The first regular session of the 65th Colorado General Assembly convened at 10:00 on January 12 and will adjourn sine die 120 days later on May 11.

We 100 legislators are tackling one of the most serious budget challenges in the past four years because of TABOR, Amendment 23, and the recession’s impact on reducing state tax revenues.

Under TABOR, the state must return excess revenues to Colorado’s taxpayers while cutting approximately $260 million to balance next year’s budget. This is due to the combination of constitutional spending restrictions and directives from TABOR and the school-finance spending requirement from Amendment 23.

For the first time in 44 years, the Democrats control the legislature: 18-17 in the Senate and 35-30 in the House. Bipartisan solutions will be necessary in order to pass responsible legislation and to enable the General Assembly to refer a measure to the ballot this November to deal with Colorado’s budget issues.

Sen. Spence was appointed to the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee. The last four years she served in the state House, she was a member of Education and Transportation and Energy, so she is familiar with the issues and brings a voice of experience to the committee deliberations.