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Steamboat Springs — State Sen. Jack Taylor has seen a lot during his 14 years at the Capitol in Denver.

But the Steamboat Springs Republican has never seen Colorado's government as dominated by Democrats as it will be this year. The state's 66th General Assembly convenes Wednesday and features not only Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, but also Democrat Bill Ritter as Colorado's new governor. In elections Nov. 7, Democrats expanded their majorities to 39-26 in the House of Representatives and 20-15 in the Senate. Ritter's inauguration is Tuesday.

Andrew Romanoff, a Denver Democrat set to begin his second term as Colorado's Speaker of the House, said the top three issues for Democrats this year are education, health care and the expansion of renewable energy, which was a cornerstone of Ritter's campaign.

"I think the only danger we face now is arrogance," Romanoff said of the Democratic majority. "We've seen what happens in D.C. when one party gets all the power and runs roughshod over the rules. That's a danger we're going to work very hard to avoid, most specifically by continuing to tap the talent of the other team."

That team includes Routt County's two legislators, Taylor and state

Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park. The experienced legislators said they plan to focus on water and energy issues, respectively. Both will serve on several committees this year.

Managing the budget

White recently became one of two Republicans on the six-member Joint Budget Committee, which oversees state finances and budgeting. He also is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which deals with financial aspects of proposed legislation.

Taylor will serve on the Senate's Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy Committee and Business, Labor and Technology Committee, along with the Legislative Audit Committee, Colorado Tourism Board and Water Resources Review Committee.

Bills proposed by state representatives and senators are first assigned to committees according to the bill's topic. Committees must approve a bill to send it to the House and Senate. If both chambers then approve the bill, it is finally sent to the governor's desk to be vetoed or become law.

Taylor said he does not see the Republican minority as a significant hurdle to accomplishing his goals at the Capitol.

"We were in the minority last year, and I had the best year (as a legislator) I've ever had," Taylor said, citing the passage of House Bill 1201, a tourism promotion bill he sponsored with White. The bill will provide $19 million for Colorado tourism advertising this year.

"I've always been able to cross the aisle and get things done, so I think it will just be business as usual," Taylor said of 2007.

At least one local Republican doesn't share his optimism.

"To be honest, I have fairly low expectations (for the session)," said Jennifer Schubert-Akin, chairwoman of the Routt County Republican Central Committee. "I think it will be interesting not to have the veto pen in the governor's mansion. We'll see what happens."

Power to the people

Romanoff said renewable energy proposals will be the legislation "most ready for primetime" at the start of this year's session.

"We could see about a dozen different bills in that field," Romanoff said. "The whole issue is ripe for action, especially in Colorado, because we are sunnier and windier than most states and we have a lot of intellectual resources headquartered here."

Colorado is home to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden and numerous universities involved in energy studies.

"Increasing renewable energy is going to be a huge issue," said Ken Brenner, president of the Steamboat Springs City Council and chairman of the Routt County Democratic Party.

Brenner and Romanoff both stressed the importance of increasing the state's transmission capacity for wind power.

Oil and gas

White said two of his bills this session will focus on tighter regulations for Colorado's booming oil and natural gas industries, specifically regarding payment and collection of associated mineral severance taxes. Oil and gas companies pay taxes to the state of Colorado according to company records of how much oil or gas they have produced.

"I'm going to try and send out a couple of bills that will make it easier to audit those records and to ensure that the amount being reported is actually the amount being produced," White said. "As silly as it sounds, the measuring equipment the industry has at the wellhead is not required to be calibrated."

White said he hopes to require the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission to ascertain the validity of measuring devices at all oil and gas wellheads, because, White said, "it would appear that some operators sold a lot more than they had produced."

"I believe that, frankly, there are millions of dollars to be collected out there," White said. "I'm not suggesting that the industry as a whole is less than honest, but I think there are some less-than-honest operators out there."

Watching water

Taylor said raising awareness about Western Slope water use is at the top of his list this year.

"One of the things I'll clearly be watching is water issues," Taylor said Wednesday, citing two conceptual projects that would pipe water from northwest Colorado to the Front Range.

Fort Collins resident Aaron Million has proposed a plan to pump water from the Green River near the Utah border, and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District has financed a study exploring routes to pump water from the Yampa River near the Moffat County town of Maybell.

"There are clearly two different projects, and what bothers me about both of them is the potential impact on Grand County," Taylor said. "It's critical that, if either of these happen, the return line goes through Grand County, so they can release water in Grand County."

Taylor said he hopes to establish a public hearing at the Capitol during this year's session, to inform the public and fellow legislators about Western Slope water usage.

"I think it's much too big to just involve the House and Senate agriculture committees - this is a major Colorado issue," Taylor said. "I'd like to get a lot of legislators at the hearing. I think the long-range planning for the state of Colorado is at stake here."

Conservation theme

Taylor hinted that Democratic leadership at the Capitol could impact state water usage.

"There may be influences in the new structure of state government that may want to change how we on the West Slope look at water rights," Taylor said. "That's what I'll be watching very, very carefully, so that we don't begin to go backwards relating to West Slope water."

While Brenner did not specifically discuss water issues, the Steamboat Democrat said he is very optimistic about how Ritter will manage Colorado's resources.

"I think the governor and the legislators are going to come through as conservationists," Brenner said. "We have stopped funding so many important air and water quality bills, but I think that will change. I think they're going to balance the oil and gas exploration industries with the preservation of wildlife. That's a huge theme we're going to see come out of this session."

- To reach Mike Lawrence, call 871-4203

or e-mail mlawrence@steamboatpilot.com