Opening Day at the Capitol began with pageantry, speeches, housekeeping resolutions and laughter.   The strained budget was the focus, but it was expressed in several distinct ways.

“If weed jokes were a profitable event, we’d have a budget surplus before the Ides of March,”  cracked Senate Minority leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction.

On a more serious note, Penry challenged his Democratic colleagues not to balance the budget by eliminating  a number of tax cuts enacted over the years for Colorado businesses.

“These exemptions and tax credits frequently represent strategic effort on the part of our predecessors to tear down barriers to investment in manufacturing, technology, finance and conservation,” said Penry in reference to a budget-balancing strategy offered by Gov. Bill Ritter.

Senate President Branden Shaffer, D-Longmont, who was beginning his first session in his new leadership post, said he wants a budget that is both lean and responsible.

“We will craft a budget that keeps our communities safe, our classrooms open, and our hospitals accessible,” Shaffer said.

House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, said he wants a budget that reflects what matters most to people despite a unavoidable downsizing of state services.

“We’ve always had a small government, and in the past year we’ve made it even smaller,” said Carroll, who vowed that his party would demand accountability from the government to protect the vulnerable against special interests.

The minority leader in the House, Rep. Mike May, R-Parker,  said he also wants a budget that reflects what matters most to people–their tax burden.

“The bottom line is that the money the state spends is taxpayer money,” May said. “Those taxpayers are the same people sitting around their kitchen tables at home trying to figure out how to make ends meet for their families.”

“We cannot ever lose sight of the fact that every decision we make has a real-world impact,” he said.