Colorado special session ends with no fix for pot-tax error

A Republican majority in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday rejected a bill approved by the Democratic controlled House, effectively ending any chance at passage.

Associated Press

Oct. 03, 2017, 2:35 p.m.

Colorado lawmakers have ended a special session without a fix to an intricate spending law that stripped some quasi-government agencies of the ability to collect sales taxes on recreational marijuana.

A Republican majority in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday rejected a bill approved by the Democratic controlled House, effectively ending any chance at passage. The Senate and House adjourned soon after the 3-2 committee vote.

Lawmakers agreed that they didn’t intend to remove the agencies’ ability to charge the taxes and Gov. John Hickenlooper ordered a special session to fix it. But Republicans controlling the Senate called a special session wasteful.

They also questioned whether a fix violated provisions of Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights.

Hickenlooper and other Democrats said they were simply restoring taxes already approved by voters.

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