Committee declines to shorten Colorado legislative session from 120 to 90 days; bill postponed

Representative Weinberg asked the House State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee to approve legislation shortening Colorado’s regular session from 120 calendar days to 90, arguing the change would save taxpayer money and reduce late-session congestion. Committee members questioned whether a statutory change could accomplish that without a constitutional amendment; the bill failed on a committee roll call and then was postponed indefinitely.

Weinberg framed the change as an efficiency and fiscal-savings proposal, saying the legislature “wastes 30 days” and that shortening the session would reduce costs and pressure on lawmakers. Members pressed the sponsor about whether altering session length would require changing the Colorado Constitution. Bill drafter Bennington told the committee that Article V, Section 7 of the Colorado Constitution caps regular sessions at 120 calendar days and that the legislature could set a shorter period beneath that constitutional ceiling: "In Section 7, the last sentence is regular sessions of the General Assembly shall not exceed 120 calendar days." Bennington concluded that a statutory reduction to a shorter session likely would not require a constitutional amendment.

Public witnesses supported a shorter session. Jim Blanchard, a resident witness, said Colorado is enacting too much law and argued for slowing expansion; Erin Meschke, who identified herself as a Boulder resident, told the committee the National Conference of State Legislatures lists at least 26 states with regular sessions shorter than 120 days and supported the bill on efficiency grounds.

Opponents argued that 120 days is necessary for effective government work. Representative Wynne (also recorded as Winn in the transcript) and other members said the current length provides time to make hard decisions; one member who previously worked as a state employee said he would likely vote no because of the workload that state business requires.

The committee moved the bill to Appropriations with a motion and recorded a roll-call vote that resulted in the bill failing on a vote of 5 yes to 6 no. Following that outcome, members considered and adopted a motion to postpone the bill indefinitely; after a reverse roll call the committee voted to postpone HB 10 74 indefinitely by a vote of 7 yes to 4 no.

The committee took no further action on HB 10 74 and adjourned.