{"id":90797,"date":"2020-01-13T19:22:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T19:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/life-is-threatening-democrats-19-16-majority-in-colorado-senate\/"},"modified":"2020-01-13T19:22:47","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T19:22:47","slug":"life-is-threatening-democrats-19-16-majority-in-colorado-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/life-is-threatening-democrats-19-16-majority-in-colorado-senate\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Life\u2019 is threatening Democrats\u2019 19-16 majority in Colorado Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"State
State Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, center, sits with House KC Becker, left, and Senate President Leroy Garcia as Gov. Jared Polis delivers his second State of the State address Jan. 9 in the House chambers at the Colorado Capitol.<\/span>Kathryn Scott\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Democrats fought hard in 2018 to win back a majority in the Colorado Senate. Now, life is threatening to temporarily undo all of their work.<\/p>\n

The party holds a 19-16 advantage in the chamber, but with the possibility of two Democratic senators being simultaneously gone from the Capitol later this month \u2013 one is ill and the other is expecting to have a child in the coming days \u2013 their edge over Republicans would be erased.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because it takes 18 votes to pass any bill out of the Senate, regardless of how many lawmakers are present the day of any given vote. A simple majority won\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

Thus, if both Democrats are gone at the same time, it would take all of the remaining Democratic caucus and one Republican joining them to pass any bill during that span.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat whose wife just delivered their first child, \u201clife gets in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Lois Court, D-Denver, is absent from the Capitol after being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome and not expected to return. She will officially resign from the legislature on Jan. 16, and her replacement is slated to be chosen by a vacancy committee before the end of the month.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, is pregnant and will give birth to her son any day now. Her due date is Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him he can\u2019t come out until Lois Court has a replacement,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

All kidding aside, the absences could present a real problem for Democrats down the road. They plan to wait to debate closely contested bills on the Senate floor, until their majority is restored to full strength.<\/p>\n

Major legislation typically doesn\u2019t reach the chamber\u2019s floor, the lawmaking stage where having a majority is crucial, until later in the legislative term, which ends May 6. But a backlog of bills could begin to build depending on how long they must be held. And Democrats might need every minute of the 2020 session to get their ambitious policies passed.<\/p>\n

With Republicans signaling they plan to use delay tactics in protest of Democratic policies, as they did last year, a backlog could mean a very busy final stretch of the 2020 legislative session.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s manageable,\u201d Fenberg said. \u201cIs it going to be a little more complicated than it was when we always had 19 votes? Sure. But it\u2019s not something that, I think, is going to paralyze us. The process might just have to move a little bit slower for a couple of bills. Most of the bills, we don\u2019t need 19 votes to pass. Many of them are actually bipartisan. It\u2019s not like we have to pause everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, a Parker Republican, acknowledged that the absences could present him with an opportunity. But he suspects it will simply lead to more compromise and not change the trajectory of the legislative session.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a Democrat came over and convinced one of my members to vote for something, then they could get to 18,\u201d Holbert said. \u201cI think that kind of compromise and discussion is what makes this legislature different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pettersen\u2019s pregnancy is also bringing to the fore another issue at the Colorado Capitol: The legislature essentially has no policies that pertain to female lawmakers who give birth during the lawmaking term.<\/p>\n

In part, that\u2019s because it\u2019s never happened before.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t a maternity or paternity leave plan. Lawmakers must vote in person. And children aren\u2019t supposed to be on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

In fact, Pettersen will lose wages \u2013 state senators make $30,000 a year \u2013 for the month she expects to be out on maternity leave. Lawmakers on leave can continue to collect a paycheck only if their absence is due to a chronic illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my first time ever having a baby and going through labor so there are going to be some physical limitations,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to set a month to take care of myself and my baby. But if I end up feeling OK in a few weeks then I can start coming back for floor work and I\u2019ll bring the baby with me \u2013 as long as I get that approved, because we have been told on the Senate floor we can\u2019t bring our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pettersen said she\u2019d like to see changes made to better accommodate women in her position. But those alterations could be very difficult. The mandate that lawmakers vote in person, for instance, is a constitutional one.<\/p>\n

Since Pettersen will be the first lawmaker to give birth during the 120-day legislative session, she jokes that the historic nature of her son\u2019s arrival also makes her the worst planner in Colorado history.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife happens in all workplaces and you have to adjust,\u201d she said. \u201cOurs is unique in its own way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

absences could cause Dems to briefly lose edge in chamber<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[394,15,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-90797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-colorado-state-senate","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90797"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=90797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}