Colorado Senate Passes Civil Unions Bill 23-12

The Colorado State Senate, which has a strong Democratic majority 20-15, today completed work on SB 172, the Civil Unions Act, voting by a bipartisan majority of 23-15 to send the bill to the 65-member State House of Representatives where Republicans hold a 1-vote majority.

Interestingly, the three Republicans who voted for the bill are the only 3 female members of the Republican caucus. The Colorado Independent reports:

Highlands Ranch Republican Frank McNulty, House Speaker, will now assign SB 172 to a House committee for review. The scenario that has haunted the bill since it was introduced in February is that it would pass the Democrat-controlled Senate and then be assigned to a hard-line Republican committee on the House side where four or five members could vote it down and kill it. 

That’s still a strong possibility. Yet the bill has garnered much media attention and public polling suggests large majorities of Coloradans support it. McNulty has signaled in the past that he believes the bill deserves a fair hearing and a vote in the House, where Republicans enjoy a one-seat majority. The strong bipartisan vote tally in the Senate bolsters that case. 

Gay rights organization OneColorado celebrated the Senate voice vote Wednesday, where all three Republican women supported the bill, in part for the fact that it strengthens the case for McNulty. 

“We look forward to working with House Republican leadership who have promised a fair hearing,” said Brad Clark, executive director of OneColorado. “Issues of significant importance with overwhelming public support like civil unions deserve a full and fair hearing with an up-or-down vote by the entire House.” 

House Sponsor Mark Ferrandino, a Denver Democrat, has said for weeks that he believes the bill has enough support among Republicans in the House to pass should it make it to the floor.
Supporters of the bill might take heart from the fact there are nine Republican womenserving in the House this legislative session, at least two of whom have already signaled they would vote for the bill.

It should be interesting to see if this makes it through the lower house and to Governor John Hickenlooper's desk, where it is likely the Democratic governor would sign it into law.

Then Colorado would join other Western states such as California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington (and Hawaii) having comprehensive recognition of same-sex couples under state law without calling this legal status marriage.