The House voted 52-12 for a bill that would make Sept. 11 an optional holiday.

Rep. Ed Casso, D-Thornton, ran the bill after realizing the overwhelming emotions that people feel about the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001. The measure would allow state employees to take off Sept. 11 if they work on one of the other state holidays that falls during the week.

Seven Democrats - Debbie Benefield, Claire Levy, Beth McCann, Jack Pommer, Joe Rice, Jim Riesberg and Sue Schafer - and five Republicans - Laura Bradford, Larry Liston, Ellen Roberts, Ken Summers and Spencer Swalm - voted against the bill.

Liston, of Colorado Springs, said afterward that he meant no disrespect but felt that the state has to draw the line on optional holidays.

In other action Tuesday:

* House Minority Caucus Chairwoman Amy Stephens strode into the Republicans' office area around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday only to find that the large circular conference table had been replaced by a smaller, older, splintered version.

"I think they found this floating around the Titanic debris," complained Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs.

Stephens' sleuthing produced this conclusion: House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann had grown tired of the small table in his office and taken the GOP table because, hey, that's what the majority party gets to do.

So, the Monument Republican went down to the microphone during the House session later and asked if anyone had seen their missing table, leading to an embarrassed look from Weissmann, D-Louisville. And then, during a resolution on civility in the House, Stephens asked for an amendment to stop people from stealing tables.

Her tactics worked. By midmorning, she beamed that Weissmann had agreed to replace the current table with a larger and newer version.

* The House approved and sent to the Senate a bill requiring carbon monoxide alarms to be installed on residential properties. The measure (House Bill 1091) would require all new homes and apartments to install CO detectors.

* A bill that aims to increase corporate tax transparency by Wal-Mart and other large corporations was passed out of the House on an initial voice vote. House Bill 1093, sponsored Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, requires corporations to declare on their corporate tax return the use of a financial arrangement known as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

* The House State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee approved a bill (House Bill 1112), which would require state agencies to submit accurate financial estimates after Rep. Jim Kerr, R-Littleton, said he and other lawmakers voted for a bill without knowing the true cost. The bill now goes to the full House for debate.

New bills:

* Make criminal justice records public unless authorities determine it would be contrary to the public interest (House Bill 1251).

* Allow residents to purchase out-of-state health insurance (House Bill 1256).

* Extend health insurance coverage for an unmarried child from age 25 to 30 (Senate Bill 159).

* Require disclosure of an existing home's energy usage if the home is for sale (House Bill 1247).

* Create an office of dropout prevention in the state Department of Education (House Bill 1293).

* Order the Department of Revenue to immediately suspend the driver's license of a person who fails to appear for a license suspension hearing (House Bill 1234).

* Allow neighbors to remove weeds, brush and trash from unoccupied residential property (House Bill 1235).

The Associated Press contributed to this report