The Rocky Mountain News
www.rockymountainnews.com

Sprawl bill now being hashed out in secret
Gov. Owens and other critics contend work should be done in open

By Todd Hartman
April 19, 2001

The legislature's attempts to craft a sprawl-control bill have moved behind closed doors. Senate President Stan Matsunaka, fearing that partisan rancor is stalling progress, has convened 16 people to hash out compromises on several contentious issues in private. "We can get so entangled in a position we lose sight of the obvious goal," Matsunaka said Wednesday -- three weeks before the end of the session.

Lawmakers touting the effort say the group is evenly divided politically and excludes those who have been lobbying the matter at the Capitol. But critics, including Republican Gov. Bill Owens, say the issues should be worked out in the open. "It's clear that they are having these meetings at the exclusion of the entire state," said Owens' spokesman Dick Wadhams. "This is not the way to do business."

Dani Newsum, media director for the Senate Democrats, wouldn't release the names of those participating in the meetings, though the Rocky Mountain News confirmed 14 of the 16 participants through other sources. The group met for several hours Tuesday and Wednesday at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and will continue to meet over the coming days.

Lawmakers said the meetings comply with state open meetings law because no more than one legislator is present. If two or more lawmakers attend, the meeting must be open to anyone. A reporter was denied access Wednesday, but two of Owens' staffers -- policy director Rick O'Donnell and director of regulatory agencies Michael Cooke -- "crashed" the meeting after they found out about it, Wadhams said.

Meanwhile at the Capitol, a Senate committee agreed to revive the Democrat-backed growth management bill that was killed last week by a House committee, a move the Senate sponsor of the bill called procedural.

The result: The bill known as HB 1225 went from being a proposal with far looser growth controls to being a tougher growth-management bill. But both sponsors of the bill, Sen. Ed Perlmutter, D-Jefferson County, and Rep. Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, say they hope the group meeting in private can reach some compromises that lawmakers can translate into changes to the bill.