By Thelma Grimes | Denver Gazette
As Colorado continues to trend downward on the national economic scale, the Denver Chamber of Commerce is critical of the direction the state’s Democratic-led legislature took in 2025 and in recent years.
The main message at Tuesday’s annual post-legislative State of the State event, hosted by the chamber, was that the anti-business, pro-regulation approach is failing the business community.
Chamber members discussed Colorado’s economic challenges and legislative impacts. In giving a rundown of bills affecting the business community after the 2025 session, chamber members Rachel Beck and Carly West pointed to CNBC’s annual top states for business rankings. Once a perennial top 10, Colorado was ranked 11th last year and dropped to 16th this year.
This year, key issues plaguing the state included a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, the ongoing issue with AI regulations, a controversial bill on how tipped employees are paid and a union-fee bill.
Beck said with a full tab of regulations, wages, supplies, inflation and tariffs all trending upward, “it’s no wonder we’ve fallen in every economic ranking that we know of for cost of living and cost of doing business.”
“This is a trend that we must all work together to reverse,” Beck told the hundreds in attendance, including the business community and state lawmakers. “The only way that we’re going to do that is by tackling the root causes of problems, and that’s going to take all of us thinking more creatively than we ever have.”
The chamber criticized the legislative process and policies for not promoting competitiveness, innovation or affordability. However, they applauded the state legislature for passing the tax incentive bill to bring the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder.