4 massive dynamics drove Colorado lawmakers’ session, from defending in opposition to Trump to boosting affordability
One other common session of the Colorado legislature has adjourned for the 12 months. Within the phrases of Senate Majority Chief Robert Rodriguez: “Thank God it’s over.”
Throughout the 120-day session, Democrats pushed by means of a number of hot-button insurance policies geared toward proscribing the acquisition of sure semiautomatic firearms, additional fortifying abortion rights, and increasing protections for transgender Coloradans and immigrants. A state senator from that get together resigned underneath a cloud of allegations that she mistreated aides and falsified statements of help.
Lawmakers additionally almost issued the primary veto override of Gov. Jared Polis’ seven-session tenure as a part of a larger bucking of the state’s chief government that additionally included sidestepping his want to delay new synthetic intelligence rules. Like yearly, tensions rose at instances — each amongst elected officers and the general public
Learn extra
Gov. Jared Polis’ coming labor invoice veto will pressure Democrat’s labor ties — and set stage for poll battle
Gov. Jared Polis is ready to veto a pro-union invoice that Democratic lawmakers have urged him to signal, a transfer that can pressure his more and more contentious relationship with organized labor in Colorado and set the stage for a 2026 poll battle.
Polis informed reporters Thursday, a day after lawmakers adjourned for the 12 months, that he’ll quickly make good on his session-long menace to reject Senate Invoice 5, since it’s reaching his desk with out amendments he’d urged. The proposal, which might make it simpler for organized staff to barter union dues with their employers, handed the Home with complete Democratic help Tuesday after negotiations between Polis, labor unions and enterprise leaders collapsed.
The governor has mentioned he wouldn’t signal SB-5 until enterprise teams have been comfy with its provisions. However these teams rejected Polis’ closing compromise supply.
Learn extra
Authorized specialists say Trump is unlikely to win Colorado lawsuit in opposition to “sanctuary” insurance policies. However he could not care.
Constitutional attorneys say a lawsuit the Trump administration filed final week to problem immigration enforcement insurance policies in Colorado and Denver has little likelihood of success if the courts observe previous rulings in related circumstances.
However that might not be the objective, they are saying.
“By utilizing litigation as a method to inflict ache, one would possibly accomplish coverage targets even when you find yourself dropping,” mentioned Martin Katz, a professor who teaches constitutional regulation on the College of Denver.
The Colorado lawsuit, much like one launched three months in the past in opposition to native and state governments in Chicago, was filed Friday in U.S. District Court docket in opposition to Gov. Jared Polis, Lawyer Normal Phil Weiser, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and different metropolis officers. President Donald Trump’s Division of Justice takes subject with legal guidelines on the native and state ranges.
Learn extra
Colorado legislature ends with an AI fizzle as delay falters — additional stoking speak of a particular session
Colorado lawmakers wrapped up the 2025 legislative session Wednesday night, however not earlier than requires a particular session rang out over an deadlock on first-in-the-nation rules for synthetic intelligence — and amid resignation over probably funding cuts quickly to return from the federal authorities.
The legislature handed almost 500 payments in its 120 days of labor, which ended about 7:20 p.m. because the Home adjourned, shortly after the Senate. They ranged from the comparatively mundane to sweeping authorized protections for marginalized Coloradans within the face of federal immigration crackdowns. A grey fiscal cloud hung over lawmakers and their lawmaking as they handed a finances that minimize $1.2 billion from deliberate spending and grappled with tips on how to craft insurance policies that value no cash.
However probably the most dramatic fireworks have been saved for a invoice that died Monday.
Learn extra
Bipartisan vote kills governor’s plan to decrease householders insurance coverage prices in Colorado
A legislative effort to assault rising property insurance coverage prices in Colorado failed within the final days of the session.
The invoice, which was supported by Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Insurance coverage Commissioner Michael Conway, would have tacked a 1% price onto property insurance coverage insurance policies statewide, rising the typical premium by $32 per 12 months. The administration believed the charges finally would have lowered skyrocketing householders insurance coverage prices.
Home Invoice 1302 died Tuesday in a Senate committee listening to at which Democrats joined Republicans to defeat the measure.
Learn extra
Colorado Home makes an attempt late-night transfer to delay AI rules, however effort fails
In a dramatic eleventh hour transfer, Home Democrats late Tuesday night time tried to resurrect a dead-and-buried plan to gradual Colorado’s first-in-the-nation synthetic intelligence rules from taking impact — a day after a senior Democratic lawmaker killed the deliberate delay and threw components of the Capitol into chaos.
However the plan collapsed in much more dramatic vogue: The Home wanted to insert the regulatory delay into an unrelated invoice earlier than midnight to make sure it had time to go earlier than the legislature adjourns Wednesday night time. However one other Home Democrat successfully filibustered the trouble till the clock struck midnight, ending the tried invoice hijacking.
The late drama escalates what had already been a tense showdown between the legislature and a swath of senior Democratic politicians and the tech trade. It throws the implementation of Colorado’s first-in-the-nation AI rules into additional uncertainty because the legislature strikes into the session’s closing day.
Learn extra
Colorado trans protections invoice, after troublesome journey by means of Capitol, is heading to Gov. Jared Polis
Colorado lawmakers handed much-amended laws that would offer new antidiscrimination protections to transgender Coloradans on Tuesday, overcoming late roadblocks to ship the measure to Gov. Jared Polis.
Home Invoice 1312 handed its final vote within the state Senate on the legislative session’s penultimate day, and late Tuesday it cleared a closing procedural hurdle within the Home.
Learn extra
In cash-strapped Colorado, lawmakers faucet an unorthodox pot of cash for priorities. However is it too dangerous?
Dealing with a $1.2 billion finances hole this 12 months, Colorado lawmakers turned to a supply of cash they’d largely ignored for the previous a number of years to pay for some priorities: the unclaimed property belief fund.
The legislature appears poised to faucet the fund for 2 payments within the waning days of the legislative session, at the same time as critics — chief amongst them Treasurer Dave Younger — argue in opposition to drawing from a fund made up of misplaced cash, not taxes, to cowl the price of authorities companies.
The belief fund holds cash from Coloradans’ outdated financial savings accounts, unpaid wages, insurance coverage payouts and different money misplaced on the way in which to its rightful homeowners. The treasurer’s workplace has a long-running program to return that cash known as the Nice Colorado Payback.
Learn extra
Colorado Home advances labor invoice after negotiations collapse with enterprise leaders, Gov. Jared Polis
Negotiations over a pro-union invoice within the Colorado Home collapsed over the weekend after labor officers rejected Gov. Jared Polis’ try to broaden talks to incorporate different deeply contentious items of laws.
Democratic lawmakers on Monday as a substitute pushed ahead to go the invoice, doubtlessly establishing a veto showdown.
The insurance policies that the governor tried to reopen included cuts to restaurant staff’ wages, an growth of constitution colleges, and privatizing the state’s last-resort insurer for staff’ compensation. The small print of the discussions have been confirmed by 5 individuals with direct information of them, together with Home Speaker Julie McCluskie and invoice sponsor Rep. Jennifer Bacon.
Learn extra
Keep up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly e-newsletter, The Spot.