Republican members of a powerful budget committee in the legislature on Thursday voted to withhold funding for the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a move that could be revisited but which quickly stoked political outcry from Democrats and the LGBT community.
The commission is at the center of the pending U.S. Supreme Court case involving the refusal of Lakewood baker Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012..
Charlie Craig and David Mullins filed a discrimination complaintwith the Colorado Civil Rights Commission after their request was declined, and the commission sided with them — as did the Colorado Court of Appeals when the case wound up there. It has since been accepted by and heard before the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule this spring.
State Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Berthoud Republican who sits on the Joint Budget Committee, which held up the funding, said he voted to withhold money for the commission — which operates under the the Colorado Civil Rights Division — because he is waiting to see if lawmakers vote to renew the law to authorize the commission’s existence (which is coming this session).
“This is the commission who ruled against Masterpiece Cake, and now the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing that decision,” Lundberg said in a Facebook post. “My argument against approving their funding today is we need to wait and see what the legislature does with the renewal of the law authorizing the commission, which is up for sunset review in this session.”
Democratic members on the Joint Budget Committee pushed back against the move, said member Sen. Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat.
“It’s important to remember that we budget to current law,” Moreno said. “The (Civil Rights Division) is current law. And we should fund it.”
Moreno said he thinks the committee Republicans’ votes are related to the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.
“They want to limit what the (Civil Rights Division) can do,” Moreno told reporters. “The office of civil rights is there to protect everyone’s civil rights, whether it’s your sexual orientation, your race, your religion, your national origin. All of those things are protected under the office of civil rights. I don’t see how limiting any of their work benefits the people of Colorado.”
The office of Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper echoed those sentiments.
“Refusing to fund the commission is puzzling at best, and sends the wrong message to Coloradans – and businesses looking to move to Colorado – on the state’s commitment to equal rights,” Hickenlooper’s spokeswoman, Jacque Montgomery, said in a written statement.
ONE Colorado, an LGBT advocacy organization, said Thursday’s vote vote “sends a very disturbing message.”
Rep. Millie Hamner, a Dillion Democrat who chairs the Joint Budget Committee, said the GOP members’ decision won’t have any immediate impact on the Civil Rights Division, as they were discussion next year’s budgets.
Another JBC member, Rep. Bob Rankin, a Carbondale Republican, said the issue is likely to be revisited.
“We haven’t approved it yet,” he said. “That’s all it really is.”
