Civil Union Bill Dies In “Kill Committee”
A measure that would grant civil unions to same-sex couple in Colorado died in committee Monday before it could make it to a vote before the full state House.
The measure was rejected in a 5-4 vote after Republican House speaker Frank McNulty (R-Highlands Ranch) sent it to the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, dubbed the “kill committee” because the bill did not have the votes to be successful. If the bill had made it to a vote on the House floor, it was expected to pass and be signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Mark Ferrandino (D-Denver) who is openly gay and said he’s been with his partner for more than a decade. He slammed McNulty for not giving the bill a chance to be voted on.
“A majority of members of the Senate, a majority of the House and the governor, as well as the vast majority of Coloradans want to see this become law,” said Ferrandino. “We’ve seen the democratic process thwarted, both on Tuesday night and today by sending this through a process the Speaker knew the bill would die.”
McNulty responded by criticizing Hickenlooper for calling the special session in the first place and said that it was time to put focus back on the economy and creating jobs.
“I understand why Rep. Ferrandino is passionate about this issue, but the bottom line is, we have to get back to work for our part to put Coloradans back to work, and make sure we’re doing what we can to help encourage Colorado’s economic recovery and that’s where our focus is going to be.”
People spoke passionately on both sides of the civil unions issue in a hearing that lasted several hours
Rep. Lois Court (D-Denver) began to cry as she voiced her support for the bill.
“To those of you who think this will challenge your marriage, I can’t understand you!” said Court.
Rep. Don Coram (R-Montrose) said he couldn’t support the bill, even though his son his gay.
“What you’re asking me to do here is invalidate the vote of six years ago,” Coram said, referencing the the 2006 vote in Colorado banning same sex marriage.
Coram went on to say that he believed the gay community was being used as a political pawn.
Gov. Hickenlooper called the special legislative session after Republicans avoided debating the civil union bill by unnecessarily stalling on other bills and then stopping work for hours, killing the bill and several others that needed to be voted on before the legislative deadline
Ferrandino said he would not stop fighting for the measure in the future.
“This is going to happen,” he said in the committee hearing. “It’s just a matter of when it will happen and who will stand in the way.”
