Senate President Steve Fenberg Delivers Opening Day Remarks

DENVER, CO – Colorado Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, today delivered his Opening Day Remarks to kick off the 2024 legislative session - his last as Senate President. 

Below is a transcript of Fenberg’s remarks as prepared for delivery:

Mr. Majority Leader, Mr. President Pro Tempore, Mr. Minority Leader - friends, colleagues, loved ones - good morning, and welcome to the second session of the 74th General Assembly of the Colorado State Senate!

It’s an honor to be with you all here today. I want to start off by recognizing a few folks. 

My wife Lindsay is here today. Lindsay, your support has been immense, but I also know there isn’t a bigger fan of term limits than you. 

And of course the real reason why I come to work every day…my best friends in the whole wide world: my daughters Isa and Marlow.

My Board of County Commissioners is here as well: Claire Levy, Marta Loachamin, and Ashley Stolzman.

And the Mayors from my district: Boulder Mayor Aaron Brocket, Louisville Mayor Chris Leh, and Superior Mayor Mark Lacis. 

It’s been a year of change for many of us - and we have some new faces and roles in the Chamber I’d like to acknowledge. 

Most importantly, I want to extend an extremely warm welcome to our newest Senator, Dafna Michaelson Jenet! 

She’s been with us for a few months now - and of course most of us have worked with her in the House - but we are still very excited to work alongside you, Senator, and we look forward to the great work you’ll do here in the Senate.

Senator Michaelson Jenet’s arrival here was necessitated by the departure of former Majority Leader and current traitor, Dominick Moreno, who broke our hearts this summer when he decamped for the greener pastures - across the street at the City of Denver.

I used to refer to Dom as my work husband. He would quickly correct me and say he felt a little more comfortable in the work wife role. And while I am excited to work alongside the new Majority Leader, I gotta admit, I am not quite sure I’m ready to call you my wife just yet, Robert. 

But I’m sure we’ll get there. Congratulations on your new role.

Another new addition to our leadership team is Senator Faith Winter, who is now serving as our Assistant Majority Leader. Congratulations to you as well, Senator. 

You’ll also see a few new faces up here at the desk and on the floor. I’m excited to introduce our new members of the non-partisan staff to the team. Tammy, Eric, Mary, Shannon, Wayne, Mary Ann - welcome aboard! 

As for those who came back - Ryan, Jonathan, John, Frank, Ted, Matthew, Sadia, Rick, Tom, Randy, and Ben - thanks for sticking around, and for your continued service to the Senate.

I want to recognize two people who have been with me on this journey from almost the very beginning. Mindy Miller and Nellie Moran. We’ve been through a lot together and 

I’d also like to take a moment to recognize someone who we all thought would have ridden off into the sunset by now, maybe seeing a show at the Sphere or sitting out at the pool with a cocktail…but you just can’t seem to quit us, can you? 

The true public servant of the Senate. The most committed and caring Secretary this chamber has ever had, Cindi Markwell. You’re like a second encore from your favorite band–where you know in your heart that if you just clap harder and longer, they’ll come back. And you did and we’re forever grateful for it. Please join me in thanking Cindi for all that she has given to the Colorado Senate. 

However, Cindi, I think you have now retired 17 times. So, I’m going to say this into the record: Cindi, when we have late nights or when a certain Senator starts “Bobbing” for hours upon hours, you should deputize your very competent front desk staff, go home, be with family, or just simply get some rest. Eventually we’re going to need to figure out how to exist without you, so we might as well start practicing now. 

It takes a lot to keep this place running. Our system of self-governance depends on people like Cindi, and everyone else in this room, in this building, and in our state to help ensure civil society and our institutions persist. This is what I want to speak about today on this inaugural day of the second session of the 74th General Assembly–my last session serving with you in this chamber.

The 35 of us have been given an incredible honor by the people of Colorado. Each of us plays an integral role in the democratic process. Our job is to take the values, beliefs, and experiences of our constituents and translate that into casting votes on their behalf, on issues related to just about every topic you could think of. 

From critically important topics like license plate designs, to uncontroversial, mundane bills like land use, we have the amazing opportunity to weigh in on a myriad of issues. 

After all, the legislative process is how we, as a group of millions of people who come from different walks of life, who have different priorities, and who maybe even believe in different facts, come together and make collective decisions for our state.

We are called politicians. Public figures. Legislators. Lawmakers. Often we’re called much worse.

Yes we are all of those things. But we are also something far more important, if less prestigious: we are caretakers. Caretakers of this great chamber. Of our great state. Of this democracy. 

The democracy we’re charged with defending is the foundation that underpins our republic. The ideals of our democracy can and should remain stable - but our values, our ideas, and the people that animate and utilize those concepts to effect change and govern our great state can, and should, evolve. 

I used to think, back when I first got elected, that my job was to be a radical change maker, to push the boundaries every day for what I believed in. To be more of an activist than a politician. 

I now have a much simpler, perhaps less exciting, vision of what the job is. 

Yes, we are political actors who have agendas and ideologies. On the campaign trail, we’re candidates. At the town hall, we’re public officials. On the nightly news, we’re spokespeople. 

But when you walk into this building, when you sit at the dais in committee in front of a nameplate, when you sit at one of the 35 oak desks in this chamber that have been here more than a century, you’re simply a moment in time. You are one of 35 who have the honor–the responsibility–to ensure there will be moments in time after you leave.

It may seem like a low bar, but our first job is to not mess it up. 

Maybe I’m full of it. I drank the Kool-Aid and sold out. And this whole place is actually designed  to keep the status quo. I walk up the steps of the rotunda every morning and get intoxicated by the marble and beautiful gold dome and stained glass windows. Maybe it was built that way to get us to fall in line and defend the institution instead of attacking it with change. 

Maybe.

But it worked - and my time here has made me okay with it. Because if this institution—this thing we call democracy—was simply just a shell to be filled with political agendas every two or four years, it would be a recipe for a volatile government that probably would’ve collapsed generations ago. 

If this place was simply a vessel for the populism of the day that swings with the blowing winds of trends and slogans, the pendulum would eventually swing off its hinge. It would result in the erosion of the institution. Of democracy. Perhaps even civil order itself. 

Our founders and the architects of this great civic temple didn’t—and couldn’t have—accounted for some of the things threatening it today. One of those threats is that an enormous amount of political debate no longer occurs primarily in the physical boundaries of these marble walls - or even in face-to-face conversations of any type. More often than not, it’s happening on our phones. 

It’s happening through anonymous tweets where civil debate has been replaced by algorithms that are designed for outrage, not understanding. 

Or it’s a nightly news anchor who has made the calculus that viewership rises not with stories of bipartisanship, problem-solving, and collegiality, but with deadlock, drama, and corruption. 

Or it’s increasingly us–the legislators–who sit there thinking about the quippy social media post that scores points with our followers instead of taking the time to walk across the room and talk to our colleague. Too often our words and actions breed cynicism, feed hate for those we disagree with, and encourage more yelling, and less listening. 

We must resist the urge to be performers. We must remind ourselves that to be a caretaker of this institution, we need to legislate for constituents, not for twitter. We must live up to the same standards that every man or woman who sat in our desks before us over the last 150 years has lived up to. 

That’s not to say our democracy and our institutions should be frozen in time. And, of course, our goal should not be to preserve the status quo simply for status quo’s sake. Just because that’s how it’s always been done isn’t good enough. That’s not what I mean by calling on us to be caretakers.

But the way we approach debating ideas and how we treat each other - in other words, how we show up in our democracy - impacts the stability of the institution itself. 

If you think about it, with all that is working against it, the fact that we still have a democracy is actually quite remarkable. It takes hard work to stay above the fray, especially when the alternative seems to be rewarded these days. But if we’ve learned anything the last several years, it’s that democracy is incredibly fragile. 

In the blink of an eye, our entire world can change. Just ask the Israelis to compare their lives from October 6th to October 8th. Or the Palestinian civilians who suddenly not only don’t have a home, they don’t have a neighborhood, a family, or even a functioning society. 

It’s mind-boggling how fast our politics–and our world–can change these days. And it’s only speeding up.

In the coming years, our democracy and our institutions will be tested like they’ve never been tested before: 
 

• The promise and peril of AI. 

• The threat of a court-declared insurrectionist, a man who fomented a violent attack on our nation’s Capital and our democracy once again rising to power.

• Multiple wars raging across the globe backed by superpowers, perhaps as preview proxies for larger, more existential battles yet to come. 

So, being a caretaker of an institution might not be why we ran for office. But, if you think about all that is happening in this crazy world right now, and all the forces that are actively working against our democracy’s survival, it suddenly seems like the most courageous and important thing we could possibly do with the positions of power that we hold, is to simply do our part to ensure it continues.

It is more important now than ever that we remind ourselves that we are here as representatives of others to engage in deliberative debate aimed at solving problems. We were not sent here to shout at those we disagree with. We were not sent here to be a protest vote. We were sent here to fight for our values, not each other. We were sent here to govern.

We know that humans are social creatures and the norms in a society are contagious. But that also means that when norms break down, that breakdown too is contagious. And you can’t predict where it ends. We saw a small glimpse of that in the special session—in both chambers. 

I’ve certainly been guilty of it myself. 

We are all responsible for our actions and for their consequences. So I ask you: what will our actions be this session, and what will the consequences of those actions be for this institution? 

My hope is for rigorous debate that results in better policy outcomes. My hope is for critical eyes on each piece of legislation that moves through this body, no matter if it’s sponsored by Democrat or Republican. My hope is that we use the tools available to us to shape the world around us for the better. And that we do it together more often than apart, and that will result in strengthening this institution.

Yes, we should fight like hell for what we believe in. We should work day and night on crafting the policies we are passionate about. We should stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. But, most importantly, we should double down on a commitment to do all of it with deliberation, civility, and integrity. 

That’s the gift that democratic legislative systems give us. They allow us, each year, to begin anew, to come to work and engage with each other’s ideas, so we may confront the challenges facing us today. And each year, to recommit to how we will work with one another. 

Today I’m making that commitment, and hope all of you will as well. 

And let’s face it–we’re going to need to make that commitment together if we’re going to make progress on the immense challenges facing us: 

• We are still facing the impacts of climate change on our landscapes and rivers. I don’t know about you, but I hope my daughters will experience the same sense of wonder that the beauty of Colorado’s natural spaces instilled in me. 

• But what good is clean air and healthy forests if only the rich can enjoy them? Everything has gotten more expensive. I hope for my daughters to be able to afford to raise their daughters here. To have a home where they feel safe, secure, and happy. 

• And speaking of children, I hope for an education system that no longer strives for the national average, but instead sets a new standard for how to truly prepare the next generation.

Luckily, the solutions for turning those hopes into reality are right in front of us. Build more homes. Fully fund our schools. Expand transportation options. Preserve our public lands.

We have major opportunities this session to make our mark for generations to come. 

Take the opportunity with school funding. Thanks to the responsible budgeting of Senators Zenzinger, Bridges, and Kirkmeyer and the Joint Budget Committee, we’re finally going to eliminate the budget stabilization factor. Once and for all. 

This will help us get on a path to pay teachers what their profession deserves, and provide the much-needed classroom resources our students require. 

For years now, we’ve been shortchanging our schools, and robbing our most critical assets of the care, training, and education they need to reach their potential. School is where our kids find themselves, shape their futures, and become all that they can be. 

But students, and the teachers who guide and shape their growing minds, can’t reach their potential without the proper resources. 

The last time we fully funded our schools at the level required by our Constitution, President Obama had yet to shock the world by wearing a tan suit. The Office was a huge hit on TV, instead of a huge hit on streaming. My hair was brown. 

The hole we’ve dug ourselves out of is immense: over time, we’ve shortchanged schools to the tune of nearly $10 billion dollars.

Now, we’re on a path to pay off that IOU. That’s a big deal. Is it going to be enough? Of course not. But we will stop acting from a place of scarcity and move to a mindset of building for the future. We must remind ourselves that this is the floor, not the ceiling. It’s the bare minimum, not the end goal. 

Our kids deserve it. Our educators deserve it. Our state deserves it and our communities need it, and we’re going to deliver, so that every Colorado student can get the education they need to thrive.

Another opportunity is to tackle head-on the housing affordability crisis. We need to do more to ensure more of us can afford to live, work, and play in the communities that we call home.

Population growth and a huge demand for housing has outpaced new construction, making it incredibly difficult for Coloradans to become first time homeowners, and making our state unaffordable for renters. The long tail of the pandemic is partially to blame. But policy-makers like ourselves must accept some of the responsibility as well - and we have a job to do. 

If we don’t do something, the opportunity to shape our state’s future will slip through our hands.

Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home. To achieve that, this year, we will work to help communities across the state increase the housing supply of for-sale and for-rent properties.

We’ll also do more to make sure folks can stay in their homes once they’ve achieved their American Dream. 

Spiking housing prices have brought the property tax question in Colorado to a crescendo - and it turns out the answer was definitely not a certain double-lettered ballot initiative.

We’ve provided significant relief to ease the pain for vulnerable folks over the past few years and during the special session - but that won’t ensure we aren’t in this position again in the future. 

We need a long-term solution that ensures our local communities and the services we all rely on–libraries, fire departments, and schools–have the resources they need while keeping property taxes reasonable. Over the next couple of months, a bipartisan task force will work to identify those solutions, and make recommendations on delivering relief without shortchanging essential local services.

But, of course, we can’t talk about just building more homes. We also need to talk about how we get to and from those homes. 

The passage of SB260 a few years ago finally put us on a more sustainable path to fund our state’s transportation backlog, but we can, and we must dream bigger.

For one, we have an opportunity before us to take the Federal Government up on their commitment and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars to turn a statewide transit system into a reality. 

We can see a future where a statewide rail system makes it easy, affordable, and safe to travel the entire length of our great state–Fort Collins to Pueblo– without ever touching an interstate. 

I can imagine regular and reliable train service to all that our mountain communities have to offer without having to first survive a harrowing drive up I-70.

And we can all imagine the impacts it will have on our traffic and emissions if that rail system serves as a backbone to expanded and reliable bus and transit service that helps take thousands of cars off our roads.

Thanks to critical funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Colorado has the opportunity to turn the dream of a truly statewide rail system that connects to bus and transit services into reality. This session, we must ensure Colorado gets its fair share of the federal infrastructure funds, and deliver the legacy of a modern, clean, and safe transportation system for generations to come.

The list of goals we hope to accomplish is long. But we’re already well on our way, and luckily we have a great team that is pushing to make these dreams reality. Later today, we’ll start introducing bills that will be the first steps in the long journey of the session. 

We’ll introduce Senator Michaelson Jenet’s bill to permanently extend the critical I Matter program, which provides up to six free mental health visits for students, and Senator Sullivan’s bill to help the Colorado Bureau of Investigations to investigate and prevent gun violence. We’ll introduce Senator Fields’ and Senator Pelton’s bipartisan bill to better support veterans, and Senator Roberts’ and Senator Simpson’s bipartisan bill to conserve more water. 

This session we’ll also be introducing bills to further our work of acknowledging the wrongs of the past while setting ourselves up to ensure inclusive opportunity for all in the future. 

We’ll expand access to quality, affordable healthcare and invest in programs to foster a workforce that meets our state’s needs. 

We’ll help communities prepare for, prevent, and respond to catastrophic wildfires. 

And that’s just to start. The promise of a new session means we still have all of the time we need to exchange ideas and work together in this laboratory of democracy to solve problems. 

I’m excited to see what we come up with.

But I’m also feeling a little bittersweet. This is my final Opening Day. 

And that’s ultimately a good thing. We’re a citizen legislature and we must always remember that. In the spirit of my friend, Hugh McKean, we must remember to take the work seriously, but not ourselves. 

This time next year, I’ll go from being Mr. President to former Mr. President to some of you. But to most, just Steve. 

But before you get too excited, for these next 120 days…I’m still in charge. And I will do everything in my power to ensure the Senate continues to be the Senate. The Upper Chamber, where logic, reason, and thoughtful debate rule the day, not group-think and raw partisanship. Where we embrace what the Senate was designed to do: slow down when needed and deliberate.

I will spend these next 120 days ensuring that we leave this institution better than we found it. To take care of this institution, and I hope you will ask yourselves how you’ll do your part to be that caretaker as well. 

I have one idea I’d like to impart on how you can do that. It’s the same challenge I gave on last year’s opening day. And that is that we need to build stronger relationships with each other. Get that beer after a long committee hearing. Sit in each other’s offices and get lost in conversation. Visit each other in our districts, get to know each other’s families. If we can commit to doing the most human thing we can do–build relationships–then we’re more likely to solve problems not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Coloradans. Coloradans who care deeply about this chamber, about our democracy, and about our state. 

Let’s do everything we can to remember that we can sometimes be opponents, but we’re never enemies. We can do that by connecting with each other not just on a policy or political level, but on a human level.

I am excited for these next 120 days. But the countdown begins today. So, let’s use them to their fullest. To make a difference for all the hard working individuals and families across this great state. They’re counting on us. So let’s get to work. 

Thank you.