Colorado special session on property taxes hits dispute over timing

What was supposed to be a breakneck special session of the Colorado legislature instead turned to pure brakes Friday evening as the Senate’s majority Democrats battled with Republicans over rules that threatened to prolong consideration of bills by days.

The beginning of the special session chugged along for most of the day, as Democrats, who hold wide majorities in the legislature, planned for a three-day sprint through Sunday to pass legislation aimed at softening historic property tax increases facing Coloradans early next year. The proposals include spending hundreds of millions of dollars to cut property tax rates and make up at least some of the resulting losses that local governments and school districts would feel from the cuts.

But Republicans forced Democrats to take an…