The Colorado legislature is reconvening in a special session Monday, but there’s no guarantee the civil unions bill Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper is urging a vote on will even be brought up.
Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty, who was accused Friday of deliberately blocking a vote on the bill as this year’s regular legislative session came to a close, told the
Denver Post he isn’t sure if he’ll assign the bill to the Judiciary Committee for review.
If that happens, the committee controlled by Republicans could end up killing the measure anyway.
The Post reported Monday morning that gay rights supporters planned to rally outside the Capitol building in hopes of sending a strong message to Republican opponents of the civil unions measure.
According to the Post, the bill has enough votes to pass if Republican leaders let it reach the floor. But that seems unlikely, the Post reported, since some GOP lawmakers won’t even be attending the special session.
Without their support, there won’t be enough votes to set a legislative agenda for the brief session, which was expected to include a number of other bills in addition to the civil unions measure.
Hickenlooper has called on opponents of the bill to put aside their own personal views on the issue.
“This is civil rights. This is people’s legal rights,” he told reporters. “It’s supposed to be guaranteed in our Constitution.”
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