Republicans rallied for more than eight hours on the floor of the Colorado Senate Friday in a rare filibuster against a pro-union bill that has the state’s business community in an uproar.

As promised, GOP senators had up to 300 drafted amendments on the backburner and proposed dozens– all unsuccessful – in a bid to highlight the dangers of House Bill 1072, a Democrat measure that makes it easier to force closed union shops on Colorado workplaces.

Debate on the bill began just before 10 a.m. and ended at about 6 p.m., when the bill was passed on second reading.

Majority Democrats cut short the debate long enough to ram through a trial lawyer-friendly bill in a move the Republicans called a reprisal for their filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs, rose to ask Democrat Majority Leader Ken Gordon to lay the bill over but was rebuffed.

“It’s the public that is hurt when we cut off debate and rush bills through like that,”

McElhany said.

When the debate on HB-1072 resumed, Democrats set off a controversy over the rules by requiring rapid-fire votes on all remaining GOP amendments rather than allowing any discussion of them. As Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, one of the Republican floor leaders, attempted to ask for clarification on an amendment that members weren't even able to recognize, Senate President Pro tem Peter Groff, who chaired the session, cut off the microphone and pressed on with the vote.

The Democrat chair of the proceedings also repeatedly ruled out of order attempts by Republicans to invoke new Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter’s campaign promise of bipartisanship or his “Colorado Promise” campaign platform.

“So much for bipartisanship,” said Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs.

The GOP amendments have included proposals to exempt nonprofits from the bill; to allow the public to vote on the bill; to make Colorado a right-to-work state rather than a union-shop state and to exclude small businesses with less than 25 workers. All the amendments so far have been voted down or ruled out of order by the Democrat chair.

At issue is the bill’s central provision eliminating a separate vote now required by law among employees in order to force an all-union shop. Republicans, the state’s business leaders, major newspaper editorial pages and a broad swath of economic development experts have warned that the bill will drive away new businesses. Republicans also have argued that the bill cuts short the rights of workers who don’t wish to join the union.

“We … are going to be taking away the only thing Colorado has to offer future employers,” Republican Sen. Ted Harvey, of Highlands Ranch, told fellow senators. “This bill takes us backwards in recruiting businesses to come to Colorado. Employers are telling us to our face that this will hurt business.”

The bill’s Democrat Senate sponsor Jennifer Veiga, of Denver, defended the measure by saying that no one would be required to join a union. However, the GOP’s Mitchell jumped to the podium to make clear that Veiga was offering a “very hollow reassurance” because an employee in a closed shop would be forced to pay union dues regardless of membership.

“Unions are getting desperate, and they have to do something to expand their membership base,” Mitchell said. Republican Sen. Tom Wiens, of Castle Rock, said the current balance in Colorado labor law that Democrats are trying to change, “has had a positive impact on our ability to attract capital.” 

Republican Senators Mike Kopp, of Littleton, and Josh Penry, of Fruita, said it was time to put the brakes on the Democrat attempt to fast-track the bill.

“This bill is moving at a breakneck speed,” Penry said. “What is the rush?”

Kopp said he had received a torrent of e-mails, and, “Everyone of them said, ‘Let’s slow this thing down.’”