Here’s why the Colorado legislature is now meeting in a special session

Colorado lawmakers returned to the Capitol this week for yet another special session, their third in three years.

While the prior two special sessions focused on property tax reform, this year’s revolves around a nearly $800 million hole that opened up in the state budget as a result of the federal tax bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump last month.

Here’s how that happened and how lawmakers intend to fix it during the session, which began Thursday and is expected to continue through the weekend.

On July 1, the state’s new fiscal year started, with the government funded by a budget that lawmakers passed — and Gov. Jared Polis signed — in the spring. A few days later, Congress passed — and President Donald Trump signed — a massive tax-and-spending bill that cut f