May 06, 2013 10:17 AM UTC

What Surprises Await Before Session's End?

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• by: Colorado Pols

The first regular legislative session of the 69th Colorado General Assembly ends no later than midnight on Wednesday. Reporters and spin doctors are busily compiling their end-of-session wrapups–but as the Durango Herald's Joe Hanel reports, there's an awful lot left to resolve, and plenty of opportunities for a fresh blowout before sine die:

The clock is ticking on the final days of one of the most active legislative sessions in anyone’s memory.

For many exhausted lawmakers, it can’t end soon enough.

But a few others will need every last hour to pass their last bills – most notably marijuana regulation, tighter rules on gas- and-oil drillers, and new telecommunications regulations.

The Legislature has until just before midnight Wednesday to finish more than 90 bills that remained on its calendar Friday afternoon. But only a handful of those will consume most of the time and energy…

It's expected that the oil and gas regulation bills will result in the most fireworks over the next three days–the marijuana bills are expected to pass in order to head off a more laissez-faire implementation of Amendment 64 than would otherwise occur. And, of course, there remain vulnerabilities innumerable as so many "uncontroversial" bills await passage. This is why, despite so many major battles already decided in the most momentous legislative session in Colorado that anyone can remember, we can't quite impart the final spin on things just yet.