The annual conference has become the latest focal point of reaction locally to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, which it launched in response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israeli soil. The conference, organized by the Jewish National Fund-USA, is set to begin Nov. 30 at the Colorado Convention Center.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who is Jewish, is scheduled to speak at the event on its opening night. The Denver Police Department said Wednesday that it was “working with the organizers to ensure a safe event.”

“As a precaution, the department will be providing additional resources to enhance security surrounding the conference,” DPD’s statement read. “We will not share specific numbers or planning strategies for safety reasons.”

The Global Conference for Israel is expected to attract around 2,500 people to downtown Denver. It is the 22nd annual gathering, according to Sam Goldberg, president of the Jewish National Fund-USA Mountain States board. Last year’s conference was in Boston.

Pro-Palestinian activists have organized recurring events in Denver, maintaining a presence that included interrupting the Colorado legislature’s special session on property taxes over the weekend.

On the Colorado Palestine Coalition’s Instagram account, the organization declares that “Zionists,” “racists” and “genocide apologists” are “not welcome” in Denver, referencing next week’s conference. In a Nov. 13 post, it called for the shutdown. But exactly what an attempted shutdown would look like is unclear.

Abdullah Elagha, an organizer with the Colorado Palestine Coalition, told The Denver Post in an interview Wednesday that he was “not sure exactly what we will be doing” during the conference.

He’s critical of the Jewish National Fund-USA, saying the organization, which describes itself on its website as “Your Voice in Israel,” has had “a direct hand in the brutalization of Palestinians” for decades. He pointed to both the war in Gaza as well as the ongoing building of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the United Nations has found violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, as concerns.

“The state of Israel, or any of its affiliated organizations, should not be fundraising in our state in the middle of a genocide,” Elagha said, referring to the more than 12,700 Palestinians who have been killed since the war in Gaza began in early October. That figure has been released by the Palestinian health authorities.

Israel began launching air strikes, and later ground incursions, in Gaza after Hamas terrorists brutally slaughtered more than 1,200 Israelis and took more than 200 people hostage in the Oct. 7 raid. Israel declared war on Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary cease-fire agreement, announced Wednesday, that’s intended to allow for the release of dozens of hostages taken during Hamas’ raid.

The conference in Denver was planned well before the latest hostilities, but the escalations will have an unavoidable impact. Goldberg, from the Jewish National Fund-USA Mountain States board, discussed his outlook.

“Hamas will not be forgiven for its intentional murder of babies and the brutal rape and mutilation of women,” he said. “All of the hostages that remain in Gaza must be freed immediately — especially the little kids.”

At the same time, there are “certainly reasonable and thoughtful critiques of Israel” to be had, Goldberg said, and many of them will be voiced at the conference.

But those who support Israel’s destruction, he said, “are unwelcome.”

Elagha’s interest in the war is personal. He was among Palestinian-Americans who recently recounted to The Post how their families in Gaza have been affected by the war. Elagha’s family has lost more than 30 members to Israeli airstrikes since the war began last month, he said.

A spokesman for the governor, Conor Cahill, told The Post this week that he intends to deliver remarks at the conference as planned.

Polis, Cahill said, “strongly believes that Israel has a right to defend its citizens against Hamas and to respond to the brutal murder of hundreds of Israeli citizens, and to work to facilitate the return of hundreds of hostages.”

Cahill added: “Here in Colorado, he has made it clear that hate against Jews, Muslims or Christians will not be tolerated, and that includes ensuring that any effort to intimidate or prevent people from speaking to a group of Jewish Americans convening in Denver does not succeed.”

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

The measures approved since Friday, in a session called after voters rejected Proposition HH this month, will affect nearly all Coloradans who are grappling with surging property taxes and a fast-rising cost of living. The owner of a typical $500,000 home will still see a significantly higher property tax bill early next year, but it will go up roughly half as much under the first measure signed by Polis.

Income taxpayers will see a flat refund of about $800 under another new law, which follows the flat-refund model used last year for rebates mandated by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights instead of a tiered system that provides more to higher income earners.

As many as 400,000 lower-income workers who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit will receive double the state’s usual 25% match on their state returns early next year in another law signed by Polis.

And a rental assistance program that was funded with $35 million of federal money this year would receive another $30 million infusion to keep more renters from being evicted during the first half of 2024. The new money is slightly more than the city of Denver has committed to spending on a similar program next year.

Colorado may be known for having lower property taxes compared to most states, but historic increases in property values that will drive up tax bills prompted lawmakers to act.

“After the people of our state rejected both the Gallagher and the Prop HH amendments, we have a real-life situation where across the state, assessment went up by about 40%,” Polis said during Monday’s bill-signing ceremony in his office. “Most Coloradans’ income didn’t go up by that level. And we need to cut property taxes now.”

The property tax relief law will reduce spring bills by increasing the residential deduction from property values from $15,000 to $55,000, and then temporarily reducing the assessment rate that determines how much of that value is taxed. The impact depends on the home’s value and the mill levies set where the owner lives.

The Democratic lawmakers also put the focus on more than property owners, with different kinds of aid aimed at helping renters and lower-income households — policies driven by progressive members.

Colorado lawmakers passed seven bills during the four-day special session dominated by the majority Democrats, who rejected bills sponsored by Republicans.

The Democratic priority bills passed almost entirely on party-line votes, with Republicans criticizing the scope of the package as well as the decision to draw $185 million from the state’s $3.5 billion surplus to pay for the EITC matches, reducing TABOR refunds slightly for some Coloradans. GOP members also argued the legislature should have delivered even more property tax relief by drawing on the state’s reserves and reworking previous bills that used TABOR refunds for relief.

Ultimately, the Democratic lawmakers’ plan bore a resemblance to the strategy behind Proposition HH, though it applies only for the coming year, shedding long-term changes in HH that needed voters’ approval. Polis and other top Democrats championed HH, but voters rejected it by nearly 19 percentage points in the Nov. 7 election.

Senate GOP Minority Leader Paul Lundeen said during a news conference after the legislature’s adjournment that Democrats “failed to provide the honest property tax relief that we called for” and “failed to expand the protections of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights refund dollars … (that) we also called for in our proposals.”

Meanwhile, Democrats called their economic package a meaningful one that will provide relief to Coloradans by drawing on about $200 million in general-fund dollars that were previously set aside for relief to offset reductions in property tax revenue for school districts and other local governments, at least in part.

“There are a variety of different policies that came forward to address the high cost of living in Colorado and a real attempt to recognize that that looks different for people in different parts of the state — whether they be owners or renters, whether they be in areas where there’s high growth versus low growth,” said Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, a Lakewood Democrat.

The four bills signed by Polis so far are led by the Democrats’ marquee property tax relief legislation, along with an appropriation of money to the state Department of Treasury to staff the property tax deferral program, the increase in the EITC match and the flattened TABOR refunds. Sponsors of the last bill pointed out that most taxpayers will receive a larger refund than they would have under the normal six-tiered, income-based setup.

Other bills remain to be signed in coming days: one creating the Colorado Commission on Property Taxes to provide recommendations to lawmakers for a more sustainable and permanent property tax structure; the bill that would expand the emergency rental assistance program, providing the money to nonprofit organizations to distribute to landlords to help tenants who face potential eviction because they can’t pay rent; and a bill enabling the state to take part in a federal summer meal program for children in low-income families.

While lawmakers and Polis celebrated Monday, tensions boiled over in the final hours of the session during the House’s discussions of the summer food program late Sunday night and Monday. Rep. Elisabeth Epps, a Denver Democrat, unsuccessfully floated an amendment that would have restricted any purchase of food from the occupied Palestinian territories tied to Israel’s latest military campaign.

Her request was denied, but her commentary that ended with “Free Palestine” led to an uproar from Republicans. Rep. Ron Weinberg of Loveland, who is Jewish, gave his own speech in response. The House went into recess more than once during his remarks as Epps yelled from the House gallery, where she was sitting with other pro-Palestinian supporters, that he was “out of order.”

After that hiatus, lawmakers returned to voting on the remainder of their bills before concluding the special session on property tax relief.

Polis said during the bills signing that long-term solutions are needed to keep property taxes low and ensure that schools are fully funded.

“There’s one more chapter in this saga,” he added, “and that’s on all of our local taxing districts. I encourage all of them — now that they know what the legislature has done — to really take a serious look at floating their mill levies down, depending on the situation with the property taxes in their area, to help make living in your area more affordable.”

Senate President Steve Feinberg, a Boulder Democrat, pointed to more work ahead beyond the single-year solutions approved in the session.

“We need something more sustainable — something to replace the previous laws that governed us for decades when it comes to property taxes,” he said. “And I surely hope that we can come together on a bipartisan approach to what that should look like in the future.”

Staff writer Bruce Finley contributed to this story.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

Following a vote to concur with the Senate’s changes to the bill that would create a task force to study property taxes and provide recommendations to the Colorado General Assembly, House representatives voted to approve HB23B-1003.

All bills will now head to the governor’s office for final signatures, and the special session has ended, mid-way through its fourth day — with the Senate adjourning last, at about 2:50 p.m.

Updated at 2:24 p.m.: The Colorado House resumed its work after Weinberg’s speech and passed the summer meal program bill with a vote of 44-16 on a mostly party-line vote, with some Republicans joining Democrats in approving the program for low-income families. That bill is now headed to the governor’s office.

Updated at 2:06 p.m.: Rep. Elisabeth Epps attempted again this afternoon to get an amendment introduced into the summer meal program bill before the House’s final vote on the measure. That request failed 39-21 — a rare vote during the special session that did not fall strictly along party lines.

Epps, a Denver Democrat, continued to speak about the bill, which would opt Colorado into a federal program that addresses food insecurity for children from low-income families. Epps made the comparison to children in Gaza who are starving during Israel’s latest military campaign. She ended her speech by saying, “In our thousands, in our millions — free Palestine.”

That remark prompted an uproar from Republicans, and Democratic leadership called for a recess. Rep. Ron Weinberg, a Loveland Republican, and other Republican leaders spoke to Democrats about allowing Weinberg, who is Jewish, a chance to respond.

When the session reconvened and Weinberg began to speak, Epps was sitting in the gallery with other pro-Palestinian activists. As he discussed his feelings about Epps’ comments and invoked the Holocaust, Epps shouted “Out of order!”

Democratic leaders then called another recess and said they asked that the gallery, including Epps, be cleared. Several minutes later, she remained in the gallery, speaking to Democratic lawmakers and asking that lawmakers call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Weinberg later resumed his remarks, flanked by the other Republican House members, and Epps left the gallery.

Updated at 12:47 p.m.: The Senate accepted the House’s amendments on the property tax relief bill and voted 23-12 to repass it, which means the bill will now head to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk. (Details on the bill and its impact are in the 11:10 a.m. update below.)

Updated at 12:42 p.m.: Colorado senators voted 20 to 15 to pass a bill creating a Colorado Commission on Property Taxes to explore long-term solutions that protect property owners and tenants from rising taxes and make recommendations to lawmakers.

The vote followed debate among lawmakers over who should be represented on the commission. Republicans objected to the inclusion of a teacher representative or an official from the Colorado Education Association. The commission, to made up of 19 members, will begin meetings in March and will include five county commissioners, four lawmakers and property owners from around Colorado.

Updated at 12:28 p.m.: A bill to refund taxpayers an equal amount of money on their 2023 tax returns has just been approved on a final vote in the Colorado House. SB23B-003 would provide each taxpayer about $800 for their Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights-mandated refund, instead of amounts that change based on how much the person makes annually.

That bill was the latest to pass on a party-line vote of 42-18, and it now heads to the governor’s desk.

During the final minutes of debate, while Rep. Elisabeth Epps of Denver was speaking, about a dozen people arrived in the House gallery, silently holding up Palestinian flags. Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy called for a brief recess and asked them to put the flags away, per House rules, but said they were welcome to remain in the gallery. The individuals remained and silently held up their fists in the air until Epps finished speaking.

Updated at 11:35 a.m.: The Colorado Senate gave final approval to a bill that will nearly double funds in the state’s rental assistance program by adding $30 million. The Senate voted 23-12, along party lines, and HB23B-001 now will head to the governor’s desk. The bill, once signed, will direct $30 million to the Emergency Rental Assistance Grant Program, raising the total in the state’s fund to $65 million, with all required to be spent by June.

The funding would flow to nonprofit organizations and, then, to landlords for the purpose of preventing eviction of at-risk tenants. Progressive lawmakers have prioritized aid for renters hard hit by rising housing costs in recent years, while Republicans have opposed the bill, with some citing it as straying from the session’s focus on property taxes.

It was approved without further debate Monday.

“People across the state live on the brink and are one job loss away, or one emergency away, from losing the roof over their head,” Rep. Mandy Lindsay, an Aurora Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said on Saturday. “We can do something about it, right here, right now.”

Updated at 11:10 a.m.: The Colorado House passed Democrats’ main property tax relief bill on a third and likely final vote about an hour after convening. SB23B-001 passed on a party-line vote of 42-18.

The bill will now return to the Senate for final reconciliation, a necessary step because a House committee amended the legislation Sunday.

Democrats planned to draw from $200 million that was previously set aside by the legislature for the property tax reductions. The bill would raise the deduction for residential properties for tax purposes to $55,000, up from $15,000. It also would reduce the assessment rate that is used to determine how much of that value will be taxed under mill levies set by local taxing authorities.

Though the changes won’t entirely offset the increases that are coming to tax bills early next year, they are expected to scale them back considerably. The owner of a house valued at $500,000 in an area with an average mill levy would save about $255 — shaving off roughly half of the coming increase. The percentage reduction would be higher for homes with lower values.

The House plans to consider two more bills this morning. The Senate, after approving a $30 million rental assistance bill, has one more on its agenda.

Original story: Colorado lawmakers have returned to the State Capitol on Monday morning for the fourth — and possibly final — day of a special session aimed at providing relief from skyrocketing property taxes, rents and other cost-of-living expenses for Coloradans.

The House and Senate both reconvened shortly after 10 a.m. Together, they have five bills scheduled for final floor votes, and, if needed, discussions to reconcile details between the versions passed by each chamber. The outstanding bills include the majority Democrats’ main property tax relief measure.

Lawmakers successfully passed two of the Democrats’ other priority bills on Sunday, with those headed to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature. The rest proceeded through preliminary votes to ensure they could be scheduled for final votes Monday.

Those that passed were HB23B-1002, which doubles the state’s match to 50% for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit for 2023 returns filed early next year; and HB23B-1008, which appropriates money to the state Department of Treasury to staff a property tax deferral program.

The governor called the special session after the state’s voters rejected Proposition HH in the Nov. 7 election. The ballot measure had targeted a reduction in homeowners’ upcoming property taxes, which rising due to surging property values across the state that average about 40% at the median. The measure also would have sent money to school districts, local governments and special districts that rely on property tax revenue for their annual budgets.

The major property tax relief bill, heavily opposed by Republicans, passed the Senate on Sunday and is set to be heard in the House on Monday. If the House passes it with amendments, it will need to return to the Senate for a concurrence vote.

Another bill still on the table is one that, at Polis’ request, would create a property tax task force to convene by June 2024. The panel would be charged with recommending tax reforms and other proposals to reduce property taxes to the General Assembly by October. The text of the bill was significantly changed on Sunday ahead of final votes on the rewritten version.

Other remaining bills include one that would increase the state’s allocation for a rental assistance program — which is aimed at preventing evictions — by $30 million, increasing the current fiscal year’s budget to $65 million. The money would go to nonprofit organizations and, in turn, to landlords to keep at-risk tenants in their apartments and homes. It must be spent by June 30.

The House had a late Sunday night, adjourning for the day just before midnight — with only minutes to spare before the deadline to take preliminary floor votes on its remaining bills and make them eligible for final votes Monday. Otherwise, the session would continue through Tuesday because of timing rules.

Democratic Rep. Elisabeth Epps of Denver proposed an amendment to a bill that would enable Colorado to participate next year in a federal summer meal program for children in low-income families. Epps’ amendment proposed a restriction related to Israel’s latest military campaign in the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.

Her fellow Democrats passed a motion to limit debate to one hour before she began presenting the amendment, and several tense moments ensued as the clock ticked down. Ultimately, the bill passed its preliminary vote before midnight — without Epps’ amendment.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

Two bills are already headed to Gov. Jared Polis to sign into law, while another five — including Democrats’ short-term property tax fix — are awaiting critical votes in the House and Senate in the next 24 hours. All are Democrat-led and represent an attempt to turn Proposition HH’s failure into a broader balm to housing and cost issues plaguing homeowners and renters alike.

“We don’t have to choose,” Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat, said on the Senate floor Sunday afternoon. “We have a chance to do both. We can help homeowners who are struggling with a dramatic increase in property taxes, and we can help renters who are struggling with a dramatic increase in the rent they’re paying.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have roundly criticized their Democratic peers for not advancing enough property tax relief, for dismissing Republican-backed bills and for leveraging the looming property tax hikes to pull a broader array of economic levers.

“The voters have asked us to come and do simple and clean property tax relief, and instead we’re passing rental assistance bills and food bills and all these different bills,” Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Littleton Republican, said Sunday morning as the chamber debated a measure to set aside $30 million in rental aid.

Polis is expected to sign the two bills that have passed both chambers. One would expand staffing within the state’s Treasury Department for a property tax deferral program, and the other would double the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit program. That would direct $182.5 million toward lower-income workers, particularly those with children, next year. A handful of other measures, including one to send equal refund checks distributed under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to all taxpayers, are expected to pass Monday.

Meanwhile, Democrats’ primary tax relief bill, which would decrease a home’s value for the purposes of taxation while cutting the assessment rate, cleared the Senate after a technical amendment and began its final advance through the House. The measure would blunt property tax increases, though taxes are still set to go up compared to what homeowners paid last year.

After passing a pair of initial House committees, the bill hit the House floor Sunday night. Republicans lined up to criticize it for not providing enough relief, while Democrats countered that the measure was a compromise and a starting point. Lawmakers are also working on a bill to form a task force focused on a long-term property tax solution.

Minority Leader Mike Lynch, the top Republican in the House, said he was encouraged that the House was finally discussing property tax relief. But he said he was “disappointed” that the bill didn’t do more, particularly for commercial property owners.

“I think we can do better,” added Assistant Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican. “I think we can give more property tax relief.”

House Speaker Julie McCluskie said there wasn’t enough funding available to extend relief to commercial properties, too, and House Democrats — called by Republicans to expand the relief — repeatedly pressed Republicans to explain how they proposed to pay for it.

“We’re going to keep debating wholly unserious proposals for the rest of the evening,” said Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat. “And I just want to ask the question: How much does it cost? Where is the money coming from?”

Paying for the property tax cuts has been a delicate balance. Democrats have refused to touch their rainy day fund, citing the need to stay prepared for any future economic downturns. Republicans, meanwhile, have said the relief shouldn’t come from the state’s TABOR surplus (as Proposition HH largely proposed to do) because of voters’ rejection of the ballot measure.

The result, Democratic legislators say, is the current plan: just shy of $200 million in general fund money. Still, Republicans have repeatedly sought to suggest the money will come from the state’s TABOR surplus.

It’s true that $240 million in property tax relief, passed in a different bill with broad bipartisan support in 2022, is pulled from the surplus. But the relief contemplated now does not come from TABOR, according to a nonpartisan analysis by legislative staff.

“We are here to deliver significant tax relief and our colleagues across the aisle are about to vote no,” said Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat, before a Senate floor vote. “We are significantly expanding the tax relief to the lowest-income households in the state with this bill within the means that we have.”

The House had not fully voted on the property tax bill by press time Sunday night, though the measure is almost certain to clear the chamber. The session is expected to conclude Monday, four days after it began. The House was set to work late Sunday night to tee up final votes on the handful of lingering measures.

Those remaining bills — all of which are expected to make it to Polis’ desk — include a proposal to direct $30 million in rental aid in the first six months of 2024. That funding would go to nonprofit organizations and, in turn, to landlords to prevent at-risk tenants from being evicted. Rental aid has been a priority for progressive lawmakers, who have routinely noted that renters have faced regular cost increases in recent years.

“I just have to add my frustration with this again as a renting Coloradan, how quickly we will jump for property owners,” Rep. Stephanie Vigil, a Colorado Springs Democrat who voted in support of the property tax bill, said.

While Republicans have opposed the rental assistance bill, Democrats argued that, with at least 34% of Coloradans being renters and evictions surging, the money is needed.

“And since we’re already here, working for the people, listening to what their needs are, we should pass the piece of legislation while we are here,” Democratic Sen. Janet Buckner of Aurora said. “A couple of months from now may not be soon enough for some people.”

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

But it wasn’t quiet. The House started Saturday with a group of pro-Palestine protesters interrupting the chamber’s morning work with calls for lawmakers to denounce Israel’s military campaign and urge a cease-fire. After the group was escorted out, Democratic leaders repeatedly tussled with Republicans who ignored those leaders’ directions to follow House rules. As a result, Democrats refused to recognize one Republican — Colorado Springs Rep. Scott Bottoms — for the rest of the day, meaning he wasn’t able to speak at the chamber’s mic.

Gov. Jared Polis called the special session in the aftermath of Proposition HH’s failure this month. The Democratic majority had hoped for a three-day gathering to hammer out some form of property tax relief as well as other proposals they argue will ease the rising cost of living in the state.

Republicans had led the charge against Proposition HH and cite its near 20 percentage-point loss as evidence voters don’t support Democratic priorities that echo proposals in that measure — and that they don’t want their tax refunds messed with.

Democratic leaders argued the proposition was too big and complicated to divine a single intent from voters, and that their new property tax proposal doesn’t tap into the refunds. And with majorities in both chambers, Democrats shot down Republican proposals and forged ahead with their own, including an increase to tax credits for low-income workers, more money for emergency rental assistance, and equal refunds, regardless of income level.

Here’s where those proposals stood as of early Saturday evening.

Immediate property tax rate reduction

The most contentious bill of the session – the one that led the Republican minority in the Senate to throw down a gauntlet on its first night – passed a key voice vote in the chamber that all but secured its passage. A formal vote still needs to happen Sunday, and then it needs to work through the House.

Democratic sponsors said they were able to stretch the $200 million previously set aside for property tax reduction a touch further than earlier projections. The amended proposal increases the value reduction for tax purposes from $50,000 to $55,000. It would save the owner of a $500,000 house, with an average mill levy rate, about $28 more a year, for a total of about $255 reduction in their annual property tax bill.

It also widens the criteria for local taxing districts that would qualify for full reimbursement of lost property tax dollars because of state cuts to the formula.

Republicans still fought the bill as much as they could from the minority position, arguing the state should instead dip into reserves to pay for property tax changes and past bills that used TABOR refunds to ease property taxes should be reworked.

Free summer meals for children of low-income families

While property taxes have dominated the conversation in the Capitol, the special session also is poised to allow Colorado to claim first-in-the-nation status for a $42 million summer meal program for children in low-income families. It would cost the state $6.7 million, and the program would begin next summer.

The federal program provides a $40-per-month food stipend for three summer months when children aren’t in school. The federal pool would pay for the stipend for up to 350,000 children. The state would need to establish criteria and an outreach program as part of the bill.

The bill also represents a moment of near-unanimity during what’s been a rancorous special session. The House still needs to consider it, although it’s not expected to raise temperatures there.

“This policy is an example of when two opposing parties can work together, how you can accomplish good things,” state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said. “It does stand a little apart from some of the noise down here, which is more exciting and gets more attention. For me, it’s a little bit of hope that we can still continue to function as the state government as opposed to the intractable mess that you see at the federal level.”

Rental assistance

As part of a broader commitment by Democrats to expand this special session’s relief beyond just property owners, the House green-lit a bill that would set aside $30 million in rental assistance to help keep at-risk renters from being evicted through the first six months of 2024.

Under the bill, renters below 80% of their area’s median income would qualify if they were at imminent risk of eviction or displacement. As the federal aid has dried up, evictions have shot up in Denver and across the state. Advocates have said those trends have led to increased homelessness.

If passed, that addition would be a big boost: It would nearly double the state’s rental aid budget, bumping it to $65 million. That’s still shy of the approximately $20 million the state was distributing every month in rental assistance during the pandemic, although that money largely came from federal pandemic stimulus.

The money from the bill would be distributed by nonprofit groups to landlords. The state would have to dole out the cash to those nonprofits before June 30, when the state’s fiscal year ends.

“People across the state live on the brink and are one job loss away, or one emergency away, from losing the roof over their head,” said Rep. Mandy Lindsay, an Aurora Democrat and the bill’s cosponsor.

“We can do something about it, right here, right now.”

Expanded tax credits

The bill passed by the House on Saturday expands the state’s match of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. As it stands, working and lower-income Coloradans get a 25% match on their federal EITC. For next year only, Democrats are proposing to spend $185 million in TABOR surplus money on upping the state match to 50%.

To put it in simple numbers: If you get a $4,000 federal tax credit under the program, this bill would mean the state would add an additional $2,000. Currently, the match would be $1,000.

The increase would benefit more than 400,000 families in the state, according to one of the House sponsors, Rep. Mary Young. Eligibility depends on how much you earn, how many children you have and whether you’re filing your taxes alone or as a joint filer. But generally it applies to lower-income workers.

Equal tax refunds

Another plank in the Democrats’ spread-relief-around platform: flattening TABOR for all income levels next year. That would do away with the six-tier system temporarily, giving a boost to most taxpayers in the state.

Exact figures are up in the air because the tax credit measure would affect the size of the TABOR surplus and, thus, the size of the checks. But Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, one of the bill’s sponsors, said Friday that the refunds would be more than $800 per recipient. His cosponsor, Sen. Janice Marchman, said the increase would benefit nearly 90% of single taxpayers and more than 50% of joint-tax filers.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

The beginning of the special session chugged along for most of the day, as Democrats, who hold wide majorities in the legislature, planned for a three-day sprint through Sunday to pass legislation aimed at softening historic property tax increases facing Coloradans early next year. The proposals include spending hundreds of millions of dollars to cut property tax rates and make up at least some of the resulting losses that local governments and school districts would feel from the cuts.

But Republicans forced Democrats to take an evening floor vote to allow for the fast-tracking they planned for legislation in that chamber, via a special order. Without it, the Senate’s normal rules that govern the time between hearings and votes would slow down the handling of bills, potentially extending work into Monday or Tuesday.

Democrats contended that the quicker movement was typical in past special sessions.

The 23-12 party-line vote failed by one vote to clear a needed two-thirds majority threshold. On a quick revote, Senate President Steve Fenberg pressed ahead with a voice vote rather than calling for a roll call — and then declared, over Republicans’ howls, that the motion had passed.

A Republican appeal failed in another floor vote.

In the fallout, the Senate adjourned for the night at 9:20 p.m. rather than taking preliminary floor votes on bills. The resulting delay leaves lawmakers facing a four-day session that will last at least through Monday.

The dispute about timing had been brewing for much of the day, but the action played out quickly late Friday.

“This isn’t about time. It’s about political theater — and it’s exhausting,” Fenberg said before the first rules vote. “If you think people want property tax cuts, then let’s give them property tax cuts and go home. It’s irresponsible (to delay), and I think it’s dishonest to the people of Colorado.”

Later, Sen. Mark Baisley, a Woodland Park Republican, told Fenberg: “There’s an integrity issue here.”

“Yes,” Fenberg responded, holding his ground. “And it does have consequences.”

Fenberg and Minority Leader Paul Lundeen also tangled, with Fenberg insisting that “If you break the norms, the norms are broken.”

In seeking to slow down action, the Republicans invoked the three-day rush last session that put Proposition HH in front of voters. They said they were willing to push the special session into Thanksgiving week to give voters, who resoundingly rejected Proposition HH last week, a chance to digest the Democrats’ proposals.

The state House didn’t face as much uncertainty over its rules as the special session, the state’s first since the pandemic, began.

In committee hearings, the Democratic majorities in both chambers shot down every Republican proposal, broadly called the bills “fiscally irresponsible,” and shuttled through their own proposals to ease the cost of living in the wake of Proposition HH’s defeat. Some of those bills were likely to reach preliminary floor votes late Friday, with final votes beginning Saturday — and then an exchange of bills between the chambers, depending on any delays.

In addition to property taxes, the Democrats are seeking to provide more money for emergency rental assistance and increase tax credits for low-income Coloradans.

The day began with 14 introduced bills. By mid-afternoon, the number had been cut in half.

The major remaining proposals include:

• Property tax cuts that would be achieved by changes in the formula used to determine residential property taxes. The deduction from a property’s value for tax purposes would rise from $15,000 to $50,o00. The assessment rate, which is applied to determine the assessed value, or what’s taxable, would be reduced from 6.765% to 6.7%.
• Sending out equal tax refunds to all Colorado taxpayers, a temporary change — also implemented last year — from the normal income-based system in which higher-income Coloradans receive more money back. The amount each taxpayer will receive hasn’t been finalized, pending the outcome of other legislation, but co-sponsor Sen. Nick Hinrichsen’s early estimate Friday was $847.
• Doubling the state’s 25% matching credit provided to recipients of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. The EITC sends money directly to workers who earn less than $59,187 under this year’s guidelines. The tax credit is scaling, with more going to families with children, and a sponsor has estimated the proposed change would mean anywhere from $300 to $3,700 more for those who are eligible. The bill would cut into the state’s TABOR surplus by roughly $185 million, according to sponsor Rep. Jenny Willford.
• Adding $30 million to the state’s emergency rental assistance program, which is currently budgeted at $35 million, to help renters who are at risk of eviction. The caveat is that it must be spent by June 30, when the state’s fiscal year ends.

Gov. Jared Polis called the special session in the aftermath of Proposition HH’s loss almost two weeks ago. He and Democratic legislators backed that multifaceted measure as a way to trim back the extent of coming property tax spikes due to rocketing property values, without shortchanging local governments that rely on property taxes.

Republicans argued that HH’s loss, by nearly 19 percentage points, showed voters don’t want the refunds due to them under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, tampered with at all, even if that surplus went toward tamping down property tax bills.

Broadly, Democrats argued that the result showed voters rejected that specific measure. However, the renewed property tax effort in the session isn’t aiming to tap into those refunds for the property tax relief. It instead relies on $200 million from the general fund that was already earmarked for property tax help.

“Those sides are pretty dug in, for better or worse,” said Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat and the architect of both HH and the new property tax proposal.

The House continued forward with its slate of bills late Friday. The chamber was set to advance the Earned Income Tax Credit bill, the rental assistance measure, and a bill to create a property tax task force to come up with a long-term solution to recurring property tax increases.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

But legislative leaders were still sorting out details for their approach to what’s expected to be the legislative centerpiece — how to directly head off historic increases that will hit property tax bills across the state early next year, with median value increases running at about 40%. It was also not yet clear how much those increases might be scaled back.

Lawmakers will gather under the Gold Dome for a minimum of three days, working through the weekend to forge a post-Proposition HH path forward. Gov. Jared Polis called the special session in the aftermath of voters’ resounding no vote in the Nov. 7 election — by nearly 19 percentage points — on a ballot measure that he and other Democrats in the Capitol had championed.

Democrats have a supermajority in the state House of Representatives and a near supermajority in the Senate, putting them in the driver’s seat for this weekend’s session.

“The focus is really going to be: How can we max out the amount of property tax relief we can offer, given the amount of resources we have,” state Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat and an architect of past property tax relief bills, said in an interview Wednesday night.

Expanded tax credits for low-income Coloradans and equalized refunds due during income tax-filing season under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, are also high priorities for the majority party, he added. The state sent flat refunds in the last year, but in Colorado they usually are distributed in differing amounts based on income.

Democrats also have introduced a proposed bill to put $30 million toward emergency rental assistance, to help people who don’t own their homes. Another is a bipartisan effort to increase the homestead exemption offered to property taxpayers for the 2023 tax year, which will show up on bills in early 2024.

The details of the measures are subject to negotiation as Democrats wrangle with how much to tap into the state’s reserves or the $3 billion-plus TABOR surplus, which otherwise has to be refunded to taxpayers. They also have $200 million in the general fund, specifically earmarked for property tax relief, that they can draw from.

The likely emphasis for property tax relief, Hansen said, will on property value deductions — which adjust the amount of money a home has deemed to be worth for tax purposes.

Progressives argue that’s a better way to direct help toward lower-income households than another major option, a flat reduction in the percentage of a home’s value that’s taxable. The latter option would reduce tax bills by a larger dollar amount for higher-valued homes.

Democrats are discussing boosting the value deduction, now set at $15,000, up to somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000. That would mean that a home valued at $500,000 would only be taxed on $450,000 or $430,000 of its value.

“The value deductions create a bigger help for homes that are under $500,000, for example, than your $2 million or $5 million home where it has a relatively small impact,” Hansen said.

Democrats, as they did in Proposition HH’s provisions, also aim to deal with the other side of the coin.

Property owners’ savings on their taxes would bite into local government budgets that rely on property taxes, with some beneficiaries, including school districts, long shorted on tax revenue. Hansen said Democrats are focused on keeping school and fire districts fully funded, but limited resources mean they’ll have to prioritize how much money the state will give other local governments to meet their budget projections.

While the state can influence the overall formula used for determining property taxes, the amount owed is ultimately determined by local governments’ mill levies, which are the tax rates applied to assessed property values.

The special session also opens up other opportunities, said state Sen. Chris Kolker, a Centennial Democrat.

He plans to introduce a bill to expand the earned income tax credit by increasing the state’s match of the federal program. The federal program gives a scaling tax credit to low-income families, with the most going to lower-income families with three or more children. The basic requirements include working and earning less than $59,187.

Kolker wants to increase the percentage of the credit matched by Colorado to 50% or more, up from 25% now, though where that settles will depend on the larger budget conversation. A 50% match would mean an extra $300 for a low-income family with no dependents, and about $3,700 for a low-income family with three children or dependent relatives.

That idea wasn’t part of the Prop. HH conversation, but it was something Polis explicitly allowed in his order calling a special session.

“The people who earn the earned income tax credit — 100% of them, practically, are renters,” Kolker said. “The silver lining of the special session is that we can address these needs of people at the lower income levels who are struggling to pay rent, trying to figure out what bills to pay.”

The minority Republicans will bring their own priorities to the Capitol this weekend.

The party’s leadership is touting a nearly $1.4 billion plan that would both increase the home value deduction to $80,000 and lower the assessment rate — without touching the TABOR surplus. Instead, they’d turn to the state’s historically filled reserves and ask local government to take a one-year buffer of state money. It’s unlikely to provide as much as they expect to receive under current tax projections.

“(The reserves are) there for a crisis,” said Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, of Monument. “Now is the time because the property tax crisis is a legitimate problem for the people of Colorado.”

Republicans in the past have supported using the state’s TABOR surplus to pay for property tax relief — most recently in 2022 — but they are reading the rejection of Proposition HH as voters’ message that they want refunds left alone. The HH opposition campaign focused heavily on the measure’s proposed increase to the TABOR revenue cap, which limits how much state revenue can grow.

Now it’s a line in the sand for the party heading into the special session.

“If you’re taking money out of one pocket to give to the other, you’re still taking it from the same person,” Assistant Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, a Colorado Springs Republican, said.

Hansen called the Republican proposal worrisome since it would draw on the state reserve funds. He raised the specter of the Great Recession, when the state more than a decade ago was forced to make “draconian” cuts to services because it didn’t have enough reserves to weather it.

“I found the Republican proposal to be very fiscally irresponsible,” Hansen said. “To take a deep chunk out of our reserves would put us at a very high risk as we think about a potential recession around the corner.”

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

“If we do nothing, Colorado homeowners are facing a record property tax increase,” he said. “The crisis is not urban or rural, Denver or the state. It is universal across our state — truly a Colorado crisis.”

The pre-Thanksgiving special session will begin at 9 a.m. on Nov. 17, Polis announced during a morning news conference at the Governor’s Residence in Denver. The Friday convening is likely to continue through that weekend.

In Tuesday’s election, about 59% of voters rejected Proposition HH, according to the latest results. It was Polis and Democratic leaders’ proposal to dial back the property tax increases expected early next year, at least partially, while also providing financial assistance to local governments, along with significantly more money for education for years to come. It would have paid for much of that by dipping into future state tax refunds required under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Polis and other Democrats had brushed off questions ahead of the election about their Plan B if the ballot measure failed. But they have regrouped quickly since Tuesday night.

“I’m disappointed with the failure of Proposition HH,” Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, said Thursday afternoon. “But putting that aside, I believe it is our responsibility as leaders in state government to still do all we can for the people we serve.”

Legislators will be tasked with addressing the imminent surge in property taxes due to rising home valuations across the state, with median value increases running at about 40%, and much higher in some communities.

Polis began his announcement by donning goggles, picking up a baseball bat and whacking at a repurposed fire extinguisher case labeled “In case of no Prop HH break glass.” He pulled out a scroll from inside. The pane was knocked aside, but didn’t shatter, leading Polis to quip about the strength of modern safety glass.

Time for relief is running short

It’s the first time a Colorado governor has recalled legislators early since the first year of the pandemic, nearly three years ago.

Lawmakers are set to convene for the regular session in early January, but fiscal experts have said that by then, it would be too late for the legislature to make adjustments that would affect property tax bills or to change how state tax refunds are distributed to income tax filers, one potential form of relief.

Polis said timing was of the essence. Local governments are in the process now of setting their tax rates and budgets for next year, including setting the mill levies used to determine local property taxes and deciding whether those should be cut or remain the same to capture money from growing property valuations. That means lawmakers have only weeks left to tinker.

“The only time the General Assembly can get out the $200 million reserved for property tax cuts, and other money we can find for property tax cuts, is now, and that is not an opportunity that we want to miss,” Polis said, referring to money lawmakers had already earmarked to help with property taxes as part of an HH companion bill.

As they look for options to cobble together money to offset the cost of tax relief measures, lawmakers also have the option under state law of dipping into the TABOR refund pool.

Polis said he wants lawmakers to focus on both of the big tools at their disposal to cut property taxes: lowering the assessment rate, or the percentage used to determine the assessed value of a property; and adjusting the actual value of the home, where lawmakers can grant a flat deduction.

The latter is seen as a more progressive approach. Lopping, say, $50,000 from the valuation — to use the figure proposed by Proposition HH — would be more impactful on a $200,000 property than a $2 million property.

“I think you want to do both in some way, shape or form, but you want to make that package progressive in the sense that … lower-income homeowners would get more benefit than high-income homeowners,” Polis said.

Democratic legislative leaders also said they want the special session’s relief bills to be intentional in how they help lower-income Coloradans and renters, whether by expanding the earned income tax credit or offering some kind of rental assistance program.

McCluskie and Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, each said equal TABOR refunds — something that would have happened for one year under HH — had high interest in their caucus. The default six-tier system gives higher refunds to Coloradans who report higher incomes, on the basis that they paid more in taxes.

“Lots of conversations we still need to have”

The special session likely will result in the formation of a “blue ribbon committee” to examine long-term solutions to the year-by-year uncertainty of property taxes, Polis said. Some of that has been caused by state leaders’ failure to overhaul the tax system after voters in 2020 repealed the Gallagher Amendment, which for a long time had shifted more of the property tax burden onto commercial property owners.

But legislators’ prime focus will be on the shocks looming in the immediate future. In particular: How to cut the projected spikes in property taxes without hamstringing the local governments, many of them facing growing pains, that rely on the revenue for county services or special districts, such as libraries and fire protection services.

“There are lots of conversations we still need to have to figure out what the legislature and stakeholders are most comfortable with,” Fenberg said. “At the end of the day, it depends on how big of a cut and how much of a backfill we can afford to provide.”

Scott Wasserman, president of the progressive Bell Policy Center, said the special session will have failed if it doesn’t include equal TABOR rebates for all Coloradans. He also called for putting more emphasis on property value deductions for homes that on tapping down the assessment rate.

Some progressive Democrats criticized Prop. HH for too little focus on lower-income Coloradans and renters, who have weathered their own sharp increases in housing costs and general cost of living in recent years.

“It’s the people whose homes are on the lower scale who are going to be hurting the most as a result of the property taxes going up,” said Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat. “And when our schools are underfunded and essential social services are underfunded in our state, I don’t know that we need to be giving John Elway a tax cut on his home in Cherry Hills.”

How long the session will last is unclear, but it takes at least three days for a bill to pass both chambers of the General Assembly. Fenberg, during a bipartisan meeting of legislative leaders Thursday to sketch out the timeline of the special session, said three days was his goal, but there’s no guarantee. Any stall can quickly add days.

In an interview after Polis’ announcement, House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, a Wellington Republican, said he’s hopeful his caucus will have a voice in the discussion. He noted that the party had already drafted several bills for their pre-election calls for a special session.

“Real simply, we’ve been calling for (a special session) because we knew HH wasn’t the solution,” Lynch, a Wellington Republican, said. “This isn’t political. It isn’t an ideological fight. It’s property taxes.”

GOP lawmakers tend to favor more direct solutions that reduce assessment rates or increase exemptions and deductions, without providing aid to local governments or tampering with TABOR refunds.

“The people want actual property tax relief,” Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen said. “Not us paying them with their own refunds.”

Fenberg and McCluskie said their own lines in the sand include making sure school districts don’t lose out on money they’re otherwise due from rising property valuations. Given Democrats’ majority control of both chambers, that priority is likely to control some of the debate to come.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

A bipartisan draft bill approved Tuesday by the Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee would prohibit state government, local governments and homeowners’ associations from planting new nonfunctional turf, artificial turf or invasive plants on any commercial, industrial or institutional property beginning at the start of 2025.

The proposed ban would not apply to residential lawns.

The goal behind the proposed legislation is to reduce water use in the often drought-ridden state as Colorado becomes warmer and more arid. Nearly half of water used in cities and towns goes to watering lawns — most of which are planted with nonnative turf, said Lindsay Rogers, a policy advisor with Western Resource Advocates who testified on the draft bill during Tuesday’s hearing.

“Our new bill makes a simple change that will have major ripple effects,” Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Frisco Democrat, said in a news release. “By restricting the installation of grass turf in new developments and nonfunctional areas, we can significantly cut down on nonessential water use and ensure we’re using our water as efficiently as possible.”

The bipartisan bill is part of an ongoing effort in Colorado and across the drying West to reduce the amount of water-dependent grasses with plants that can thrive in the region’s climates with little or no extra watering. Though municipal water use makes up only 7% of Colorado’s annual average use — about 90% is used for agriculture — replacing ornamental grass is an impactful tool that reduces water use, Rogers said.

The bill defines nonfunctional turf as grass that is predominantly ornamental and serves no function. Common examples are road medians and strips of grass between a sidewalk and a street. The bill does not ban the use of grass on private residences or in places where it serves a purpose, such as parks, sports fields or playgrounds.

“It’s ornamental, it’s purely aesthetic,” Andrew Hill, the government affairs manager at Denver Water, said during this week’s hearing.

Banning the installation of ornamental, nonnative grasses is much cheaper than replacing grass that’s already installed, said Greg Fisher, Denver Water’s manager of demand planning and efficiency.

“We really do need to make this change starting now,” he said.

The potential ban on artificial turf is meant to reduce negative impacts associated with it, including an exacerbation of the heat island effect, in which urban areas become hotter because artificial infrastructure reflects heat instead of absorbing it, as vegetation does. Artificial turf also can release chemicals into watersheds.

Colorado lawmakers in 2022 passed a bill that provided financial incentives to local governments, nonprofits and other entities to replace irrigated turf with more water-efficient landscaping. Several municipalities, including Aurora and Broomfield, have approved ordinances that restrict the use of ornamental turf or help pay to replace it.

The draft bill next will be reviewed by the Legislative Council. Four lawmakers — Roberts, Rep. Karen McCormick, D-Longmont; Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango; and Sen. Cleave Simpson, R-Alamosa — said they would sponsor the bill during the 2024 legislative session, which is set to begin Jan. 10.

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.

Once again, lawmakers stopped short of advancing a controversial measure sought by some advocates and public health officials. The sanctioned sites are seen as a tool to reduce overdose deaths by allowing drug users to legally consume illicit substances under the supervision of staff.

Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, the chair of the Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Study Committee, said Polis’ office issued the veto threat on the bill last week, three days before the committee was set to meet for a final time. Polis’ office also called Sen. Kyle Mullica, a swing vote on the supervised use issue who had worked with deGruy Kennedy throughout the summer on a compromise.

Mullica voted against the policy Monday. The draft had proposed to give the state oversight and to require local government approval before any facilities, called safe-use sites by advocates, could open within a jurisdiction.

Mullica, who voted against a similar policy in April over regulatory concerns, joined with fellow Democratic Rep. Mary Young and the committee’s four Republicans in sinking the measure.

Advocates, many public health officials and several Democrats have repeatedly pushed the policy in recent years to combat the state’s ongoing fentanyl crisis. But Republicans, law enforcement officials and moderate Democrats have steadily opposed and defeated the proposal, stopping efforts in Denver to pilot such sites.

“This isn’t really a resource question with this bill,” said deGruy Kennedy, a Lakewood Democrat. “This is giving permission for an organization that’s ready to do this, to go do it. And I’m incredibly disappointed that it’s not going to be moving forward today. … Here’s to saving more lives next year.”

The committee approved four other measures aimed at preventing overdoses and substance use while improving treatment offerings statewide. Three passed the study committee with bipartisan support.

Each bill broadly addresses a particular area of drug policy: treatment, harm reduction, prevention or recovery. If approved during the legislative session, which begins in January, the bills would improve access to key opioid treatment medications, expand a proven but underutilized methamphetamine treatment, bolster health funding for prisons and jails, and broaden legal immunity protections and flexibility for organizations that work with drug users.

The bills also would improve screening of kids for substance use in schools and in pediatricians’ offices. A final interim committee will review the draft bills before they proceed to the full legislature.

Taken together, the bills mark a significant return by the legislature to drug policy, 18 months after a bruising fight over criminal penalties for fentanyl possession. They are emerging amid an ongoing overdose crisis fueled by fentanyl and methamphetamine.

“These bills will be extremely impactful,” said Jose Esquibel, the director of the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention. ” … We still have a crisis to deal with. There’s still plenty of room for policy to help us do the work we need to do.”

As for the rejected supervised-use measure, it’s unclear how influential Polis’ veto threat was in the outcome. Young voted in favor of a similar proposal earlier this year and said she supported the science underpinning supervised-use sites. But concerns from constituents swayed her to vote no, she said — not the governor.

DeGruy Kennedy, meanwhile, said Polis’ message “100%” had an impact. DeGruy Kennedy had hammered out amendments with Mullica, including limiting any facilities to Denver only. The ink wasn’t yet dry when Polis’ office called, he said.

Mullica said concerns from the governor and others “make it hard to move forward today.”

In a statement, Polis spokesman Conor Cahill said the governor “has been clear with Coloradans and the legislature that he is opposed to these drug use sites.” He also said there was “great uncertainty” about federal law conflicting with the facilities.

A federal prosecutor in New York, which opened the first sanctioned facilities in the country two years ago, warned that he planned to take action against them. Those facilities remain open, and Rhode Island is preparing to open approved sites.

Lisa Raville, the executive director of the Harm Reduction Action Center and a leading proponent of supervised sites, called Monday’s committee vote “incredibly disappointing.”

She’d stared at the ceiling as some legislators explained their decisions to vote no.

The defeat does not completely sink the policy’s chances during next year’s legislative session. An individual legislator could propose it again, though Polis’ opposition almost certainly dooms any effort.

Rep. Elisabeth Epps, a Denver Democrat who co-sponsored the supervised-use sites bill that failed earlier this year, said Monday that she was considering resurrecting the measure and would decide after discussing it more with advocates.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.