Peter Marcus

A series of bills aimed at balancing local versus state control of oil and gas regulations in Colorado were quickly drilled to their demise by the Legislature this month, along with legislation seeking to tighten controls over hydraulic fracturing practices by the industry.

The most recent attempt at defining whether local governments should be given the authority to regulate oil and gas practices was killed Monday on a Republican party-line vote of 6-4 by the House Local Government Committee. Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, was absent from the vote.

Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler has proposed a suite of at least a dozen separate pieces of legislation this year that run the gamut — everything from the mundane, including clearing up ballot title language and allowing notaries public to register online to the more controversial, such as cutting short the number of days early voting centers are required to stay open.

Medical marijuana proponents watched in earnest on Tuesday as their only hope this year for a formal banking and payment system went up in smoke.

Senate Bill 75, sponsored by Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, would have created the authority for licensed medical marijuana stakeholders to form an exclusive financial cooperative specific to the industry, but the Senate Finance Committee killed the legislation on a 5-2 vote.

The Legislature was thrown into turmoil this week after an embattled Republican lawmaker who was stopped by Denver police last Wednesday on suspicion of drunk driving threatened to leave her party over frustrations with leadership.

State Rep. Jim Kerr says it’s not bullet holes, but knife wounds in his back that hurt him following a Republican vacancy committee in which the veteran lawmaker from Littleton was passed over for a promotion to the upper chamber a few weeks ago after infighting within the gun community.

The Advancing Students for a Stronger Economy Tomorrow (ASSET) bill, the centerpiece of immigration reform facing the legislature this year, passed out of the Democratic-leaning Senate Education Committee 4-3 on a party-line vote Thursday, but the fate of the controversial legislation providing tuition equity for undocumented students remains unclear.

Republicans have introduced a flurry of early pro-gun bills in both chambers of the Colorado legislature, leaving gun control advocates speculating that the influx of legislation during a crucial election year serves to pander to conservative voters.

Republican and Democratic legislators took political punches at each other Thursday during the first house floor debate of the session over a resolution asking Congress to repeal federal health care reform.

Business leaders are focused on “three fundamental pillars” this legislative session. As outlined in a recent policy briefing hosted by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce for legislative leaders and the Governor, the main issues include health care, education and transportation.

House Democrats struck first in the health care debate on Tuesday, unveiling the first of what is expected to be an onslaught of divisive bills addressing health care issues in the state.