Session wrap-up provides final update, our take on key legislation

All is relatively quiet now at the Colorado Capitol, a sharp contrast to the final, hectic days of the 2011 legislative session.

It was the first session since 2002 that the political parties split control in the legislature. The split changed the dynamic from recent sessions and defined the 2011 legislative session in many ways. It drove a policy stalemate in which each chamber canceled out the other's more partisan proposals. It also shaped the budget negotiations.

We have written a wrap-up of the session not to score winners and losers but to provide a final update on bills that we considered important and to provide some commentary and context on how each bill fared.

Even with the split chambers, the legislature passed several significant bills that will expand opportunities for many Coloradans.

Among these are SB 200 to establish health exchanges, HB 1288 to restructure the financing of Colorado's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, SB 52 to set goals for higher education and SB 184 to create a tax amnesty program and establish reporting requirements for tax expenditures.

Also, we are pleased that the last-minute effort to undo last year's payday lending reforms failed.

To read our wrap-up, click here.