Colorado Senate 2026 Legislative Day 120

Doherty, Exum, Frizzell, Gonzalez, Hendrickson, Hendrickson, Excuse. Judah. Kip. Kirkmeyer. Colker. Linstead. Liston. Marchman. Mullica. Mullica. Belton B. Peltner. Rich. Roberts. Rodriguez. Simpson. Snyder. Sullivan. Wallace. Wallace. Excuse. Weissman. Excuse. Zamora Wilson. Hendrickson.

Colleagues, please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate Journal of Tuesday, May 12, 2026, be approved as corrected by the Secretary.

Aye.

No.

1431 and 1432 correctly enrolled senate bill 135 and 189 majority roger Rodriguez thank you mr. president i move the senate proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege

Thank you, Mr. President. Request a moment of personal privilege.

Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, there are some special guests of mine in the chamber today that would help me welcome to the chamber students from Norwood Public Schools. So these are eighth graders, stars in their class. Stand up, stand up, stand up. And they're here with their teacher, Catherine Colbert, and the secondary principal, Militia Reed. And if you've never been to Norwood, it's worth the six-hour drive to get out there. It's in what's uniquely known as the West End of Colorado. Norwood, Natarita, Nucla, very special place to me. and Ridgeway is not in the West End. But anyway, somebody said that. Welcome to the chamber and enjoy the last day of session and your time here in Denver. Welcome, everybody.

You drove? All right, just checking. The helicopter.

Thank you, Mr. President. I request a moment of personal privilege.

Thank you, Mr. President. I have a tribute today. I think you all know I don't do tributes. Typically, I don't typically do resolutions. but I suppose this will be the last proactive thing that I do here in the Senate and it shouldn't surprise you that it's on behalf of the Southern Ute. And so, Mr. President, I'd like to read the tribute that I prepared.

Thank you, Mr. President. The Senate of the Colorado Legislature convened in the second regular session of the 75th General Assembly hereby acknowledges the service to the state of Colorado by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. In December of 2024, the 40-year-old Enterprise pipeline within the exterior boundaries of the Southern Ute Reservation failed, releasing an estimated 200,000 gallons of gasoline into the surrounding environment. Following this bill, CDPHE failed to address the significant health concerns and threats to the environment within the reservation, while Enterprise dramatically understated the scale of the disaster and engaged in no earnest remediation. Consequently, the tribe launched its own independent investigation. Tribal consultants identified contamination across more than 110 acres of the drinking water aquifer, with the gasoline plume migrating approximately 10 feet per day. Reservation residents have lost access to drinking water wells and, in some cases, their homes, while others remain at risk of contamination due to spread. CDPHE and the Attorney General must fully investigate and address this disaster. The dedication of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe on this issue is deeply appreciated and will not be forgotten. On request of Senator Jesse Danielson, given this 11th day of May, 2026, State Capitol, Denver, Colorado, and signed by James Rashad Coleman, Sr., the President of the Senate. Thank you, folks. the reason that I came with this tribute and I appreciate you allowing me time on our final day of the session is because the state of Colorado hasn given the attention to this disaster that it should the surrounding communities are impacted and Southern Ute as a tribe have taken on the burden of addressing the issue environmentally and for the health of not just their members, but of the surrounding community. It's a real problem. It hasn't been addressed. And I wanted to take the time to urge our government, CDPHE, the governor, to look into this and help solve it because people's lives are on the line once again. And once again, the people of one of our two great nations are being ignored. So I thank you for your time today on this measure, on this tribute. And, Mr. President, I would move that these words of the tribute be spread across the pages of the journal.

Aye.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, colleagues, so much for this tribute and for your support of the measure. It will have the same impact as a resolution if we could have passed one. And I also want to thank you for the work that we've done with and on behalf of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the Ute Mountain Ute, and, of course, the broader Native community during my time in the Senate. And I dearly, sincerely hope that you will pick it up and take it further on my departure. And with that, Mr. President, I just thank the Senate for this tribute.

Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to take a moment to wish my nephews congratulations on their graduation. We couldn't be there, but...

We're going to chalk it up to pregnancy break.

Mr. President, can I have a moment of personal privilege?

Thank you. I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate both of my nephews, Ali and Khalid, for their graduation this year. I couldn't be there, but I wanted to tell both of Haliwali and the Makhalid that they have become thoughtful and principled young men, and they are both compassionate and thoughtful. and see Doncito are beaming with pride from up above. And as is the rest of our family, I'm so excited to see where you will go and what you will do. You're amazing cousins to my children. And again, congratulations, and I'm so incredibly proud of you.

Thank you, Mr. President. May I have a moment of personal privilege?

Hey, doesn't this do it? Ah, yes. So there some people that kind of helped this chamber and this building to do what it does And so I going to start I have two tributes I want to start it off The Senate of the Colorado Legislature convened in the second regular session of the 75th General Assembly hereby extends heartiest congratulations and commendation to the Senate Sergeants at Arms. And I'm not going to pronounce last names because I'd burger them up bad. So we, the General Assembly of the State of Colorado, hereby extend our deepest gratitude and sincere appreciation to the sergeant at arms, Ted, Lee, Jerry, Corey, and Frank, for their exceptional service and unwavering commitment to the Colorado State Capitol. These dedicated professionals exemplify the highest standards of decorum, respect, and integrity. Entrusted with maintaining order within the state capitol, they serve on the front lines of ensuring that the legislative process is conducted safely, respectfully, and without disruption. Their presence provides not only protection but also confidence to line legislators, staff, and visitors alike to carry out the responsibilities in a secure and orderly environment. With professionalism, composure, and a steadfast sense of responsibility, the sergeants at arms uphold the traditions and dignity of this institution each and every day. Their efforts are vital to the function of a free and orderly Senate. We commend and honor their daily service, and we thank them for their continued dedication to the General Assembly and to the people of Colorado. on request of Senator Rod Pelton giving this 11th day, 13th day of May, 2026,

Thank you, Mr. President. May I have another moment of personal privilege?

Thank you. And so this one, these people, men and women, aren't in the chamber right now, but we see them all around the Capitol keeping this place. They're to your right, brother. Awesome. Awesome. So with that, the Senate of the Colorado Legislature convene in the second regular session of the 75th General Assembly, hereby extends warmest, heartiest congratulations and commendations to the custodial staff. We, the General Assembly of the State of Colorado, hereby extend our utmost gratitude and heartfelt appreciation to Kim, April, Tien, Chris, Davina, and Asea, Jessica, for their outstanding service and dedication. The aforementioned embody the very spirit of service by ensuring the excellent upkeep of the esteemed and historic Colorado State Capitol building. Their often behind-the-scenes efforts play a critical role in cultivating a conducive environment for the creation and passage of legislation that affect Coloradans across the state. The staff's professionalism, attention to detail, and kind approach to work reflect their integrity and dedication to all who step foot in the Colorado State Capitol building. We honor the profound daily efforts of the aforementioned staff and thank them for their true commitment to the people of Colorado.

Senator Pelton R. Thank you, Mr. President. And I know there's so many more. We have our staff up here at the front. desk that I did not get a tribute for. We have our maintenance crews that go around this building and keep our offices things hung up, problems fixed, so I'll try to be better in the future if I get reelected, but these people do a great job, and thank you for recognizing them.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. I request that the conference committee on HB 1206 be given permission to go beyond the scope of the differences between the two houses.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate proceed out of order for consideration of House amendments to Senate bills.

Aye.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that Senate Bill 48 be laid over to the end of the calendar.

Senator Hendrickson. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with House amendments on Senate Bill 172.

In the House, we realized that there was a computing error that should have included by the methodology that was used Wheat Ridge in the district, and that was corrected in the House.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 172.

Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with the House amendments to Senate Bill 93.

Thank you, Mr. President. We struck the onus on municipalities that they will no longer be required to verify proof of work and that they will no longer have permissive authority to investigate work comp insurance coverage. And with that, I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the readaption of Senate Bill 93.

Senator Ball. Thank you, Mr. President. I move to concur with the House amendments to Senate Bill 26, 131.

All the House did was make a change to the ledge deck, so no change to the bill.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that SB 26-131 for third reading and final repassage.

Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 165.

So the House added an amendment to make explicitly clear that the funding that's provided in this annual bill does not go to funding the Wolf reintroduction efforts. It never has. It's not intended to, but they just made that explicitly clear in the bill.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 165.

Thank you, and sorry about that one, Mr. Schaffler. We move to concur with the House amendments to Senate Bill 42.

Members, this is a bummer. The House took out all of the HUTF parts of the bill. What that means is that things that I think are legally accountable as damage awards, going to HUTF, won't be handled in the way that I think they could be. But legislating is an ongoing process, so we ask for a yes vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 42 and ask for a yes vote.

Senator Weissman. Thank you, Mr. President. We move to concur with House Amendments 2, SB 115.

Members, they did a few things in the House, mostly sort of restating provisions that were already in the bill. You can only petition once. Exclusions are exclusions. Probably the most substantive thing they added was some explicit reporting on what we learned from the three-year pilot in which petitions might be filed. Happy to have that information to inform future efforts. Ask for a yes vote to concur.

Thank you, Mr. President. we move for the repassage of Senate Bill 115.

Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 15.

Thank you. In the House, the sponsors over there worked closely with some of the members of the House Judiciary Committee to make some changes, which included moving some of the legislative declaration language that was statutory to make it non-statutory, as well as some other minor technical changes, and we appreciate those amendments. Ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 26, 0, 15.

Senator Bridges. Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 133.

So the first amendment cleans up the bill by clarifying an existing LLC can elect to become an artist company rather than converting to become an artist company. It's a small tweak, but convert was not the right process, so we fixed it.

Thank you, Mr. President. The second amendment makes sure that the bill works smoothly with federal tax law, especially for artist companies that are taxed as partnerships.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of Senate Bill. Wow. Don't be alarmed. The last motion for adoption that I'm ever going to make, and this is how it goes. Don't be alarmed. Thanks, everyone.

That's how incredible this bill is. Let's vote on it. The city wants to make sure you're paying attention.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody.

Man, I don't think I completed it. I move the Senate repass. I move for the repass to Senate Bill 133 as amended by the House.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. President Please move Senate Bill 193 to the bottom of the consideration of House Amendment calendar

Aye.

Senator Immobile I move to concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 187 Seeing no further discussion Oh question is why

Because they deleted three words that could have either stayed in there or not been in there. I don't think it really made any difference. But they wanted it, and so we're accepting it.

I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 193.

I'm sorry, 187.

Senate Bill 35 by Senator Roberts and Representative Clifford concerning an increase of traffic violation penalties and in connection therewith making an appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 35.

Thank you. In the House, they adopted two amendments. One, to make explicitly clear that the violation we're talking about is passing on a double yellow line, not other types of passing. and then also lowered the violation for that offense from 8 points to 6 points. And I agree and appreciate the work that went in in the House and ask for an aye vote.

With a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 absence, 0 excuse, that motion is adopted.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 35.

Senators Amora Wilson, Baisley, Sullivan. With a vote of 32 ayes, 3 no, 0 abs, 0 excuse, Senate Bill 35 is repassed. Call sponsors. Senators Carson, Pelton R, Liston, Mr. Schaffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 155. Senate Bill 155 by Senators Mullica and Marchman and Representatives McCluskey and Brown concerning increasing the availability of homeowners insurance in the state and in connection therewith making an appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with the House amendments to Senate Bill 155.

Thank you, Mr. President. Members, they made a number of amendments in the House, some of them around definitions of folks who will be participating on the board from the roofing industry, gave some leeway with some of the dollars. We made a change over here for 90%. They took it down to 85%. WE AGREE WITH THE CHANGES AND I THINK THIS BILL WITH THESE CHANGES HAS A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO LOWER THE COST OF HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE IN THE STATE I WOULD ASK FOR A YES VOTE the changes and I think this bill with these changes has a real opportunity to lower the cost of homeowner insurance in the state We ask for a yes vote Seeing no further discussion

votes? With a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 absent, and 0 excuse, the motion is adopted. Senator Mullica.

passage. Senior for the discussion of motion is the repassage of Senate Bill 155. Are there any

With a vote of

Please read the title of Senate Bill 003

Senator Wallace.

Please tell us why.

Senator for discussion, the motions of the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 3. Are there any no votes?

Senator Wallace.

Seeing no further discussion, the motion is repassed of Senate Bill 3. Are there any no votes?

Mr. Schoffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 2.

Senator Exumon. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that we concur with the House amendments on Senate Bill 2 from the House.

Well, when the bill got to the House, concerns were raised about the updated efficiency standards and new appliances and fixtures sold in Colorado that could take effect earlier this year. Organizations serving low-income households reported they could not source complaint replacement furnaces and water heaters in parts of Colorado because the industry has not yet adapted to the new industry efficiency requirements. The House amendments delays implementation of the updated standards until 2031 to provide additional time for the industry to adjust and bring compliant replacement products to the market. And we ask for an aye vote.

Bill 002. Are there any no votes? With a vote of 35 I 0, no 0, absence 0, excuse, that motion

Bill 002. Are there any no votes? Senators, Mr. Minority Leader, Kirkmeyer, Frizzell, Zamora Wilson Rich Pelton B Bright Carson Pelton R Catlin Liston Baisley With a vote of 23 ayes, 12 no, 0 absence, 0 excuse Senate Bill 002 is repassed Co-sponsors Senator Ramavale, you're already on there. And Cutter's already on there. And Gonzalez is already on there.

Senate Bill 184 by Senators Rodriguez and Ball and Representatives Carter and Mabry concerning benefits for firefighters who contract certain conditions.

Thank you, Madam President. I move that the Senate concur with the House amendments to Senate Bill 26-184.

Thank you. In the House, they made a few changes to the bill. They reduced the list of covered cancers that are covered in the bill. They strengthened the offset language between the trust and workers' compensation. They also added language to ensure that years of service as a state firefighter count towards your eligibility under the cancer presumption law. And lastly, they renamed the bill in honor of Ruben Sims, Jr. Ruben Sims, Jr. was the first black firefighter in the city of Aurora, and he retired and later died from occupational cancer less than 10 years after his retirement. Under this legislation, he and his family would have been covered through the workers' compensation system, and we ask for an aye vote. Thank you. Any further discussion?

with a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 absent, and 0 excused. SB 26184, the motion is adopted.

Thank you, Madam President. I move the repassage of Senate Bill 26184.

Mr. Minority Leader Simpson. Senator Pelton. Senator, oh, sorry, Senator Pelton B. Senator Kirkmeyer. Senator Frizzell. Senator Bright. Senator Zamora Wilson. Senator Carson. Senator Catlin Senator Pelton R Senator Baisley Senator Liston and Senator Rich Any other no votes Okay With a vote of 23 I 12 no zero absent zero excused SB 26 184 is repassed Oh, co-sponsors.

You're on there, Senator.

Senate Bill 152 by Senators Ball and Pelton B. and Representatives Wilford and Barron concerning changes to the usage of automated vehicle identification systems.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that we concur with House Amendments to 152.

Well, there was a couple amendments ran. The first one was liability clarification cleanup from CDOT and CML. The next one was the public notice signage clarification that we took for that amendment from CML. And also the last one was that we actually defined what the Avis definition for flexibility on a mobile unit. So those are the three amendments that were done in the House, and we ask that we concur and ask for an aye vote.

With a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 absence, 0 excuse, that motion is adopted.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the repassage of Senate Bill 26-152.

Senators, Amor Wilson, Baisley, Carson. With a vote of 32 ayes, 3 no, 0 absent, and 0 excuse, Senate Bill 152 is repassed. Co-sponsors, Senators Bridges, Mr. Schaffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 78. Senate Bill 78 by Senators Amabile and Kirkmeyer and Representatives Smith and Taggart. Concerning modifications to certain statutes relating to institutions of higher education and in connection therewith, changing procedures relating to information sharing, data, and capital construction projects, and making an appropriation. Senator Imabile.

Because they put in that we will be able to collect some data at the expense of the institutions,

Seeing no further discussion, the motion is to concur with House

0 no, 0 absence, 0 excuse. That motion is adopted. Senator Kirkmeyer. Thank you, Mr. President. I

The motion is a repassage of Senate Bill 78. Are there any no votes?

Mr. Schaffler, please you the title of Senate Bill 23.

Tell us why.

And seeing the further discussion, the motions that the Senate concurred with House Amendments to Senate Bill 23, are there any no votes? Oh, there is one no vote. Senator Rich.

Senator Kirkmeyer.

Seeing no further discussion, the motion is the repassage of Senate Bill 23. Are there any no votes?

Mr. Schaffler, please read the title of Senate Bill 48.

Senator Hemmingson.

Please tell us why.

Seeing no further discussion, the motion of the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 48. Are there any no votes?

Further discussion on Senate Bill 48. Senator March.

Further discussion. Seeing no further discussion, the motion is to repass the Senate Bill 48.

Mr. Majority Leader.

Seeing no for discussion, the motion is lay over Senate Bill 193 later in the day. All in favor say aye.

Opposed, no.

Senate Bill 193 will lay over until later in the day. Mr. Majority Leader. Third, reading the bills.

Mr. Schaffler, please read all the titles of the bills on the consent calendar.

Mr. Majority Leader.

which is House Bill 1250.

Senator Sullivan.

Senator Sullivan would record as a no vote on House Bill 1250. Senator Lindstedt.

Senator Lindstedt would record as a no vote on House Bill 1250. Further no votes. With a vote of 33 eyes, two notes, zero abs, zero excuse. House bill 1250 is passed. Co-sponsors. Senators, Amabile, Samora Wilson, Frizzell, co-sponsors on 1250. Bridges Kip Henriksen Colker Carson Cosponsors on 1250 Gonzalez

Weissman

Judah

1054? 1054. House Bill 1054 by Rep. Rutnell Velasco and Senator Wallace concerning worker safety protections.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the passage of House Bill 1054 on third reading and final passage.

Thank you, Mr. President. Members, I wanted to take a moment to talk about why we're addressing this bill today. And I thought I would start with a couple of stories of recent incidents that have happened to workers while they were on the job. a dedicated family man working for a major airline was fatally injured while relocating man lifts that rise over 100 feet violating OSHA standards he left behind three children at a sugar manufacturing plant one worker was rendered unconscious by a dangerous gas leak another worker rushed in to save him managed to lift him and attempted to carry him out And that worker fell during the rescue effort and sustained fatal injuries. Two families were devastated that day. In the face of this lack of worker protections, OSHA has been decimated to the point where we only have five inspectors for every one million workers. That's the lowest that we've been in 45 years. I want to just take us back, though, 100 years, because I recently was able to go to the Lafayette History Museum, which I'd never been to in my hometown, never been there, and we had a historian there who detailed and recorded the Columbine Mine Massacre of 1927, which happened the same year as Ludlow, but is frequently overlooked. And what she was telling me about those times 100 years ago is that Colorado had some of the strongest worker protections on the books, but it had neither the will nor the money to implement those, which means we didn't have worker protections. That's the same situation that we are facing 100 years later. We haven't changed it. In fact, it's getting worse. We're decimating the federal level's ability to protect our workers and not after something happens, before something happens. Come and inspect and make sure that they have a reasonably safe workplace. That's what this bill is about. I struggle a lot in this building with trying to grasp and grapple with the history and the weight of the history and the lack of corrections that we've made of our time. Our lack of ability, it seems, sometimes to learn. It's hard when that feels so outside of your lifetime, so outside of all of our lifetimes. It's hard to face that. I don't want to be part of a state that isn't learning these lessons 100 years later, 45 years later, throughout my lifetime. I don't want to do it. I don't want to uphold that state. I want change. And I want to be here for the workers. That's why I came to this building. So with that, I ask for your aye vote for our workers who are no longer getting the protections that they need. Thank you, Mr. President.

Ball. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 26-12-36 on third reading and final passage and ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 26, 1255 on third reading and final passage.

A little. Members, this bill is very incredibly important to my community. I'm going to read just a tiny bit from a letter. Our 14-year-old son endured the unimaginable, a face-to-face encounter with a violent shooter filled with anger and hatred. Our child suffered traumatic gunshot injuries and has remained hospitalized and undergone multiple surgeries since the incident. He asked how this could happen. His mind and messages were clear. The adults responsible for protecting children, that's us, that's all of us, must take real, meaningful action so that no child or family endures this kind of horror in school or anywhere. Members, this is something. This could prevent the harm, could help prevent the harm, before it happened and save lives. and I respectfully ask you to support this family and take action. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, colleagues. I just wanted to commend the sponsors in the House and the Senate for bringing this measure forward. I represent Jefferson County, not Evergreen, but Jefferson County nonetheless, and I'm very close with that community. My sister has raised her kids there. My niece is a student at Evergreen High School, and too many of the people that I know and love now are added to the list of those who have experienced gun violence in a public school. This measure will do something to help address this issue This will protect kids and I am in strong support of the measure and stand in solidarity with Evergreen High School and the House and Senate sponsors

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1223 and ask permission to offer a third

Thank you, Mr. President. This is a technical amendment that we've been working on with a few folks. One, it's going to restore the percentage being allocated to the Housing Development Grant Fund. That was an inadvertent change when we made some amendments to help the restaurants in the Finance Committee. And then we're adding in just clarity that the Department of Revenue may adopt rules necessary to implement the section that we added in after negotiating with the business community, including the Chamber of Commerce, to make things more clear for them. So I ask for your permission.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move L31. Further discussion on the amendment? No.

Senator Ball. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 26-12-23 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Cutter. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1272 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Marchman. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1141 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Cutter. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1424 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1426 on third reading and ask permission to offer a third reading amendment.

The heck? So I've been in the little bit of the middle. I have been in the House sponsors in the middle of a little bit of a discussion that's happened between our governor and our attorney general about this bill and tried to find a compromise, and I think we found it. So that's why I would like to offer a technical amendment on third reading.

Chair Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President. I move L-14.

So this amendment would make some changes to Section 1 of the bill, which is around the ability for the Attorney General to offer an executive session briefing to the Joint Budget Committee to discuss litigation costs and other matters. We're changing it to strike out the discussion about potential legislation and potential litigation to just basically enact status quo into statute, which is discussion about ongoing litigation.

Senator Kirkmeyer.

Senator Zamora Wilson, are there any further no votes?

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1426 as amended on third reading and ask for an aye vote.

Senator Ball. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 26, 1325 on third reading and final

concerning transfers from the Universal High School Scholarship Cash Fund. Senator Carson. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 26-14-16 on third and final passage and ask for a favorable vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. Small businesses are the backbone of Colorado's economy. They create jobs. They provide the services and products we need. innovate and pay the taxes, and I'm proud to be a co-sponsor of this legislation to support the small business development centers in our state as they're coaching and supporting our small businesses.

Senator Frizzell. Thank you, Madam President. I move House Bill 261422 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Doherty. I move House Bill 1425 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Cutter. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1433 on third reading and final passage.

Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1418 on third reading and ask for an aye vote.

House Bill 1335 by Representatives Garcia and Wynn and Senators Wallace and Bridges concerning access to abortion medication services in Colorado College campuses.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the third reading and final passage of House Bill 26, 1335.

Senators, Mr. Minority Leader, Rich, Zamora Wilson, Frizzell, Kirkmeyer, Liston, Baisley, Pelton R., Catlin, Carson, Bright, Pelton B., With a vote of 23 ayes, 12 no, zero absolute excuse, House Bill 1335 is passed. co-sponsors, Senators Amabile, Danielson, Gonzalez, Marchman, Cutter, Kip, Weissman, Benavidez, Lindstadt, Colker, Sullivan, Ball, Henriksen. Please add Senator Mullica. Please add the President.

House Bill 1309 by Representatives Verola Consori and Senator Wallace concerning measures related to forms of abuse in cases regarding a separation of a relationship.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 26-1309 on third reading and final passage and ask for an aye vote.

Senators, Mr. Minority Leader, Kirkmeyer, Frizzell, Samora Wilson, Rich, Pelton B, Bright, Carson, Pelton R, Catlin, Liston, Baisley. With a vote of 23 eyes, 12 no, zero absolute excuse. House Bill 1309 is passed. Co Senators Amabile Lindstedt Co on 1309 Marchman Cutter Kip please add the President, and Senator Exum.

House Bill 1430 by Representatives Basenicker and Sirota and Senators Lindstedt and Amabile concerning adjustments to transportation funding.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1430 on third reading and final passage and ask for permission to run a third reading amendment.

Thank you, Mr. President. This amendment is actually a showing of good faith to the proponents of Initiative 175. What this amendment does is create a new enterprise that can be used to help pursue their goals in getting more funding for road construction that I think we all support. And it will hold our local governments harmless with this new money. And hopefully this new enterprise could be a vehicle for future discussions as they move forward. on 1430 so that we can find a sustainable solution to funding improvements in our transportation system. So it's a showing of good faith to them. They support this amendment, and I would ask for permission and an aye vote.

Yeah, I'll just say that it is a showing of good faith, and it is also good policy, because I know that a lot of people are hearing that our roads are in need of repair. And so it does both. It's an excellent addition to this bill. And I ask for a yes vote.

Thank you, Mr. President. And there is one technical change to the appointments in the working group that had to be made as well in this amendment that I forgot to mention.

Aye.

Amendment L14. Amendment revised Bill page 3 after line 20.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move L14.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Can you tell us how much money is driven by the fee that is paid by the longer vehicle combination rules and the permit fees of excess size and weight for manufactured homes? Because those are the fees that are going into your new enterprise, correct? So can you tell us what, I don't know, the fiscal note is on this?

Thank you, Mr. President. So there's, the bill doesn't have a, there is no additional revenue, just like there's no additional revenue in the ballot measure. And it's 7.5 million per year for the first purpose, and then a 5 million transfer from the fuels impact enterprise fund. So there's no new general fund. but there is designating and we are putting a fee and so there will be more money going to transportation. You know, I think I misspoke. There is new money because we are really in an enterprise, but there's no TABOR impact.

Thank you, Mr. President. Again, I'd like to know what the fee amount would be on. So I'm reading in Section 14. Maybe I should guess it.

Thank you, Mr. President. We are, yeah, discussions are ongoing. I withdraw this motion momentarily.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to layover House Bill 1430 to the bottom of the calendar.

Bridges and Kirk fire out.

House Bill 1429 by Representatives Brown and Sirota and Senators Bridges and Kirkmeyer

and in connection therewith making and reducing inappropriations.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the passage on third and final reading for House Bill 26-1429. I ask for an aye vote.

Zamora Wilson. Baisley. Ann Carson is a no on 1429. With a vote of 32 ayes, 3 noes, 0 abs, 0 excuse. House bill 1429 is passed. Co-sponsors on 1429. Senators Kip, Gonzalez. Amabile. Cutter. Co-sponsors on 1429. Marchman. You're welcome. Please add the president. This is co-sponsors on 1429. Senator Judah. and Mr. Minority Leader, and Senator Exum.

House Bill 1289 by Representatives Garcia and Brown and Senator Weissman concerning modification of certain tax expenditures and in connection therewith, making and reducing an appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to lay over House Bill 1289 to later in the day.

Aye.

Mr. President, the House is passed on third reading and returns herewith. Senate Bill 170, Senate Bill 72, Senate Bill 190, and Senate Bill 185. The House is passed on third reading and transmitted to the Revisor's Statute. Senate Bill 125, Senate Bill 169, and Senate Bill 80, amended as printed in House Journal May 12, 2026. The House is voted not to concur in Senate amendments and to adhere to its position on House Bill 1274. The bill is returned herewith.

We hear with transmit without comment as amended, Senate Bill 80, 125, and 169. Without comment as amended, Senate Bill 80, 125, and 169. Senate Bill 205.

Thank you, Madam President. I move a call to the Senate.

Senators, Amabile. Baisley. Ball. Benavidez? Bridges? Bright Now here Catlin Bright Carson Catlin. Cutter. Danielson. Doherty. Exum. Frizzell. Gonzalez. Henrickson. Judah. Kip. Kirkmeyer. Kolker. Linstead. Liston. Marchman. Mullica. Pelton B. Pelton R. Rich. Roberts. Roberts Rodriguez Simpson Snyder Sullivan Wallace Weissman. Zamora Wilson. Amabile. Bridges. Carson. Catlin. Exum. Frizzell. Liston.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the call be raised.

Mr Majority Leader Thank you Mr President I move the Senate proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege The motion is proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege All in favor say aye Aye Opposed note The ayes have it and that motion is adopted

Thank you today, members. We honor another colleague of us who will be departing. We will be honoring Senator Henriksen, the senator from Pueblo, depending on who you ask, to join us here at the well so we can present you with your crystal, a flag phone in your honor, and your tribute. Colleagues, I've had the honor of serving with Nick for a few years while he's been with us in the legislature for his first four years, and this is my last year or two as him as my colleague as the Senate whip, and I had got to work with the previous whip, and the work that needs to be done to wrangle up you guys is a worthy, worthy job to do. And as anybody knows who's been the whip, you don't know who's telling you the truth, who's not telling you the truth, and who you have to read. But in my tenure here at this, and for me and the president, you know, being able to know where our votes are and stuff has been, Senator Hendrickson has been invaluable to us to know that strategy, how to get the votes done, how we have to maneuver, knows where the things are going to have, comes and tells me if the bill's going to have a problem. And I can't thank you enough. And it's been an honor serving with you. while I'm in my eighth year and you're in your fourth and watching you grow as a bill sponsor on policies that you really, really fought for and maybe argued with other members with at the well and figure out how to navigate policy and watch you lose your mind as you're passionate about parking spaces. But, you know, that's what I love about all of the colleagues we serve with. I may not always agree with you on policy, but I respect your passion for the policy that you work on. But I just want to thank you for your service to the state, the service you've done to Pueblo. You've been a huge resource to me in transportation spaces and stuff that I've not really delved into, and I'll save that for Senator Cutter. But I just want to thank you for your service. You've been entertaining. I wish more people got to talk to you more one-on-one or could understand the humor that you bring to things more in text threads than you bring to us at the well. But, you know, we're all going to miss you, and I want to thank you for the time you've done with me and the work you've done, making me in the president's shop so much more easier, letting us know how things are moving on the floor, what's coming, what you hear, and holding the trust of your members as they give you the count when you need to. So I'm just going to start that off and then let the roast begin, But I just want to thank you for your service, and, you know, I wish you all the best.

Thank you, Mr. President. I asked for a moment of personal privilege.

I wanted to make sure. It happened yesterday, too. I just want to say thank you, Senator Hendrickson, for being our colleague here for the last four years. I remember when you first came in. I just really tried to understand where you're coming from. One thing that I think I could say that we kind of all probably agree on is that you march to the beat of your own drum. You aren't afraid to rock the boat, so to speak, and give your very detailed, very thought-out opinion, whether it's supporting or opposing bills. I've been always impressed with the vocabulary you bring and the analogies that you bring when discussing a bill. Too bad that I think, you know, your hockey affiliations came from another state, but I think they've come back here and appreciate you, appreciate your humor, appreciate when I went down to knock doors for you in your re-election, the majority leader and I came down, to really understand your understanding of your district. You're always thinking about your district. It seems like you're so tied in to the pulse. and that's what I was able to gather, not only just being here but firsthand. I may disagree with you on the motorcycle issues that you bring up, but I appreciate your passion for them and your passion for all those in your district. So I just want to say thank you for being my colleague, our colleague. Thank you for making me think every time you speak. and definitely going to miss you here.

Thank you, Mr. President. And, you know, colleagues, I've had the opportunity to get to know Senator Hendrickson over the last several years, first when I was in the House, in the House, but mostly once I moved over here to the Senate and as my next-door neighbor, most of the session on the floor and in my office, you know, Nick, Senator Hendrickson, is always going to do what he believes is right. And I think that's an incredibly important attribute to have in a legislator, right? We should all be here fighting the good fight as Senator Henrixton does. It's important. I mean, we should all have a reason to be here. and I really believe that Senator Henriksen does. And I just have to say also that he is a very cool whip. Anybody get it? Okay, thank you. I had to go there. I mean, he goes around every time and he goes, okay, can I count you on this? And I'm like, wait, what was that again? And he's like, oh, yeah, that's what that one was. Okay, thank you for helping me remember what that number means in this context and, you know, just really appreciate everything he brings to it. And he brings a lot of passion around the whole motorcycle area, which I love hearing about. I don't know, is the motorcycle currently working? Is that on the parking lot? Okay, it's out in the parking lot. It's good to know. Because, you know, we have a good diversity of legislators here, and I really going to miss not having Nick as a seat neighbor and an office neighbor next year So we going to miss you

Thank you, Mr. President. I request a moment of personal privilege. Granted.

for always yelling at me when we disagreed. So I sincerely accept that apology. Thank you for that. Thank you for being the bigger person and, you know, apologizing. And I just also want to say that, you know, I worked really hard to, you know, instill all of my knowledge on transportation to you. And worked really hard over our time together in this body to instill that. Specifically, you know, on parking requirements and making sure we have guardrails. Lots of guardrails. Yeah, so really just want to, you know, say that I enjoyed, you know, trying to instill all that knowledge on you. and appreciate you taking it all in and, you know, really focusing on those guardrails. Did I say guardrails? The guardrails. And so, in all sincerity, though, really respect the fact that you have always done what you believe and voted that way and voted your district and have enjoyed serving with you and wish you nothing but the best. So, thank you.

Mr. President, do we have to ask for a moment? I just don't know how this whole thing works.

I never asked. I never asked. Senator, you are responsible for the bill that I most frequently regret voting for as I am driving down the highway. at more than 15 miles an hour, mind you, and motorcycles are whizzing by me on either side. I know that it's safer and all that, and I appreciate that, but man, every time, I regret that. So the constant, I will never forget you as long as I live in this state. Because there will always be those motorcycles whizzing by. You fought me for years on moving the State Fair to where it truly belongs, Arapahoe County. And when you first got to the show, so one thing that the Senator and I have in common is we both lived in Pueblo. He's lived there clearly much longer than I have. And I know Pueblo just enough to know that being involved in politics in Pueblo, whatever side of the aisle you're on, is a contact sport. And pleasing everyone, being a popular legislator or elected official or really even surviving in politics in Pueblo is an extraordinarily difficult road to walk. and I think the reason that you have been so successful in addition to the mentorship that I provided you during your first year in the senate which clearly helped is that you are always so clear on exactly what your values are and why you're voting the way that you are from the bills you carry which are sometimes totally crazy they come from a place of deep commitment to your community and what is what is right and what is just and i think that you come across sometimes um i i think that the depth of i come to discover over the course of your time here the depth of feeling that you have And you have a stoic outside but you like bread You're very hard on the outside and just soft and doughy on the inside. You just feel so deeply. You care so much. You clearly love Pueblo. You have always decided to put family first. That is why you will be incredibly successful in life. That's why you've been successful here, and I'm going to miss having you on this floor, buddy.

Thank you, Mr. President. May I have a moment of personal privilege?

Thank you. So, Nick, when I started, we sat right next to each other, and I had so much fun visiting with you. You always made me laugh, and you also helped me a lot with voting. And that's why it's really great that you ended up being the whip, because that continued. One of our first big things we did together was right-to-repair ag equipment. and I pulled out some chart and start talking and the dealers were kind of ugly to me and they didn't like what we were doing. The policy wasn't personal, but it was my first tough hearing and I cried and I don't know if you remember, I was sobbing, Nick, and you were so kind. You stood physically in between me and the dealers. the chair took a five and I got myself together and we finished that up and it was a late night but it was the kindest thing that someone I'm not related to has done for me because I was in a um I was in a really bad spot right then and and you were there um and that passion your values of goodness and compassion really direct your life. And I think Noel is really lucky to have a dad like you, to have you as a dad. He's going to have so much fun and so will you in these teenage years. And one day I will finally figure out what lane splitting versus lane filtering is. And I appreciate you so much, Nick, and I'm going to miss you a lot.

Thank you, Madam President. I don't know half the things I've been trying to think of all the great things I want to say about Nick. You have been an unexpected treasure. I knew you as my friend and colleague's husband, but I've come to really value you as my friend. You're such a great representative for your community, and Pueblo has been really, really lucky to have you. I know you center those things, and I know there's been some really tough times for you in community, and you take it to heart because I know you care so deeply about the people you serve. We've disagreed, and sometimes on policy, which is so funny because, you know, I value you so much and sometimes we're on complete opposite sides. But you always stand by your value and you stand by your words and you're straight with me. And I can tell you how much I value that that you always honest with me and we can have some good conversations I appreciate your humor your intelligence your thoughtfulness your commitment to your family And I really always want you on my side if there's a fight. Although we're not going to have any more of those, presumably, together from here. But I'm really going to miss you. And I can't wait to connect about all the good things you're going to do.

This is James. Thank you, Madam President. I request a moment of personal privilege.

It's all good. It's all good. Dance hands. Senator Henriksen, you know, I really appreciate all the time we've had to be able to do work together in this building. But the thing that I loved the most was going to the beer barrel in Pueblo and enjoying a slopper. My son and I had never had one of those. We had a chance to go and spend time with Senator Henriksen and Noel and enjoy a local delicatessen delight. And it was really amazing. And just spending time with you, man, we appreciate getting to know you. another thing that I wish everybody could have seen is going to the state fair and going to a ludicrous concert hip hop artist if you don't know who that is and watching Nick dance to songs we grew up to in high school I won't show you a rendition of those moves that Nick was popping off but I was like wow I don't dance as bad as I'm just playing with you. No, but just having a good time with you, man. It's been said, you know, the measure of who you are is defined in so many ways. I think a lot of times we forget in this building the people who actually have served in the armed forces prior to serving in these capacities. and the fact that you put your life on the line, the fact that not only are you defined as that work, but you're defined as an amazing family man, you're also defined as an amazing father. And to have children the same age gives me somebody that I can go to and say, why is it that our children wait until we get all the way to school to tell us they forgot their backpacks? Then we talk about what we want to do to them because of that, and we're late. I understand if you text me and say, hey, man, I'm late. I get it because Naomi forgot her glasses or James forgot his cell phone. But to see Noel thrive in the way that he is in high school, growing and learning, again, is a testament to who you are. And while I appreciate you might be from Detroit, and usually it's Detroit versus everybody, being alongside you, you make it feel like it's us versus everybody. trying to figure out a way to get good things done for the people of Colorado. So we appreciate you, man. Thank you so much. And please call my wife and encourage her that a motorcycle is safe and that I should be able to ride one at some point in my life. I'm a grown man. I'm a grown man. Barb, you didn't see that. Thank you. But yeah, thank you so much, brother. We love you. Appreciate all the work you've done. It's good that you're getting permission from your wife.

Thank you. Madam President, I request a moment of personal privilege.

And by the way, if anybody forgets like I did earlier, I've got a credit going and I'll put in some extra. So if you mess it up, I'll just chip in for your fine. But Senadora Gonzalez. Thank you, Madam President. So you all know this about me, that my family, so much of my family is from southern Colorado and many of my family members now live in Pueblo. And so when I first watched when I first learned about you was following Presidentes appointment to serve under the Biden administration and I followed the vacancy committee that, was that 2022 that that happened? Wow. And I was like, who is this Nick person? Who is this Nick person? And the way that you had done the work, even within that room and in that vacancy committee, I remember watching it online and being like, okay, I need to learn more about this Nick person. And I remember thereafter working alongside you, fighting, and also fighting with you and fighting alongside you. there are times where I would have to stop and think and reflect and then come back because the care and the intention that you put into your rationale as to why you hold whatever policy position that you hold. It is never just... I don't know. Who says that on the outside? No, that's never been you. The care that you put into this work when it is so easy to not. It matters so deeply. It is rarer than it should be. Thank you for it. Because I have had, in those moments when we have found each other, one another, on opposite sides of a policy, You are one of the rare people who has been a worthy adversary. And it makes it so much more joyous to thereafter be able to know that when we on the same side that we may come from different perspectives to that work Find the point of common agreement and move forward united and be stronger for it and craft stronger policy because of it. That then helps the folks who will never know our names the folks who will never remember who is this Nick person, who is this Gonzalez person, but whose lives will be improved because of it. Thank you for that. I also want to say that seeing the way that you show up, and the light that Noel brings to your life, this building can be hard. This building can be exhausting, draining, extractive. And when you talk about your son, your light shines. Thank you for what you have done to fight for Pueblo. Thank you for what you have done to fight for nuance, precision, your values. it has been a joy to fight alongside you and when I've knocked doors for you in the general election I knocked my cousin's door and that was it was a fascinating conversation that he and I ended up having. And who you are shown through to him, to me, to this chamber, and to your community. Thank you for it. I'm going to miss you in this work, but I won't miss you. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President. Request a moment of personal privilege.

Thank you, Madam President. I can't believe we missed two full years of referring to Nick as the cool whip. Mr Coolwhip I can believe that we let that two years pass So Mr Coolwhip it been our lives our legislative careers have been intertwined as Pueblo has been part of my entire life history I either coached or played at every school in Pueblo Pueblo County Pueblo East Pueblo West Pueblo South Pueblo Central and Pueblo Centennial I think I got them all. So there's just a natural connectivity about your passion for Pueblo and your community and a shared passion that I've had because it's been part of my entire life. When I was elected, actually in 2020, my Senate district included half of Pueblo County, or the rural part of Pueblo County. So, again, we're just kind of interconnected. I'll never forget when you won your vacancy and you came to the Senate. I wasn't sure I was going to say this, but I'll characterize it. The majority leader didn't know, where are we going to put Nick? they created a seat in the Ag and Natural Resources Committee, which then afforded an opportunity for me to sit in Ag and Natural Resources because it was a 3-2 committee. So thank you very much for willing to serve on the Ag and Natural Resources Committee because I couldn't unseat Sonnenberg or Don Corum, so creating another seat gave me an opportunity to serve on the committee I was most passionate about. We have other shared interests. I know we've talked about there are not a lot of folks in the chamber that are passionate about racing. Senator Cool Whip is more NASCAR driven and I'm more hot rod NHRA, but through passion and interest in four-wheeled vehicles, they go really fast. I also ride a bike. So like others, think about Senator Cool Whip regularly when lane splitting is happening that's not being conducted like it was intended to be conducted. And then also share, I guess, forever. Senator Coolwip and I were in Transportation Committee last night and PI'd a bill, so we were kind of together at the very end of a bill we were together on. So I have such respect for you and, again, your passion for Pueblo and Pueblo County. will forever be intertwined in that space. I know you advocate relentlessly for the good of the community and really for the good of the state. And I think every time I go through Pueblo or I have dinner at Brews Alehouse down on the Riverwalk, I'll think of Senator Coolwhip while I'm there. I greatly appreciate your service. It's been an honor to serve with you.

Madam President, may I have a moment of personal privilege?

I'm going to show, I'm going to save the video of the first part of this. I'm going to show it to my son because at least ten times a day I'll tell him a dad joke and I always get to, There's a moment of processing at first, and then he'll get it. Oh, you're so not cool, Dad. And so thank you for giving me the opportunity to have this, to say, look, my son. Thank you all. Sincerely, thank you. The bike is in the parking lot right over here right now. I'm sure we're going to have time in other, as we wait for other house amendments or you know cohaz and what have you So if anybody wants to learn what proper lane filtering is I actually added the passenger seat and pillion pegs last week. So hop on, hold on, happy to take you for a ride. Kyle, yes, absolutely, you can get first dibs. So that's an option available for us today. I have the rare vantage point of having experienced public office as the elected official and the spouse of an elected official. The demands of this service can be hard. I can tell you firsthand they are harder on family than they are on us. I can also say that in both roles, the expectations, the demands, the critiques, they are more unforgiving of women than they are of men. There is no way I could have possibly done this without the support of my family. So to mom and dad, Manny, Kate, Carl, but especially to Bree and Noel, thank you. To run for office and to effectively run an office requires intelligence, requires patience, requires astute diplomacy. That's why we have aides and campaign managers. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Garrett, Luke, and Matt as well. these things have always felt a little weird to me like we call them living eulogies and look we do need to come up with something else and I realize that life doesn't end on my timeline but I do hope I still have some time left in any case I do know that there is life outside the General Assembly THAT'S TRUE NOW, THAT'S TRUE AFTER OUR TIME IN OFFICE HAS COME TO A CLOSE. THERE ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN THE BLACK BADGE AND THE ACCOMPANING TITLE. I AM PARTICULARLY GRATEFUL TO HAVE THE TITLE OF DAD, AND THAT DOESN'T COME WITH AN EXPIRATION DATE. WHEN I WON MY VACANCY COMMITTEE BACK IN 2022, I WAS TOLD BY A WISE CONSULTANT THAT THE LEGISLATURE WAS LIKE HOLLYWOOD, WITHOUT THE MOVIE STARLOOKS. It was fairly tongue-in-cheek observation that has, unfortunately, become a little more accurate in my time here. There's a lot of serious work that is done here, and I know without a doubt that most members of this General Assembly come here to do that work and serve their communities. There has been, however, a nationwide trend that chips away at that tradition. Increasingly, we have seen characters who wield elected positions to gain status as influencers rather than to govern. This may be more true in other legislative bodies, see Congress, but we are not immune to it. And we have seen that mentality creep into the work that we do here under the gold dough. A second point of wisdom I learned in my time in office, the former minority leader would often remind this body in debates that politics flows downstream of culture, not the other way around. That is a key observation. And it is true. And we have the incredible privilege of being in a place where we do not always have to swim with the current. Indeed, leadership is predicated on the ability and willingness not to swim with the current if necessary. We are at a dangerous juncture in our nation's history. Powerful forces seek to divide Americans against one another. They do so by sowing fear, anger, and misinformation, all of which is algorithmically amplified and fed to us under the guise of news, journalism, and journalists, issued for content and personalities. The purpose is to keep us hooked rather than to keep us informed. Freedom House, a think tank that tracks the rise and fall of political and civil liberties around the world, scored the U.S. at 81 this year, the lowest in 55 years of their evaluations. 20 years ago, our score was 94, placed just ninth in the world. Today, our score is no longer in the top 40. In fact, we're ninth in the Americas. Freedom House attributes this decline to the erosion of the independent judiciary, attacks on our systems of free and fair elections, the increase of unrestrained surveillance, diminished accountability of money and campaigns, the concentration of media ownership and rising political violence. This is the record of politics of division. I'm reminded of the wisdom of Bruce Springsteen, who sang that fear is a dangerous thing. It'll take a heart that you can trust, take a God-filled soul, and turn it to devils and dust. To my colleagues, we must restore a standard of civility with those we disagree with, though not for the sake of civility itself, at the expense of our other core values. Rather, we must hold the virtues of transparency and honesty and vociferously reject the politics of fear and disinformation. If and when we can restore a politics rooted in facts and acted upon in public view, if and when we can restore a politics of shared aspirations, civility will flow naturally. To my fellow Coloradans, human life is hollow if it is lived online or in echo chambers. The same is true of our politics. the coffee shop, the diner, the microbrewery, the dog park. These are sacred spaces that we should take our human interactions and our political interactions to. It's easy to be tough and angry with an anonymous Twitter account or when it's fed to you by a caricature on a screen. It's not so easy to be tough when the person is next to you. More importantly, you shouldn't want to be. Often during my time here, I've thought of the wisdom extolled upon me by former Representative Rob Witwer, that the power of an elected official is inversely correlated to the weight that they place on the next election. I don't know that anyone in our state's history exemplified this better than Governor Ralph Carr. And look, y'all, it hasn't escaped me that I'm using my final moments of personal privilege to shower praise on multiple Republicans. Carr is near universally loved in this state We remember him for his unwavering convictions in the face of Japanese internment camps More easier forgotten is that Carr was once considered a presidential contender His moral convictions cost him that opportunity, and they cost him the governor's mansion, ultimately. And yet we remember him perhaps most fondly among those who have ever served in this building. Forced to choose between a title and his principles, Carr chose his principles. He was a better man than the title of governor allowed for, and over 80 years later, we are still a better state because of it. In 11th grade, Ms. Bronstein, my government teacher, would ask the class if the ability to freely engage in civic affairs was a privilege, a right, or a duty. It was partly a trick question. I mean, obviously, the answer is all three. Voting, petitioning, protesting. these are inherently American rights. And in a world where such rights are far too uncommon, the enjoyment of them is indeed a privilege. But Ms. Bronstein would not let you answer all of the above. That wasn't acceptable. The correct answer was duty. Because only if Americans, generation after generation, are willing to do the duty of governments and to fulfill that duty, will the right of doing so, will the privilege of doing so endure? Colleagues, please remember that we have an extraordinary duty and that we are in troubled times. Please take up your duty with reverence and courage. Being here is a privilege. Enjoy it. Take it in, like literally. take pause sometimes and take it in. But don't ever give more weight to the privilege of being here than the duty that comes with being here. The rights of the next generation of Coloradans depend on it. And at the end of that duty, eulogies aside, there is life on the other side. I'll be rooting for you and I'll be praying for you. Thank you, Mr. President.

Senator O5. Senator O5. Madam. Thank you. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to call the Senate.

Senators Amabile, Bazley, Ball, Benavidez, Benavidez, Bridges, Bright, Carson. Catlin. Cutter. Danielson. Doherty. Doherty. Exum. Frizzell. Gonzalez. Henrickson. Judah. Kip. Kirkmeyer. Kolker. Linstead. Liston. Marchman. Mullica. Pelton B. Pelnar. Rich. Roberts. Rodriguez. Simpson. Snyder. Sullivan. Wallace. Weissman. Zamora Wilson. Carson. Catlin. Danielson. Frizzell. Listed.

Mr. Choffer. Liston.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the call be raised.

Aye.

Are we in 1289?

House Bill 1289 by Representatives Garcia and Brown and Senator Weissman concerning modification of certain tax expenditures and in connection therewith making and reducing an appropriation.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 1289 on third reading, and I ask for permission to offer a third reading amendment.

Members, I'm actually going to ask for permission twice, but the first one is to make a change to the volumetric adjustment in the fuel excise tax part of the bill that we spoke about a little bit last night. the amendment instead of reducing from 2% to 1 would reduce from 2% to 1.5. I'll say just a tiny bit more about the why in a moment. Ask for permission.

Aye.

You got it.

Seeing for discussion, the motion is the adoption of L-81. Are there any no votes? With a vote of 35-I-0-0-0, absent or excused, L-81 is adopted. Senator Weissman.

The motion is permission to offer a third reading amendment. All those in favor, please tell us why again.

Signal for discussion in motion is Senator Weissman's request for permission to offer third amendment. All in favor say aye.

Opposed no. The ayes have it and permission is granted. Mr. Schaffer, please read L82.

Senator Weissman.

Further discussion on L82? Seeing no further discussion, the motions, the adoption of L82. Are there any no votes? With a vote of 35 ayes, 0 no, 0 absent, 0 excuse, L82 is adopted. Senator Weissman.

Further discussion? Seeing no further discussion, the motion is the passage of House Bill 1289 as amended. Are there any no votes?

Very good With a vote of Senator Marchman is in no vote as well With a vote of 22 eyes 13 no zero absolute excuse House Bill 1289 is passed Co Senators Kip

Please add the president.

Technically we are still in the co-sponsor phase, or are we not? We took a Senatorial 5. Do you want to go back? Let's go back. Let's add Senator Gonzales as a co-sponsor on 1289. Committee report. Oh, message from the House. What committee? The House is voted to concur in the Senate amendments to House Bill 1363, House Bill 1033, House Bill 1065, House Bill 1102, House Bill 1306, House Bill 1315, House Bill 1324, and House Bill 1326, and has repassed the bills as so amended.

Mr. Majority Leader. Announcements. Senator Lindstedt.

At 2 o'clock. Excellent. Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. Pursuant to Senate Rule 21C, I move the Senate grant leave to the Conference Committee on House Bill 1206. Meet while the Senate is in session. The motion is to leave, grant leave for the Conference Committee, and y'all heard what he said. All those in favor say aye.

Opposed no. The ayes have it, and that motion is adopted. And Mr. Majority Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. I move the Senate to proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege. The motion to proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege, all those in favor say aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it once again. And whoever said no, that's just unfortunate. And that motion is adopted. We'll proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege. Mr. Majority Leader.

Madam President Pro Tem.

Senator Henriksen.

Granted.

It's honor the excellency Mr. President James Coleman. That's why the mic cut itself off when you said that. Just James.

Granted.

Mr. Majority.

Senator Kolker.

senator pelton b thank you madam president i asked for a moment of personal privilege

Okay Senator Marchman

Mr. Minority Leader Simpson.

Granted.

And Mr. Majority Leader Rodriguez.

now Mr. Majority Leader

Thank you, Senator Kerr, a good senator from Jefferson County. Colleagues, we're going to take a quick Senator 5, get a little recess. I think we can do a few bills, but we've got to take a little pause. We don't have much left to do. I can check in what bills we have to do from the other chamber. So just a little quick break. Don't go too, too far. Make me do a call to the Senate. But we're getting to the end. We have a couple more living eulogies to do, and then we can – I think the president has a large rubber band ball to drop today. So, senatorial five. Senatorial five.

Back in the game.

No, come on. First report of the first conference committee on House Bill 1206.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. . . Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move a call to the Senate.

Senators Amabile, Baisley, Ball, Benavidez, Bridges, Bright, Carson, Catlin. Cutter. Danielson. Doherty. Exum. Frizzell. Frizzell. Gonzalez. Hendrickson. Judah. Kip. Kirkmeyer. Kolker. Linstead. Liston. Marchman. Mullica. Pelton Beat. Pelton R. Rich. Rich. Roberts. Here. Rodriguez. Here. Simpson. Here. Snyder. Sullivan. Wallace Weissman Zamora Wilson Bridges. Cutter. Cutter. Danielson. Hendrickson. Colker. Marchman. Wallace. Bridges. Danielson. She was here.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the call be raised.

Aye.

Senate Bill 193 by Senators Amabile and Kirkbein Represents Brown and Taggart Concerning local ordinances impacts on state employees Senator Amabile Thank you, Mr. President I move that the Senate reject the House amendments to Senate Bill 193 And that a conference committee be appointed

Because there were a couple of things that the bill changed in a couple of ways that make it cost us the state a lot more money. And having sat on the Joint Budget Committee, both of us, and made massive cuts to things we all really care about, I'm concerned that we have now driven up the cost of that bill in a fairly substantial way. That's why.

I don't have to do that yet.

Senator Kirkmeyer

Aye

Concerning the non-substantive revision of the Colorado Revised Statutes as amended and in connection therewith, amending or repealing obsolete, imperfect, and unoperative law to preserve the legislative intent, affect the meaning of the law. Senator Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 169.

All right, this is the revisor's bill, so very exciting stuff. But they added one amendment in the House to reflect changes that were made by House Bill 1007 that was passed earlier this session. Further discussion?

Senator Sullivan.

With?

Senator Carson.

Senator Carson.

I move for the repassage of Senate Bill 169 and ask for a favorable vote.

No sponsors.

Senate Bill 80 by Senators Coleman and Simpson, Representative Lukens in English, concerning creating the Cradle to Career Grant Program.

Please tell us why.

Senior for discussion, the motion is that the Senate concur.

Thank you very much, Mr. Majority Leader. Senior for discussion, the motion is going to concur with the House of Memes on Senate Bill 80. Are there any no votes?

Concurrence.

Mr. Minority Leader. Thank you, Mr. President. Again, the Dream Team asks for your support and move for the repassage of Senate Bill 26080.

Aye.

Thank you. Thank you.

Happens every day, almost every minute that we are on these floors and when we're in committee. Happens every day. They shouldn't have the later to create the grant programs and then later have the ability to receive dollars from their nonprofit and get paid from the grant. That should not be happening. At best, it's an ethical issue. At worst, it's a huge conflict and jeopardizes the integrity of the office that we hold and this chamber. I ask you to vote no, to vote no on receding and agreeing to strip off this amendment. Ask for a no vote.

Amabile Lindstedt with a vote of 18 I 17 0 0 absent and 0

Thanks, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of 1274.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move for the repassage of House Bill 26-1274.

Thank you, Mr. President. Move House Joint Resolution 1031.

Thank you, Mr. President. So the Executive Committee puts this joint resolution together and decides when the start date is for the 2027 session. And there are some, you can't start before the second Wednesday of the January, and you need to start before swearing in of the governor. So next year creates a little bit of an oddity about picking the dates, and we're pretty limited. You could start Wednesday. we're starting on Monday the 11th. So you had the 11th on Monday, 10, 9, 8 on Friday, 7 on Thursday, or the 6th on Wednesday. I kept advocating I wanted to start on the earliest possible date on the 6th or at the very least start on a Friday because if you start on a Friday you end on a Friday So we going to start next year on a Monday which means we end on a Monday next year So if we going to work through the whole calendar next year rest assured you probably here on Saturday and Sunday. More than likely, I can't say that for positive. So I voted against the resolution in committee advocating for, and there are consequences in all those scenarios, which one you want to pick. If you pick a Friday, I have to drive the 250 miles to be up here on a Friday, but I would rather do that to start than at the end of the session. So I'll be a no on the resolution. I'm not sure what happens if the resolution fails. I'd want it to go back to the house, but I'll be a no on the resolution for those reasons. I really wanted us to either start on Wednesday or Friday and not on a Monday. Thank you.

you, Mr. President. Having voted on the prevailing side, never mind. I was going to push the override

Thank you, Mr. President. The conference committee on House Senate Bill 193 will be at 5 o'clock in room 354. And the members of the conference committee, the senators, are Kirkmeyer, Bridges, and Immobile.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move that we proceed out of order for moments of personal privilege.

Madam Majority Leader Thank you Mr President Pursuant to Senate Rule 21C I move the Senate grant leave to Conference Committee for 193 to meet with the Senate while the Senate is in session

Thank you. Mr. President, members, today we honor the good senator from Denver. Senator Rodriguez, please join us at the well so we can present you with your crystal, a flag in your honor, and your tribute. A crystal flag? Oh, wait. Okay. Well, I didn't want to go first because I have a lot of things to say. It's taking me a while. I didn't know what to think of, pardon me? Oh, yeah. We need to show some light on the subject. I did not know what to think about the good majority leader, our colleague from Denver, when I was in the House. I thought he was kind of grumpy, and I was just rushing through the Capitol and just wasn't sure what to think about him. And then we did a bill together, and I thought, well, he's pretty cool. We did a bill on HOAs, which was fun. and you know, HOAs are always fun and then I came to the Senate and really got to know him and start working with him and as the majority later shared in my eulogy we are not always aligned on policy he hates bands probably hates the environment loves loves loves plastic sometimes he he truly he does love plastic he should get the plastic bouquet sometimes he really makes me crazy but also I have grown to be just to appreciate him so much and really truly be fond of him as a friend and colleague you may see us laughing down here frequently usually about probably about something inappropriate that he said and then I refrain from hitting him in front of everyone. That seems wrong. But I've grown to appreciate his sense of humor. We laugh at friends' references and all kinds of silly things. And I, despite, you know, my better instincts, I just really have grown to love the majority leader, and I am going to miss you a lot. So thank you. Thank you for everything.

Thank you, Mr. President. Are you sure we don't need to pause to do a tribute? I guess one, no. No?

May I have a moment of personal privilege, please?

Okay. Thank you, Mr. President. I think we all know that during the 2024 legislative session, Senator Rodriguez was the prime sponsor I thinking at most points he was the only sponsor on the Colorado AI Act described as the country first legislative framework to govern high AI systems I think we all been living that disaster for a couple of years Kind of got it straightened out here finally, but I just thought, when I was putting comments together, that in honor of the fact that we finally got something passed this session a couple of years later, that I would put some of my comments today, I posed questions to chat GBT. I thought that would be fitting since this is the guy who did AI. So I was going through, looking through some comments and quotes that the majority leader had made, like specifically when he got elected to be the majority leader. And in the paper it said this, Rodriguez noted the changes in the caucus, including a larger majority, won in the 2022 election. And then he said, quote, I look forward to elevating your voices and our common goals as a team. Know that I will be here for you and will strive to make the goals of the caucus my priority. Now, when I first saw that quote, I thought, who the heck wrote that for him? And then I thought, well, maybe he put it through chat GPT. But then I thought, no, because I asked chat GPT, what did that statement really mean? And the first thing they said, well, in plain English, it means this. The caucus moved further left after 2022, and my job as leader is to keep everyone unified and make the caucus agenda the priority. But chat GPT said what he really meant to say was, I'm just one guy trying to keep a big caucus from eating itself alive. Now, Senator Rodriguez, there was another quote, Senator Rodriguez was largely backed by more progressive wing of the caucus, but declined to define himself that way when asked. And here was his quote in the paper. I think I always get conflicted of what progressive means because what I consider progressive might not be considered by another person. We're all different in that point. I don't know that anybody really knows what that means, but I asked ChatGPT. and here's what they said the statement really meant what he really meant to say is hey they may be my people but I'm not committing to anything no labels man no labels so and what chat GPT went on further say was it's obvious that Senator Rodriguez is avoiding being pinned down while still working to keep his caucus allies happy there you go Now, I have to tell you, I kept looking through a lot of stuff. I was going through the Internet looking for quotes, specific quotes, from then-Senate President Steve Fenberg regarding Senator Robert Rodriguez becoming the majority leader. I couldn't find any. I just couldn't find any. So I could not ask, chat, GPT, what Senator Fenberg meant by his quotes because there just wasn't any. So then I asked, you know, the Internet, I said, well, are there any notable quotes about Senator Robert Rodriguez? No, there was not. So I couldn't pose that question. So I thought, geez, what else could I ask ChatGPT? And it was like, I said, ask ChatGPT, I said, what are some of the most important bills that Senator Rodriguez has passed? Now you're thinking, he's been here a while, he did the AI stuff, there should be a lot. And they said, Senator Rodriguez, representing Colorado's 32nd district, has sponsored several notable bills. And here were the top ten. No, they didn't say that. And you can't say that. I know, I can't say that. I can't say what he said. Number one, he passed Senate Bill 26-189. Yep, he finally got her done this year. It was the automated decision-making technology. He finally got the AI bill passed. Something we could all vote on. Number two, Senate Bill 25B004, increased transparency for algorithmic systems. Now, if we all remember, that was during the special session. We spent six days, three of which was specifically here because of the AI bill, that we couldn't get to anything. And so on the last day, it kind of got gutted, and he just pushed it out, hence why we had 26189. but that was the second of the top 10 bills that he passed most notable then 25 318 artificial intelligence consumer protections this guy is basically focusing in on ai and we had problems with that bill too i think you gave us a big lecture or big story at the end of session on that one. Then number four, Senate Bill 24205. This is the bill that started the problems, but it got passed. And it's notable because it got passed and the governor signed it. And then everybody complained about it afterwards. And that was concerning protections and interactions with artificial intelligence systems, consumer protections. And then we jumped to number five. And I think this is kind of a stretch, but hey, it's chat GPT and they know everything. Number five, Senate Bill 26, 1001. That was just this year. Does everybody remember? This is regarding prohibiting selling of dogs or cats through pet stores. So you can no longer go buy your pet dog or pet cat at a pet store. Great bill. Number six. And this one was kind of creepy, I just want you to know. But it gets creepier. Number six, House Bill 20, 1060. Are you trying to look these up real quick? Do you remember these bills? House Bill 20, 1060, Natural Organic Reduction Human Remains. Right up there with the end death. Right up there with the bill concerning death, right, that we had this year from other members. The long title, Concerning the Conversion of Human Remains to Basic Elements Within a Container. Is that a coffin? Yes. Okay, we know about access too. Within a container using an accelerating process. Now, number seven, not to be outdone with what he did in 2020, we have Senate Bill 21-006. 006, one of his first bills, came right at us. Human remains natural reduction soil. He's piling on. Literally. The Act authorizes, I had to read, when I read this one, I literally thought to myself, gross. But I thought I would read it for all of you. Just a summary, not the whole bill. I'm not going to read a bill at length, not now. We're getting close to the end. The Act authorizes human remains to be converted to soil. Got that already. He did that the year before. In a container, did that the year before. The Act allows the disposal of abandoned naturally reduced remains if the remains are not claimed within 180 days after natural reduction So you go through all the problems all the issues to get the remains reduced convert it to soil, and then you don't go claim them. We actually have a bill that says what happens by the good Senator Rodriguez that says naturally reduce remains. If the remains are not claimed within 180 days, here's what happens. The act prohibits certain things. The first thing it does, when in the course of business, it prohibits the selling or offering to sell the soil. You cannot sell it. That's out. You cannot commingle the soil of more than one person that's been reduced to soil without the consent of the person or persons with the right of final disposition unless the soil is abandoned. Now, it's not abandoned until after 180 days. So you're going to have to wait until 180 days. And then I suppose you have to wait for two of them to be abandoned. And then you could commingle them. You cannot commingle the human remains of more than one person without the consent of the person or persons with the right of final disposition within the container wherein natural reduction produces soil. And so you can't even start the reduction. You can't even put two people together to reduce them to soil. But here's the one where you think and you're like, oh, this is gross. The act prohibits the following. You cannot use the soil to grow food for human consumption. Oh, yuck. That's a very notable bill, though. Man, he's been doing a lot of stuff down here as a state senator. What a guy. Here's one of his other bills that are most notable. Definition of a pawnbroker. I guess because people can't use the dictionary, we had to put it in law and decide what the definition of a pawnbroker was. Do you know the definition of a pawnbroker? That was your bill. It was in 22. You weren't a freshman in 22. Probably a department bill because we have pawnbrokers. Okay. Number nine, retail businesses must accept cash. Man, that's an important bill. Yep, concerning a requirement, no, it was in 211048, concerning a requirement that retail establishments accept the United States currency for purchases. We spend time on this bill. I actually do, do I remember this bill? I think I do. I do remember this bill. I actually remember we spent a lot of time on this bill arguing about accepting cash or not. Number 10. This is it. Top 10 most notable bills. House Bill 19, 13, 28. Do you remember this bill? Landlord and it was your bill. You were a prime sponsor. Landlord and tenant duties regarding bed bugs. And get this. He literally had to put a definition for bed bug in the bill. And here's what it is. Bed bug means the common bed bug. Good job, Senator. Good job. And you did. You were amazing. Your portfolio of bills that you have passed, amazing. Just amazing. I think we would admire the bills portfolio of Senator Rodriguez Wright. I mean, those top 10, I don't know if you all put your name on him or not I would be thinking why but those were some of his most notable accomplishments as a senator here in the state of Colorado You know and I would say this also what we have learned I got to know Senator Rodriguez pretty much in my first year. I was carrying a bill that he voted against in committee and killed it. But he did tell me that if I made a change, he would come back and he would help me co-sponsor that. I had to remind him of that two years later. In fact, I'm thinking I maybe had to go get the record out to make sure that it's like you promised, now you've got to be on this bill. And it was the banning non-disclosure agreements. So I think one of the things I do admire most about Senator Rodriguez, and now that he's become, when he became our Senate Majority Leader, is how detail-oriented he is, always immersing himself in the policy, always knowing exactly what's in his bills. and we got to see that just in the last couple of days with his deep knowledge of his PUC sunset bill. Good job. Good job. I don't know who all was in that committee, but I was. And yeah, just amazing how much he knew about the policy of his own bill. And you know, I've just got to say, you saw the bills that he has passed that are in his portfolio. Senator Robert Rodriguez doesn't just think outside the box. Occasionally he forgets where the box is altogether. And I have to say, I have enjoyed these past couple of years sitting next to the good senator from Peltonia when the senator Rodriguez would walk across the aisle to tell some joke, something that we cannot repeat at the well or should ever repeat anywhere. but I do want to appreciate his commitment to brevity. Just two days ago we had a bill up on second reading. I think he was a little frustrated. He was being a little cranky and his little grudging self. 1183. Was it 1183 or 1138? 1138. It's our bill. Yeah, the retail theft bill. We got up here. We're on seconds. I thought, you know, we're going to at least say what the bill is. No. Rodriguez gets up here. Senator Rodriguez gets up here and says, move passage, move to vote for this bill. It's a good bill. No, he didn't even say good bill. Just move for it. Everybody needs to vote. I went and sat down. That was it. We were done, and it passed. So I appreciate his brevity, even though he was being pretty grumudgy that night. But apparently, not every thought that he has needs to be fully formed before it hits the mic. He always brings such a fresh perspective to every issue. Sometimes it's so fresh, the rest of us are still trying to catch up to what that perspective was. Or maybe it was just that he was kind of mumbling at the mic and we were trying to figure out what he actually said. I don't know, either way. But you never leave a conversation with Senator Rodriguez being bored. Occasionally confused, but never bored. He's proof that confidence is at least half the job. and he's got that part absolutely covered. Do a little finger snaps. And I would say that I also admire his wizardy of managing the floor. In spite of what Senator Hanson used to say about you, I still think you did a pretty good job of managing the floor and the other members of your caucus. Even though I know at times it was probably like herding cats You sitting in your chair with that grimudgeon look on your face just calmed them all down I don know if you realize that but it did But lastly I would say this The thing that I admire most about Senator Rodriguez is that when he gives you his word, you can count on it. He does not flip on you. When you have a discussion with him and he says, I'm there, I'm doing this, you've got his word and he holds to it no matter what and i think that is something admirable that he has that we can all live up to it's a matter of trust and he has held that trust and he has held the integrity of his office and the integrity of this chamber and i appreciate that about senator rodriguez i appreciate having gotten to know you over the course of the last few years. We've had some terse conversations, we've had some funny conversations, but we've had a lot of conversations where we have gotten to know each other, gotten to know where we're coming from, and been able to work through a lot of difficult situations, and I appreciate that about you as well. So thank you for everything you have done for us here as our majority leader, and I wish you nothing but the best as you move forward. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. President Can I ask for a moment of personal privilege? Granted I just wanted to thank you for being my very best chamber uncle because that's how old you are to me

Senator Henriksen.

Grant.

Senator Wallace.

Senator Benavidez.

Granted.

Senator Colker.

Great.

Order, order.

Senator Danielson.

Senator.

Senator Mullica.

Granted.

Senator Weissman.

Great.

Senator Ball.

Go ahead.

you would expect somebody to look if they just rolled out of bed and they had to go to something at night in the morning and all the people spoke all the politicians spoke and then a majority of the Rodriguez spoke and he was just Robert it was you know the Republicans want to do this and my caucus is thinking about this and this is where labor is and this is where so and so is and it was kind of like when an athlete has a press conference and it looks like they're there because they just don't want to get fined. But your constituents really loved it, and they appreciated it because they know you. And when I came into this building, I think the word curmudgeon was said earlier. I mean, you're such a curmudgeon. That's right. The good senator from Weld County said curmudgeon earlier, and you are a curmudgeon, but I've really grown to appreciate that about you since coming into this building because I think you don't care about the theater of it. You don't feel the need like you have to talk a lot because I think you care about what matters. You care about the policies. care about what we do. You're very, very good at it. And I think because you don't care that much about what doesn't matter, you're a realist and you're blunt and you're dependable. And it was said earlier by the good senator from Adams County, you're fair. You're really fair. I think when everybody is a little bit frustrated with you, that's a good sign that, you know, you're doing something right because you're being fair. So you're the worst majority leader that I've ever had the privilege to serve with, but you're also the best, and I think you're a good leader, and you've done a fantastic job managing this caucus over the last two years, and I have a feeling we're going to get to see each other around town halls in southeastern Denver in the future, and I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you, Mr. President. May I have a moment of personal privilege?

Thank you, Mr. President. So I've got to tell two stories about Robert. So my first year up here, wide-eyed, bushy-tailed, ready to go. Bushy-tailed. Ready to go. And I got to go across the street a lot all the day, every day, and I got to hang out with Robert while he was standing out there smoking. And we'd just stand out there and just talk and talk and talk. And he'd always tell me, he says, you know, you killed my bill. And I said, yeah. He was like, how much rent control do you deal with in Sterling? And I would say, well, none. And then he goes, well, then why? I mean, these are all the conversations we'd start. And then we started talking about the way Denver used to be, like Celebrity Sports Center, McNichols Arena, how I got to watch Nuggets play when I was a kid, when McNichols had this horrible pipe break. Actually, the first game I got to see, and I'm going to date myself by saying this, but the actual game I got to see was when Dr. J was still playing with Charles Barkley had hair, and they were playing in the Coliseum. And I got to actually watch them play in the Coliseum, and I thought that was pretty cool. And we talked about how bad the Nuggets were for so many years. So many years. And then when Robert became majority leader, I was like, oh, man, this guy's got a lot of power. I'm so excited. And then the Nuggets won. We won a championship. And I was like, this guy's got so much power. We're going to get the Nuggets to come here, and they're going to come to us. No, you failed me, Robert. We never got the Nuggets. I failed myself. I kept telling him, I was like, just tell Cronky I want them here. Don't put your name on it. just tell Kroenke I want him. He was like, well, I tried. I tried everything. But no, it was wonderful. We got to talk about a lot of old basketball. But my favorite story is my second year here. My wife was here. And my wife is a Hispanic lady and my kids and everything. And we're riding in the elevator down. And Robert and me and my wife are the only ones in the elevator. And I said, Celeste, this is the guy I've been telling you about. This is Robert Rodriguez. is. And my wife looks right at her and says, well, it's nice to meet you, Robert. And he goes, your husband's confused. And then it started just the whole way, all the way out. We started walking out to my pickup and Robert just telling her all this stuff And then we get in the vehicle and my wife looks at me and goes that why you like him so much And I said what do you mean He like you found somebody just as inappropriate as you are So we had such a good time doing that stuff. But my last story about you, Robert, was this one. And last summer, I work and I actually work for the ditch company mowing and maintaining the ditch up and down for the Sterling Reservoir and the Sterling Ditch Company. And it's the most peaceful thing that I have. When I leave this building, I get to sit in the tractor all day and watch wildlife and just mow and move cattle around and do all this great stuff. So I just really enjoy the peacefulness, except for last summer. I didn't get to enjoy any peacefulness because the whole time my phone is ringing off the hook because we're talking about AI. And it's not from Robert. It's from everybody outside the building that's calling me and saying this and this and this. And then finally I had to call Robert and I said, why are you ruining my life? I'm going to get called back to a special session because we've got to discuss your AI bill. and I walked through the doors when they called this a special session. I saw Robert and I'm like, oh my gosh, Robert, you need to eat something. What have you been doing? He goes, AI. It's just been AI. And I even, I chewed him out for you. I did. Yes. I even said, you want me to bring you food? I can bring you all my wife's food. And he's like, you're trying to put me in a diabetic shock. That's what he told me every time when I was trying to bring him food. Yes. But I just got to tell you, I want to say thank you for everything that you've done, And for the state of Colorado, we are state senators. We think of the entire state when we're here. And I just want to, you are so good about that. And I so appreciate that. You came out to my district this summer. You've really helped out my folks. And I want to tell you, thank you so much for that, talking to folks out there. But you are an amazing majority leader. And if I was on your side of the aisle, I would have voted for you 10 times because I really appreciate everything you've done, so thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. A moment of personal privilege.

Thank you, Mr. President. Well, I want to get the order right this time and not follow the good Denver, or the good Senator from Denver, when it might get a little more somber than our conversation. But, like, a heartfelt thank you to the majority leader. Like, what an amazing opportunity for me to step into this leadership role and get to work with Robert. Like, I know the good center from Aurora kind of touched on, you don't know what's happening in the background all the time. what the majority leader is juggling so many different priorities and allowing me to be part of that conversation and building a true relationship based on mutual respect and trust over one session. Like I'm very honored and proud of what he and I have worked together to get this place to function at a really high, effective, efficient level. and I see Meredith in the background because she's really the brains behind the operation 100%. She and my staffer Jason are really what makes it happen and then Robert and I step in and go yep, okay, sounds good, we're gone. They have given us our plan but thinking of the majority leaders I served with in this time frame and one of them I regularly get a chance to hammer who's the cause of the failures at Colorado School of Mines. But Robert has been such a joy and a pleasure to work with. And I think we found out maybe last weekend when we were working about, all right, is there a path forward where we are not here on Saturday, May the 9th, It's because it's my wife's birthday. And I find out it's Robert's wife's birthday on May the 9th. So we were highly motivated to make sure we worked collaboratively and collectively to make sure both of us were home for our wife's birthday. So I've had the great opportunity to serve the full six years here with several members, and a majority leader is one of them. And, again, I feel really blessed to be working with him in this leadership role. I look forward to seeing what happens with the majority leader going forward. But I did want to finish with, like, all this conversation about AI. Really, all the kerfuffle about AI, I just want Robert to know, I got your back, brother. Hello. If you don't know what AI really is, it's not artificial intelligence. It's artificial insemination. And not everybody knows what this is for or what this does. but this is what AI is really about. And I got you covered, Robert. We'll get this AI stuff figured out. Don't worry about it. We won't have to have a special session. We might have to have a field trip and a demonstration, but it can be done. Thank you.

and one for you bud now you got a glove too brother when we're taking that field trip

I'd like to...

Always chewing something. Wait, wait, what? Oh, may I please request a moment of personal privilege?

Actually Actually chewing is really hard Yeah, trying to do that. Yeah, thank you. Want my glove? No. Thank you. I just have to say, first and foremost, to Deidre, girl. Girl. Girl. To Rose, to Corinne, to Manny, thank you. and as Robert has taught us all, thank you and I'm sorry. We've talked over the years, sometimes multiple times a night, and when I came into this work, we talked about this during my living eulogy yesterday about how the moment that we were running back in 2018 just to place this in a little bit of context there were four seats in Denver where we were all in very deeply contested primaries And we were the only Latinos running in each of those races. And, man, talk about a trial by fire. And we came out of those dynamics really connected. And Robert and I came to this chamber, and, man, it was like us against the world. and so much of my perspective of being in this building was formed by the senate judiciary committee and that was just think you guys it's john cook and bob gardner and pete lee Robert Rodriguez and Julie Gonzalez. And God, listening to these dudes. God, it was a joy because it taught me and you taught me that you could not only were we different parties but we also had deep understanding and knowledge about very different aspects of the criminal justice system and of different perspectives within that. And none of us, even though we may not agree, we always could respect the fact that where we were coming from was rooted in our own experiences, knowledge and expertise. And so to hear that play out both in committee, God, I spent more time in that committee that first year than I saw my husband, Deidre. like you and Ben could have started like a social club like it oh wait no you got you like we were so in that committee so deeply so often that like our families knew to like just like leave it just where are you judish like okay cool bye and genuinely like you all knew how i just have to say that that time was like so important because we didn't know who we were going to be. And now to see you do this, God, what a joy. You are the closest thing I will ever have to a brother in this building because you drive me absolutely insane and I love you more for it. I think the last thing I will say is this. The way that you have been able to vent your frustrations to me and the way that you have given me space to vent my frustrations to you. We have been mirrors for one another. there was a time I think early when you would tell me well the lobby is blowing up on your bill and I would say well how come they're not talking to me and you had a an ability to just go and say like I don't know let me just go ask and I had I did not realize that I had created this reputation to where the lobby didn't think that they could come to talk to me about a thing. And you helped me see that because you could just go and ask. Sometimes this building, which is hard about this building, is that you get so into whatever it is, whether it's the committee work or whether it's the floor fight or whether it's the whatever it is, and you can't see the forest for the trees. And you have such a beautiful gift of being able to just NOT GET CAUGHT UP IN THE WORDS ON THE PAGE BUT TO GET CAUGHT UP TO REALLY FOCUS IN ON THE DYNAMICS OF THE get caught up in the words on the page but to get caught up to really focus in on the dynamics of the people And to just figure out how to get through it And some of that is rooted in your incredible competitive spirit where if it's a fight and you've got a count in order to win, you have a unique ability to do that because it's not about actually the words on the page. It's about what would it take to get to the yes and figuring that out. and that is such an important skill and gift. Thank you for being my big brother in this building. I'm sorry. I love you.

Just James. Thank you, Madam President. I request a moment of personal privilege.

Thank you very much, Madam President. I'm the baby of nine, and the beautiful thing about being the baby is it's always somebody else's fault. Robert's my big brother, and we've said a number of times that we see him as a brother in some way. but when I think about Robert what I appreciate the most is that he's always the bad guy very rarely am I in trouble for something usually if something is wrong or somebody thinks something is wrong they go to Robert and Robert is every single time taking full responsibility for things that probably were both of our decisions and he's allowed me to be able to play a certain role in this position, which when I first got elected Senate President, he had already been the Majority Leader for one year. So he had some opportunities to do a couple of things. One was give me really good advice. I got invited as a resident expert on AI to go speak and give a presentation or be on a panel about AI. And about 15 minutes before I had to get on this panel, I called Robert and I said, hey man, any information you can give me on AI, I need you to send it to me right now. And he sends it to me. It's like a PDF or it's a PowerPoint presentation. And long story short, at the end of this presentation, this panel on AI, everybody was like, man, that guy really knows what he's talking about. And they have no idea that prior to Robert, I thought AI was Allen Iverson, the basketball player from the 76ers. That was my version of AI. But he, over the years, has given me a lot of knowledge and information and advice that, you know, things that you just can't teach. It's just things that happen through experience. And it's been a real blessing. The next thing is an example. He's been an example in terms of leadership. We went to a town hall. It was one of those things where I popped up and I had a tribute for him, but I never do tributes. but I had a tribute for him and I wanted to acknowledge him in his community in front of his community. And we went through this entire town hall and at some point in the town hall, there was a person who was really upset about crime in the neighborhood. And this person was ready to rip all of our heads off And when they got time to answer the question I was talking most of the time And when this guy got up I just stopped and looked at Robert He your constituent And so Robert had a way, I mean, this guy was on fire. He had a way of being able to calm this person down. And then he said, come talk to me after. I'd love to continue the conversation. And then we go and I'm watching him. I don't know if Robert knew this, but I was standing behind him and I've watched him interact with this person who was, again, I didn't know what he was on or where he was going to go with this, but he was really upset. And by the time Robert finished speaking with him, you would have thought they were good friends, the way the guy was interacting back with Robert. And so just the ability to manage conflict is one of his key strengths. Sometimes he starts conflict on purpose just to play the game of getting out of the conflict or just to see what it does to you. But he has an amazing way of managing conflict in this building and in life, just watching him do this. I remember I got elected to the Senate in 2020, came here in 2021. So I don't know if it was 21 or 22, but Robert was gotten really, really, really sick. Now, also during this time, because in the Senate, we don't always tend to have virtual participation. The House clearly have screens on all the time. People are on vacation when they should be here during session. I'm not going to call any names. But the only one time this happened prior to an incident with Robert was when there was a vote going on on the floor. And one of our senators who might be from Peltonia now is Senator Byron Pelton's district. But Jerry Sonnenberg he turned his screen on during the vote and he was bouncing in his tractor I was trying to figure out what the rules were for virtual participation but it wasn't because he was sick we thought that was hilarious because he kept popping on and off the same time this is happening Robert is like deathly ill in the hospital and he turns the screen on when they call his name for the vote and he's sitting up in a hospital bed with an IV in his arm. Dang near with like an oxygen mask. I'm embellishing now. But it's like, I. And then the screen goes back off and I'm like, dude, you should not be on screen right now. You should not be voting right now. You should be somewhere getting healthy. But I just remember, as silly as that sounds, his level of commitment to being here, which is why we have such strict rules on whether or not you should be virtually participating. Unless you have an IV in your arm and you're in a hospital gown and you're in a bed with an oxygen mask on, you need to take off to vote, you probably should come in. And so Robert has always been, again, just committed, even when he's not feeling his best, to doing this work. you know, the last thing I would say is governance. Robert, I don't know if you do this, but as we get closer to the end of the time we have here, I look at the pictures on the wall. I look at the people that we serve with. Yeah, yeah, that mustache and that I don't know what he had going on. That's a good part. Forgot to talk about that. Yeah. but I look at the pictures on the wall and I look at the president and I look at the minority leader I look at the pro tem and I look at the majority leader and I always wonder what their relationships were like between those individuals But especially I wonder what is the relationship like between the president and the majority leader Because at the end of the day, in partnership with the minority leader, they're a team. But the majority caucus, in many cases, is looked at as whatever is good is everybody's benefit, and whenever bad happens, it's your fault. And so for me, I look at those composites, and I'm just blessed to know that I came into the Senate with Robert as the majority leader. I don't define success solely on the bills that we pass, the impact that we make. But again, I really protect, I believe our responsibility is to protect the integrity of this institution. It is not just about decorum. We talk about the differences between the House and the Senate a lot. but it's also about making sure that everybody is taken seriously. It's about making sure that everybody is actually seen and heard and doesn't just feel that way. Everybody gets a say. Everybody has an opportunity to truly believe they represent their district and go back and have the chance to talk about why that matters and why that's important. And so, you know, Robert, I was definitely afraid of taking up this mantle, not knowing whether or not it was going to fall apart if I did something wrong or made a mistake. And I think about that every single day. But every single day I have the confidence to come in here and do this work because I know you are also thinking about that same thing. Being in the House and coming to the Senate, to not have one weekend, all session. and this is like a couple of years this has happened where maybe we came in once last year now part of that is because none of us want the wrath of Janice Rich got to go to church on Sunday got to go to church on Sunday we go have church but then think about the late nights 117 days we were here before we had a late night this year unless you're on judiciary and when I asked Robert for one thing I said please don't ever put me on judiciary and he granted that to me his first year as majority leader but you know all that to say you have done amazing work I'm proud that years from now when we look at these pictures on the wall we can know amongst ourselves that we had an amazing majority leader who did the work and made sure that his priorities weren't just his. His priorities are our priorities as individuals and what matters to us. And the last thing I'll say, Robert, is I don't know if it's just in communities of color in terms of culture, and I don't know if it's just pertaining to men, but when it comes to the relationship that you have with your family, but in particular your father. I think about how proud he must be of you. And sometimes we don't always say that. My grandfather was on his deathbed the first time he told me he loved me. It was probably a couple days before he passed away. Okay. It's just part of the culture. It's understood. It's not okay. It's kind of understood. You show love in different ways. And so I just want to make sure that, you know, you recognize, and I've had a chance to talk to Manny, and I know that look that he has, very serious, don't play no games, but behind that, he's proud of you, man. and is grateful for all that you've done. And you've carried on your family's heritage and legacy and traditions in a way that every father hopes their son would. And so I just want to tell you that we're proud of you. We love you. Get up here, man. Don't embarrass us, dog. Thank you. Yuck.

I walked districts for senators as a young kid before you had to pay people to do it, and my dad got free labor to walk all of Commerce City with me and all my friends to go drop literature on doors and hop over fences before the dogs came out to put literature on people's doors in Commerce City. But, you know, all my friends would go do it. He buys pizza and that's how you did campaigns in those days. But, and it was always to follow after him because it was always for advocacy for my community and for Latinos to get out to vote was the passion. And it was the passion of that work that I thought I would get into. Well, you know, my 18th birthday was very proud for my father's power and influence and taken me to register to vote on my first 18th birthday so I could become a PCP and I could go vote at the assemblies and the process to get on the ballot and get our community in places. And my father did that for many years, and I helped with that. And when I was younger, I had to do it. When I turned 18, I said, you can't make me do this anymore. And I took a break for a while. You know, I had more fun than I probably should have as a youngster and had a life. But I met my wife and got married and settled down and then moved into our house. And I started getting back involved in politics. It was when Senator Bennett got appointed, Michael Hancock's race. I removed into my district. I became a captain of the PCP and started getting back into politics. And it was to go to a process. My father was a DNC person for 12 years. I think it was 12 years. you were a national committee person and it was always about getting out our community to vote how to activate how to do phone banks how to turn out the vote for people so we'd have influence on votes and that was I thought my my my purpose to go that direction and just do that work and I was asked to run for office and I said hell no I uh I don't want I want to be liked too much I don want to do this work and you know it it was it took me a while to get there and I was in a very good place where Senator Gonzalez and I decided to and I got to a place where I was like hey why not me I care But you know I come to this chamber and humbled and I kept probably prior to one other race It was probably the most expensive primary against that. I had the most expensive Democratic primary in history and we won it. And everybody's like, oh, you always knew. And I was like, I think we went into election night. I'm going to lose. They spent over half a million dollars against me in my race. My opponent had TV commercials. Who does that in a Democratic primary in Denver? But we were all friends, and it worked out good, and the losses were fine. And I come here humbly, and I sit here, and I'm like, oh, my God, what am I going to do? How do I learn this? We had just taken the majority. We come in and rammed down 191. We were limiting debate. We were, so I make the flock camera now, we called Senator Crowder and Coram back from an airplane flight. You will get back to the chamber. It was a learning curve for all of us to understand what we could do with the majorities we had. And we did a lot of big policy. And good or not, it was just having something that we never had. It was just, we learned. We learned a lot in that process. and we've changed around in our caucus. We came in with a one or two seat majority, I think, in those days. And two people could change bills in this chamber. And I remember the House was like, we would kill or amend things and two people would kill a bill. And it was like, oh my God, you guys are just too much power with one or two votes. No, no, we need to make you bigger. That way you guys can't just have all that power. We're bigger. and we still have the same problems and dynamics that we had then because regardless of our ideologies and our political beliefs, we're not all the same. And that's what I learned doing this job. And like Cleve said, and I've talked with my colleagues and I ran some pretty progressive bills when I was younger and when I was newer in this thing and I was trying to do it and I disagreed with my members and I wouldn't, we wouldn't do things, I didn't care what was happening in the agriculture community and the rules, and I focused on things with mine, and it got frustrating to learn why my bills were dying, because my members would, but these last couple years, being the majority leader, and thank you all for giving me that opportunity, because I didn't know what I was walking into, but my focus always became to recognize the differences in my caucus, and make this chamber reflect the caucus on the floor. And recognizing our colleagues across the aisle. Because I remember I voted against a bill and probably killed an environmental bill that was very important, but it was going to hurt Pueblo. It was going to close Comanche. And I got called, and I was like, look, this is $600,000 or whatever money towards our education system and all that. and I'm like this hurts and I'm pretty loyal to Pueblo. Generationally my family had land there, donated a steel mill before the Nolan land grants. That was my great, great, great, great grandfather. I used to ask Leroy for reparations and we wanted our land back. He never offered it to me. But, you know, trying to recognize the parts of the state that I was passionate about, whether it was going down for the fair, but somebody called me and told me, he like what do you care You represent Denver And that hit me hard because that where I learned and I shifted here It like my job here is to represent the state of Colorado and to help you guys represent your districts and help all of us represent our districts I got frustrated when I think it was Pelton and single staircases. I was like, you're never going to have a single staircase in your district. Why do you care? Well, you know, it doesn't affect me. And I still give him jokes about that because he's champion of local control except for that one bill. But that's been the journey that you've all given me, and I've been super humbled to try to reflect that. And I've spent my time here wielding my authority and power to get your bills done, except for artificial intelligence. And I'm sorry for that. I recognize that had I not been majority leader, that bill would have been repealed two, three years ago, and that may be your worst. Maybe that's a regret you guys have. But it was an important policy for me, and I wield it. But I also use that power to make sure that all of your bills got done or not, even if I disagree with them. Like I said, I love my colleagues. I am not always environmentally savvy. I care about the planet, but I think somebody has to have the voice for the people who can't afford to pay bills. Or we want them to be able to have a planet. I'm like, well, I'd like them to have a home to raise their families. It's a complicated argument. And those are the discussions we had. And I carried a very hard bill for my district this year with the agricultural bill. And I was so happy to pass it. And it was a painful bill for me for my district, but it was also trying to recognize a problem outside of my district that was something to be addressed. And I thought I went as reasonable as I could. Well, you know, the politics of outside the building, everything's horrible. But that's the job, is to make the hard decisions and do the right thing. And that's all I've tried to do, and I know you all have too. I still get mad at Senator Roberts for taking away my lawn, for his water in the rural community. My last year when the PUC passed the no more gas water heaters and I had to tell my wife we need to go get our water heater replaced because I have to do this. And then just recently, two, three weeks ago, my brother-in-law and aunt, who live in Fort Collins, by the way, who the hell did this bill? And what the hell were they thinking? And I have a meeting, I think, with Excel and some of them, and I'm like, what bill was this? Was this us or just the PUC? What's going on? I was like, no, Senator, this was this bill. My assistant majority leader carried it, I believe. And I looked up the vote count, and I voted for it. And I had to go meet with him. I was like, what were you thinking? I was like, dude, it's Fort Collins. Just drive to Wyoming, buy it, bring it back, you're good. People do things, and that's why we do business things. Credit card fees, yeah, that's going to save people money. let's let's I'm gone and I'm here to just tell some truth a little bit while we're doing this stuff but you know it's the politics of the building and it's the sale and it's always the pressure of what we're dealing with of the bills now and oh my god the end world's going to end if we do it and we leave here and everybody out there is like you did great I don't even know that's happening you know we're like oh my god you're very powerful I can walk to any grocery store. I was like Senator but that doesn happen I thought it would but it didn But you know I have had so much respect for this chamber and the position you guys have let me have that I wish you all the best. You're all good people. You all run good policy. Whether I agree with it or not, it's probably wrong for you. But, you know, hey, that's your decision, and I'm not here to kill anybody's bills anymore. Which I only did in business because I... My colleague from Broomfield, I was my nemesis in the house. Tried to build a bridge. I love him to death now because, you know, he's like, meh. We're a lot similar in that way because it was like you do it. But he came over. He's like, oh, good. This guy's going to do great on agriculture. laughter and the better part my father, son I'm pretty I'm going to pay this guy back but at the end of the day my job as majority leader is to represent my caucus and while I kept him away from any committees that would affect AI laughter I tried to take what I knew of him and his history and his policies to put him on committees that represented. It worked out good for me. It worked out good for all of us. But that was always the balance I had, and I came in with Senator Coleman, and we came in together, and it was about making sure this chamber, whether majority and minority, he represents the whole chamber, I represent my caucus, but we work together as a team. Minority Leader Simpson and I, I'm going to, after I leave here, I'm going to take credit for how great everything went, just so you know. But none of this is possible without the graciousness and the work that you've done for me and for your colleagues. I've been here late nights at 3 a.m. raising my hand half asleep on cows. It's not good. And the end is going to be the same. But, you know, the work you do is important to the state. And that's the cool part of this job. It's like I got hit when I came in day one. and the lobbyist's like, how do you feel for this to be your first, your last first day? And that kind of hits me when I look at the calendar. Now this is my last 119th day I had to attend. And that's real, and it's a power and appreciation. Luckily, my wife, who is, as every man knows that's married, that behind every great man is a woman rolling their eyes. and she has always grounded me of you're at home you're not the senator and when we she went to orientation for the first day we do orientation and your spouses go to orientation and training and she comes out oh they i have to be nice to you you're gonna have to come home and read bills understand don't plan too much stuff you're gonna be busy when you're at the capitol you have to refer to him as the senator and she's like i'm gonna refer to you as Senator Butthead. And then when I became majority leader, she's like, no, you're majority leader Butthead. But this work and the times you guys have, this is important, and she has always kept me grounded in the space that we're just avatars with term limits. The power is fleeting. We're here, we do our time, and we affect change. But when we leave here, we're just another ordinary citizen. and we are ordinary citizens while we're here now. And sometimes we get caught up in the minutia of the building, but when you leave here after session, your communities will be happy or be upset depending on which side you're on. And this whole social media thing, blame for us, our ability to get good work done, because we get beat up with each other for things that aren't real. Because when you dig into the policy, it's way more complicated than that. But it's really good click bait for people on social media. I'm like, there's a fight going on in the House for termination, and it was done unpleasantly. And I was just talking to my colleague today, I was like, what happened to your guys' support for Right to Work? Why are we upset about somebody getting let go? Maybe we can chitch the party, maybe they