DENVER – With a Republican-controlled Senate and a Democrat-controlled House, plenty of bills have died this session after clearing one chamber under the Gold Dome in Denver, but party leaders are optimistic the second half could bring bipartisan success.

A proposal to eliminate the need for concealed carry permits for guns was rejected by Democrats in a House committee.

Republicans in a Senate committee rejected a proposal to force employers to offer unpaid leave to employees so they can attend their children’s academic activities.

But a few bipartisan bills have made it to the Democratic governor’s desk and party leaders hope there will be more of that to come in the roughly 60 days remaining in the 2016 General Assembly.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed a couple dozen bills, including one sponsored by Colorado Springs Republicans, Sen. Owen Hill and Rep. Dan Nordberg, that requires the state’s pension system to divest from companies that are more-or-less boycotting Israel companies.

It’s an example of the kind of thing that is winning bipartisan support this election year.

In mid-session, updates with reporters House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, said many of her caucus’ top priorities are still on their way.

“It’s been kind of a quite first couple of months … I think things will get progressively a little more difficult. Maybe a little more sparky,” she said.

A lot of that “spark” will surround the budget and a debate about whether lawmakers should try to retain revenue that would otherwise have to be refunded to voters through the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. Hullinghorst said she will introduce a bill later this month that would take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the TABOR equation so the state could retain more revenue. That money is collected on overnight hospital stays and is called the hospital provider fee.

Senate President Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, is opposed to that idea, in large part because of the legality of lowering the base for TABOR calculations without voter approval. Hullinghorst says it’s legal.

“I’m all ears about what we can do to reach a compromise here,” Hullinghorst said.

That could include ensuring there are TABOR refunds or partial refunds in the coming years.

“We’re willing to talk and that’s all I can commit to,” Cadman said. “The reality is on so many other levels, until we see some willingness to at least acknowledge and address some fundamental funding structural forms it would be impossible to overcome the hurdle of that.”

Those fundamental funding issues include Republican concerns with the growth of the Medicaid expansion, which is funded by the hospital provider fee and matching funds from the federal government.

“There’s $141 million more than ever before going into health and human services, so to say we’re going to get more and pretend it’s going to go somewhere specific, that’s after the first $141 million goes to fund a program that is bankrupting the state,” Cadman said.

Hullinghorst said the money retained could be earmarked for transportation and education funding.

“Our 2016-17 budget will look pretty much like we’re in a recession – no new money for transportation, cutting higher education meaning tuition will go up again,” she said.

While Hullinghorst and Cadman navigate that issue, the majority leaders in both chamber are trying to reach compromises of their own on the issues of affordable housing and lawsuit reform for home builders.

It’s an issue that has been kicked around for years with little success.

“This year we’re trying to do a housing package, so we’re actually looking at a number of different bills,” Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, said. “We’re watching the clock but we’re methodically working on it.”

House Majority Leader Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, said bills could include a tax-free savings plan for first-time homebuilders and an extension of a tax credit programs for developers who build affordable housing.

Scheffel has for years fought to reform construction defects litigation, in part by protecting homebuilders from excessive litigation.

Those bills will likely be introduced in the coming weeks.

Lawmakers must see bills through both chambers and on the governor’s desk by the end of Wednesday, May 11.

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Contact Megan Schrader

719-286-0644

Twitter: @CapitolSchrader