Colorado: Mark Ferrandino

Without fanfare or even a mention, Gov. Bill Ritter sometime on Monday “quietly” signed into law Senate Bill 88, which extends health insurance benefits to gay and lesbian domestic partners of state employees, The Denver Post’s John Ingold reports. It’s the same way Ritter, a Democrat, has signed two other gay-rights bills in the last two years, Ingold points out, on a Monday “with scant public notice.”

Ritter said earlier this month he would probably sign the bill, but the gay-rights bill wasn’t listed on numerous recent press releases announcing the governor’s plans to sign everything from a bill “to help kids with food allergies” to a bill that “clarifies the existing statute concerning aggregating multiple charges of theft.

Hundreds of business people gathered outside the Capitol Monday to urge lawmakers to vote against legislation that would drain $500 million from a workers' compensation insurance fund to help balance the state budget.

The opponents, who included Pinnacol employees, insurance agents who sell Pinnacol coverage and some business owners with policies, gathered on the west side of the Capitol.

A Pinnacol employee with a bullhorn led the crowd in chants, including "Shame on Shaffer," a reference to Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, the sponsor of one of the bills that target Pinnacol money.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, pointed behind him and told the crowd that "we should be scraping the gold off the dome before we raid your money.

Colorado lawmakers learned Monday that the holes in the state's budgets are not quite as big as they'd feared last week.

The bad news, though, is that they have only a few days to come up with more than $900 million in cuts or other ways to fill the gap.

"We're definitely not going to be making a lot of friends over the next two days," said Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, a member of the Joint Budget Committee, which crafts the budget.

Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, chairwoman of the JBC, said budget analysts were running out of ideas and that significant cuts to programs would be inevitable.

Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver. (Photo/Bob Spencer, The Colorado Independent)

A Colorado House committee voted Tuesday afternoon to approve a bill that would extend health insurance benefits to same-sex domestic partners of state employees.

Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver. (Photo/Bob Spencer, The Colorado Independent)

The bill, which has already passed the state Senate, advanced on a party-line vote after testimony from opponents, who said the measure unfairly extends special rights to gay couples and defies the will of state voters, who passed an amendment banning gay marriage in 2006. Supporters called it the right thing to do and said the benefits to the state outweigh anticipated costs.