Sonnenberg finishes rewarding, frustrating session with more leadership than ever

The 2017 legislative session was a 180-degree change for Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling. In his new role as president pro tem of the state Senate, his responsibilities in leadership meant much more behind-the-scenes work than ever.
    It also meant he sponsored far fewer bills than before. But the biggest bill of the 2017 session carried his name and may help rural hospital doors stay open, including two in the 11-county district he serves.
    Sonnenberg told this reporter, “This session has been the most rewarding and most frustrating, all at the same time,” and all over the same issues — those affecting rural Colorado.
    Despite his role as the No. 2 lawmaker in the Senate, Sonnenberg still chaired the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee and served on four others, including vice-chair of the often-notorious Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, also known as the Senate’s “kill” committee, where bills unpopular with leadership are sent to die. (The House has an identical committee with an identical role.)
    Sonnenberg’s biggest win of the 2017 session, and for his fellow northeastern Colorado colleague, Rep. Jon Becker of Fort Morgan, was in marshaling the bill to save the rural hospitals through its biggest challenge — clearing a Republican-controlled Senate where members of his own party were gunning for the measure. “It was the biggest bill of my lifetime,” Sonnenberg said.
    Along with his Senate co-sponsor, Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman of Denver, Sonnenberg beat back Senate efforts to change the bill after rolling out a major rewrite with less than a week to go in the 2017 session.
  

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