The Colorado Legislature started its 2010 session today. Hide the women, children and checkbooks! (Photo/manufrakass, Flickr)

Today the Colorado State Legislature gets back to work with its 2010 session opening.  With the state almost $2 billion in the hole and it being an election year, you can bet it will be interesting to say the least. 

With accounting gimmicks and tax hikes that weren’t called tax hikes (i.e. “fee increases”) Democrats have barely managed to keep the state afloat.  With the latest estimates though, they will need to do much more substantial work than what was done in recent years. 

The days of massive entitlement programs and spending mandates are numbered.  Yes, some sacred cows like education and social programs are going to have to lose some money.  That is a fact of life. 

Democrats will likely try to prevent some of this by using the same tricks as recent years of increasing fees and adding costs to services provided to citizens.  They will continue to ignore the fact that deeper and more real measures need to be taken.  Had appropriate actions been taken when the financial crisis first hit, we wouldn’t be going through this ordeal year after year. 

Now we sit back and watch the fireworks.  We almost certainly won’t like the outcome but it will at least be entertaining to watch.