In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

124 T h e “ S i l l y ” T w e n t i e t h G e n e r a l A ss e m b l y the governor vetoed it, the Denver Express planned to lead a petition drive to try to kill the law at the polls.109 The bill was only designed “to give the Water Company a court standing for a long fight to prevent Denver’s owning its own water system,” the paper asserted.110 Earlier, the Express had concluded that the senate passage of the bill showed that the senate was still “owned by corporations.”111 The other home rule issue related to the regulation of taxis, which Denver jealously guarded as a city prerogative. Senator Charles Hamilton’s SB 219 provided for the licensing of operators and the regulation of taxis by the state. Helen attempted to amend the bill to prohibit licensees from carrying passengers for hire and to maintain the right of cities to regulate taxis through past and future ordinances. Her amendment to the Committee of the Whole report lost by voice vote, and the bill passed Second Reading.112 Interestingly, the bill set a speed limit in town of one mile in three minutes, or twenty miles an hour. The taxi regulation bill passed 28 to 7, with Helen among the 7 votes against.113 It was also vetoed by the governor. Thus the home rule power of larger cities was maintained. Miscellaneous Bills by Helen and Others HelenopposedSB10bySenatorCasimiroBarela,abilltoallowcounties to buy land for fairs and horse racing and to manage and operate them, in part because Denver’s Overland Park had become “a hell hole,” she said, since the racing commission was organized.114 After Senator Lewis’s failing motion to except the bill from the Committee of the Whole report,115 she sought unanimous consent to offer an amendment on Third Reading. She wanted to insert that “nothing in this act shall be construed as permitting racetrack or any other form of gambling.” Consent to offer an amendment was not granted, and the bill passed on Third Reading.116 Helen was one of ten votes against, while twenty-two senators voted for the bill. SB 163, on railroad cars, which Helen sponsored, limited the number of freight cars on a grade to thirty and freight cars on the flat to fifty. Also, there could be no more than twelve passenger cars in one 125 T h e “ S i l l y ” T w e n t i e t h G e n e r a l A ss e m b l y train.Thiswasoneoffourbillssupportedbyrailwaymen,soherintroduction of this bill pleased her allies in labor. The committee on railroads reported SB 163 without recommendation to the Committee of the Whole.117 It was not considered further.118 (Though this bill is perfectly serious, it is reminiscent of the silly amendment a member of the “Cowboy Caucus” tried to add to my bill when I was a greenhorn in the senate. It required that freight trains had to have—every ten cars—a high coupling and a low cut-out opening so drivers tired of waiting in their cars at train crossings could dash through! Needless to say, the amendment was withdrawn before a vote.) Helen cosponsored SB 405 by Senator Barela to pay an assistant sergeant-at-arms of the senate for the first month of 1895. This interesting alliance of the long-serving Republican and Senator Robinson was designed to redress a twenty-year oversight. It involved a payment of $291 with interest. The bill passed both houses, but the parsimonious governor vetoed it, as he did every other bill for the relief of an individual.119 The State Historical and Natural History Society, incorporated and approved by the Second General Assembly in 1879, was further defined in SB 316 by Senator Eaton. The society was made the trustee ofthestatecollectionsandofreportsthenownedbythesociety.Helen tried to amend the bill with a Committee of the Whole amendment to strike section 7, but her amendment failed 13 to 21.120 She may have been trying to allow the public to vote on the bill by striking the emergency clause, section 6 in the final bill. The emergency clause prevented reference of the bill to the people for a vote. In the house the enacting clause had been stricken, and then that action was reconsidered , so there was some controversy over the bill. House Joint Memorial...

Share