscal note, proving that the divided government while usually helpful, can also make it more difficult to pass desirable legislation.
Issues we had a much-appreciated reprieve from this year include warranty of habitability and rent control, just to name a couple. All in all the 2011 Legislative Session was quite successful for the Apartment Association and the industry as a whole.
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