Democrats take complete control of Colorado's legislature Wednesday when they gavel the 2013 lawmaking session to order.

Colorado will see its first openly gay House speaker in Democratic Rep. Mark Ferrandino. Democrats held on to control in the Senate. That means that after two years of divided government and limited agendas, the legislature is poised to see a flurry of legislation favored by Democrats -- including civil unions for same-sex couples, tuition changes for illegal immigrants and expanded Medicaid for low-income adults.

The 100 members of the new Legislature will spend most of the first day in ceremonial speeches and swearing-in ceremonies. The real work starts as committees start meeting to pore through bills and decide which measures to send to the governor to become law.

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