The 2012 Colorado legislative session ended Wednesday with a frantic effort to salvage dozens of bills made casualties of an ugly battle over civil unions — an issue that now will pull lawmakers right back into a special session.

Gov. John Hickenlooper said Wed nesday that he would call the special session to make sure there was ample time to debate a civil unions bill. House Republicans complained that Democrats were trying to push the bill through the House at the last minute, but critics said GOP lawmakers blocked the bill from coming to a vote by holding prolonged and sometimes-silly debates over lesser bills.

As a consequence, more than 30 Senate bills sent to the House didn’t get voted on, leaving it to the Senate to try to resurrect the bills Wednesday by grafting them onto House bills as amendments.

At times emotional, Hickenlooper said not allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions was “depriving people of their civil rights.”

“I spent a long time in the restaurant business,” Hickenlooper said. “A lot of people who helped us create that business didn’t have the same amount of rights as everybody else.

“I had a call yesterday from one of them just to ask, ‘If not now, when?’ “

A special session would cost taxpayers $23,500 a day, according to the Legislative Council.

Hickenlooper said his staff would decide today what bills still needed to be addressed in the special session, which can touch on multiple subjects. But the call would likely be to address bills dealing with public safety, economic development and water projects.

And “certainly” civil unions, he said.

“I think our goal is to make sure we do everything we can to try to make sure there is a fair, open debate on the floor of the House and the Senate,” the governor said, “that the issue gets discussed and that we allow people the chance to vote on it and that we move this entire state forward to make sure, as Martin Luther King said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ “

Hickenlooper’s staff said the special session could begin as early as Friday but might begin Monday.

Under the state constitution, lawmakers don’t have to do anything other than convene the special session. They could simply show up and then adjourn.

It takes three days to pass a bill, but lawmakers can quit at any time.

The Democratic governor said he told House Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, on Tuesday night that he might call a special session to address the civil unions issue.

But McNulty, responding Wednesday to Hickenlooper, repeatedly used the term “gay marriage” when speaking to reporters. Gay-rights supporters say civil unions offer many of the same benefits as marriage but are a lesser legal status than same-sex marriage, which Colorado voters banned in 2006.

“If the governor wants to make this special session about gay marriage, then that’s his prerogative,” McNulty said.

The state Senate was working throughout the afternoon in an attempt to graft dead bills onto still-living ones.

“We’ll try to be the adults in the building,” said Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, “but we won’t be able to save everything.”

One bill that lawmakers couldn’t save funds $20 million in water projects this year statewide, while another attempts to stabilize unemployment-insurance rates for businesses. Those issues are likely to be addressed in a special session.

By Wednesday evening, lawmakers had managed to save bills dealing with discipline in schools, bath salts as controlled substances and reduced penalties for some drug-possession offenses, among others.

Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com

Civil unions vs. marriage

• The Colorado Constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

• On the state and federal levels, there are tax differences between married couples and couples in civil unions.

• Under the Colorado Civil Unions Act, parties to a civil union would not be allowed to file joint state or federal income-tax returns.

• Couples in a civil union do not have the protection of COBRA.

• Couples in a civil union do not have the benefits of Social Security.

• Civil unions are typically not recognized outside the state that granted them. They are typically not portable.

• Couples in a civil union cannot sponsor a spouse for citizenship.

The 68th General Assembly

SCORECARD

WINNERS

Legislators: Voted for a 22 percent increase in the daily expense allowance for rural lawmakers, despite the fact that many nonmetro lawmakers have repeatedly said state employees, who haven’t had raises in four years, should live within their means. And lawmakers also laid claim to office space across the street that a state agency had been planning to move into to save money. It’s good to be the king.

CenturyLink: Fended off multiple attempts to end a $50 million state subsidy it gets for providing rural telephone service.

Joint Budget Committee: Greatly aided by improving state revenues, the six-member committee, evenly split among Democrats and Republicans, came together to pass a budget praised by all but a few lawmakers. The JBC also eventually worked out a deal on a small cut to state-agency payrolls.

Seniors:Thanks to an improved state-revenue picture, they got their property-tax break, known as the Senior Homestead Exemption, for the first time since the 2008-09 fiscal year. Next year? Hmmm.

Pinnacol Assurance lobbyists: They didn’t succeed in passing a bill to free Pinnacol Assurance, the state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance fund, from state shackles, but they were paid handsomely, with millions of policyholder dollars going to pay lawyers, financial analysts, public-relations consultants and lobbyists working on the deal.

Oil-patch communities: After four years of seeing their severance-tax money taken and used to help balance the state budget, energy-impacted cities and counties will finally get back the funds to help build infrastructure and mitigate the effects of energy production.

LOSERS

Department of Personnel and Administration: Got stiff-armed by the legislature in trying to stake a claim to office space in a building across the street from the Capitol. Lawmakers, already mad at the agency for messing with their parking during Capitol dome renovations, got even and took the office space themselves.

Pinnacol Assurance: The state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance fund enraged policyholders, the business community and various lawmakers after spending millions of dollars in an aggressive bid to privatize itself. The big-spending revelations seemed to have only hardened opposition.

Rep. Laura Bradford: The Collbran Republican was blasted after a traffic stop in which police alleged she invoked legislative immunity to avoid a DUI. Later, she was vindicated after cops said they lied about her seeking special treatment. Yet she infuriated Republicans with talk she might switch parties, and questions still remained about whether she actually drove drunk. A key jobs bill she carried, to remove local restrictions against the use of beetle-kill lumber in construction, imploded when it became clear there were no such prohibitions. She announced she would not run again, avoiding two primary challengers.

Rep. Joe Miklosi: The Aurora Democrat, who is running in the 6th Congressional District, was slammed after pushing a bill designed to prevent discrimination against people in biker clothing. Critics said the bill, which failed, was a shameless pander to certain voters, including veterans. He also sponsored a bill to enact a sales-tax holiday for back-to-school items, a measure critics called a political gimmick; it failed.

DRAW

Gov. John Hickenlooper: Still has good poll numbers and remains blessed with a divided legislature. Got a lot on the state budget in spite of the fact he preferred to suspend a tax break for seniors. Successfully pushed though an effort to reform the state’s personnel system that voters must now approve, and backed an early-childhood literacy bill that, while watered down, passed. But the governor’s plan to consolidate early-childhood programs under a single division was derailed after debate over U.N. conspiracies, and his passionate support for a plan to privatize Pinnacol Assurance, the state-chartered workers’ compensation fund, was roundly rebuffed by the business community.

Gays: Even though they didn’t win the right to enter into civil unions, they made history by getting the issue to the House floor — even though Republicans blocked it from coming up for a vote. Gay-rights groups are galvanizing for November, and the public is increasingly on their side. That thunder sound in the distance? The drums of war.

House Speaker Frank McNulty: The Highlands Ranch Republican helped muster a historic 63-1 vote in favor of the budget and prodded the governor to give special treatment to victims of the Lower North Fork fire. But he was assailed for costing taxpayers $4 million by dragging his feet on a county investments bill and for the way he handled Bradford’s non-DUI scandal. And he became the target of gay-rights supporters across the state after House Republicans blocked a civil unions bill from coming up for a vote.

Illegal immigrants: Were unsuccessful again in getting a bill passed to lower college tuition costs for illegal immigrants, who must pay out-of-state tuition even if they graduated from a Colorado high school. Even so, they came closer than ever to getting the issue to the House floor, where it could have passed.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler: Got legislation through both chambers that streamlined business filings and cleaned up issues regarding election administration, notaries and the state title board. But his push to require photo ID for voting failed again, as did a bill to create an online election-night reporting system. And while Republicans scored big by killing a bill that Gessler opposed requiring ballots to be mailed to inactive voters, that fight is likely to rear its head again before November — across the street in Denver District Court.

PASSED

Direct file (HB 1271): Bars district attorneys from using the “direct file” process to charge juveniles as adults for many low- and mid-level felonies, while raising the age from 14 to 16 at which young offenders can be charged as adults under direct file for more serious crimes. Allows defendants to appeal the filing to a district judge, who would have the final say on whether they are tried as adults.

Childhood literacy (HB 1238): Would require schools to measure reading progress from kindergarten through third grade and hold discussions among teachers, principals and parents on whether to hold back a child with a “significant reading deficiency.” The decision ultimately would rest with the school-district superintendent. Provides $21 million for teacher training and for reading assistance to students.

State-personnel reform (HCR 1001, HB 1321): Sends a measure to the November ballot asking voters to overhaul century-old rules that limit the number of candidates that can be hired, where they can live and how they are tested. Changes state law on “bumping rights” for state employees.

Ballot inspections (SB 155): Sets parameters under which the public may inspect voted ballots and other election records.

Enterprise zones (HB 1241): Originally would have made it harder for areas to qualify as enterprise zones in an effort to curb business tax credits that critics say have grown out of control. But the bill that passed is a watered-down version that mandates only a one-year study of enterprise zones.

Governor’s energy office (HB 1315): Changes the name and the mission of the agency to create a more “balanced energy office for the state of Colorado” that also focuses on traditional sources of energy such as oil and gas.

FAILED

Civil unions (SB 2): Would have allowed same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, which confer many of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage. Will be brought up again in a special session, though.

ASSET (SB 15): Would have created a class of college tuition for illegal immigrants lower than out-of-state rates but higher than in-state tuition. Historically passed one Republican-led House committee but then died in another.

Telecom (SB 157): Would have phased out $50 million in subsidies for rural telephone service by 2025 but was killed practically out of the gate amid fierce opposition from CenturyLink.

6 percent limit (HB 1075): House Republicans attempted to resurrect a growth limit on the state’s general fund, something a Democratic-controlled legislature had nixed several years ago. But the new bill died in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Timber act (HB 1004): Showcased by House Republicans, the bill was intended to do away with local ordinances that prohibit the use of beetle-kill lumber in construction. Problem was, there were no such ordinances. This one was felled by Republicans themselves.

Sales-tax holiday (HB 1069): Would have suspended state sales tax on purchases for back-to-school items, including computers under $1,000, on the first weekend in August, beginning in 2014.

Voter ID (HB 1111): Would have required voters to show photo identification to cast a ballot.

Inactive voters (SB 109, HB 1267): Would have required county clerks to change the status of more than 400,000 inactive voters to active, and to mail ballots this fall to about 135,000 voters who were on the permanent mail-in ballot list at some point.

Election-night reporting (SB 135): Would have created an online election-night reporting system in the secretary of state’s office to compile and post official election results.

Driving while stoned (SB 117): Would have set a standard for driving under the influence of marijuana, making it a crime to drive while having 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.