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As Republicans take over the state House under the golden dome in Denver, they’re sprucing up the place by changing a few committee names to better fit their worldview. They’ve stripped the words “human services” from the House Health and Human Services Committee. They’ve also removed the word “labor” from the Business Affairs and Labor Committee. And in a blow perhaps to renewable energy, the word “energy” was taken out of the House Transportation and Energy Committee (via State Bill Colorado).
The changes peeved many on the left side of the spectrum, from Mike Cerbo, the executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, to the Democrats’ House minority leader-elect, Representative Sal Pace. “The new committee names are a reflection of Speaker [Frank] McNulty’s radical conservative agenda,” Pace says (via The Colorado Independent).
Others seem befuddled, like Representative Max Tyler, a member of the Transportation and Energy Committee last session. “I don’t know what committee will consider energy bills this year,” he says.
There have been rumors that more changes are to come, including to the makeup of committees—from the traditional 6-5 split to a 7-4 split, with Republicans dominating each. But Pace and other leaders point out that Republicans won’t have the power to make any of their changes stick if votes in House District 29, which is still undecided, goes to a Democrat.