Democrat legislation that Capitol quipsters are calling the “Leave No Trial Lawyer Behind” bill passed a Senate committee today—setting the stage for what critics charge is yet another legislative session that places the interests of lawyers above business.

House Bill 1020, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party line vote of 4-2, would make sweeping changes to the litigation system in Colorado that, Republicans charge, would favor plaintiffs in lawsuits.  The Colorado Trial Lawyers Association has been lobbying for the bill and testified in support of it. 

An annual budget resolution usually regarded as a formality among lawmakers became a potent reminder today that the state faces a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a sweeping property-tax hike--and could wind up having to pay back the money.

Republican Sen. Greg Brophy, of Wray, a budget hawk who fought the tax increase when it was pushed through the General Assembly last year by Gov. Bill Ritter, urged colleagues in the Senate to set aside $117.4 million that the state would owe taxpayers if it loses the lawsuit. That sum--representing revenue that will be collected shortly in property-tax bills that are now arriving in the mail statewide--is just the first year's take on a tax hike expected to cost the public an additional $3.8 billion over the next 10 years.

"The probability of us losing that lawsuit is fairly high," Brophy told the Senate. "It is incumbent on us to be careful with our money."

Brophy had sought to attach his proposal to Senate Joint Resolution 4, and his Republican colleagues largely backed his effort to refrain from spending the extra funds pending the lawsuit's outcome. Ruling Democrats, however, defeated the proposal.