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Democrats take control of Colorado House and Senate Friday

State Capitol
Posted at 10:02 PM, Jan 03, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-04 11:00:38-05

DENVER -- Democrats will take control of both the state House and Senate Friday as they begin the legislative session.

Incoming House Speaker KC Becker and Majority Leader Alec Garnett sat down with reporters to give us an idea of the new bills they will be submitting, but they were tight lipped for details.

We can expect to see new legislation that focuses on affordable housing, education, healthcare costs, renewable energy and campaign finance.

They admitted getting taxpayer approval for big projects like transportation is going to be a challenge.

The last time the Democrats held a majority in the house and senate was 2013. And that year some felt the Democrats overreached.

Becker says 90 percent of the bills they produced that year were bi-partisan.

“We absolutely will make efforts in every instance we can to make it bipartisan but that is not going to stop us from doing things that we really want to get done,” Becker said.

When the new legislative session begins Friday, lawmakers will be met with a challenge. The group Colorado Rising will be gathering at the capitol demanding a moratorium on new drilling.

From the way Democrats are talking, they plan to be in power a long time.

“I think you are going to see Democrats governing responsibly for the next four years if not deep into the next decade because that’s what the Colorado voters want. I mean, the election results were stunning,” Garnett said.